My pictures would not upload quickly this week, so sorry this is late. It was a fairly normal, busy week with great weather and no homeschool.
Last Sunday: Kaitlyn? took a picture of her yummy soup and bread after church.
Talea loves shoulder rides on Spencer and he loves giving them.
Monday: After opening song for FHE Talea always runs to the front of the living room and wants to say the prayer.
It's actually Kaitlyn's turn, though. So either the person helping prompts Talea or there are two prayers said or the person whose turn it is relinquishes their turn.
Tuesday: I took the 5 little kids to the park and were surprised to see it torn down and a new one put up. Seems like they're doing that all over around here. Same with the schools. The old ones seem perfectly fine to us, but I guess that's why taxes are so high here. I took this to show Alexis when we got home.
Four kids on the zipline.
Andy climbing up a trail.
Talea loved mastering this curvy ladder and slide.
Reading in bed together when I couldn't read to them.
Thursday: Making paper bag puppets with Luis, Samuel's Asperger therapist. He's super fun. They did it the entire 2.5 hours he was here.
Eating a snack at another park. Gotta love these 75 degree fall days!
We brought leftover cracked wheat muffins.
Back in NC we went to a "swinging bars park" as the kids dubbed it and we took pictures of 7 kids on 7 of these swinging steps. Kaitlyn remembers seeing it on the blog and was excited to see this park with 5 of them the day we bring 5 kids.
After the library and park we went to the raw milk farm and then straight to gymnastics.
Friday: I was having a tough week so I dropped Alexis off at school at 7:40am and headed out for a hike, letting Nathan get the younger kids up and fed and then Thomas took over when he left for work. I listened to an inspiring mom podcast part of the way and the rest of the time thought, prayed, reflected, and enjoyed the beautiful nature. I was the only one all the way up and at the lake but then saw people coming up on my way down. It was a great hike and I'm really glad I squeezed it in my day. I haven't gone on a solo hike since June and it's only my 4th one this year that was a long, moderate hike all the way to the lake. I have a goal to go once a month and I have met that goal but the rest of the hikes were with kids, or just until I couldn't go any further because of all the snow (January-March) or lack of time.
I saw 3 deer a couple of different times. It was awesome to be there so early in the morning (for me) and be the only one there and see wildlife.
At the lake there were these pesky female mallard ducks.
As soon as I got there they came waddling up to me begging for food.
So I took some pictures and walked to the other side of the lake.
I went up the shore and into the woods to find the perfect spot where I'd be hidden from the ducks but the warm sun was shining right on me. There I would sketch, journal, and eat my lunch.
But as soon as I got out my food the ducks appeared. I didn't even see them swim across the lake, but here they came up the beach and into the trees.
And right up to my feet as I jumped up and tried to shoo them away. I was excited to eat lunch all by myself in peace--without my kids eating off my plate, having to cleaning up spills, or have any of the work associated with feeding a lot of little children--just one meal all by myself. But here I was clutching my lunch and trying to get away from some pesky, bothersome ducks.
I moved to a third location, waited to make sure I wasn't being followed, journaled about what just happened and then pulled out my food and right in front of me were those annoying ducks. I usually love ducks but I just wanted to eat in peace! I just wanted to be able to sketch, write my thoughts and inspirations, pray, and eat without anyone talking to me but it was obvious I couldn't do that here. It really made me laugh.
So I forwent my plans and got up and hiked down the mountain again.
I liked this stream crossing, it looked better in real life.
A straggly selfie with windblown hair. It was super windy.
Near the bottom of the trail I climbed a steep embankment and sat there and finally ate and sketched. This is the view of the trail.
This was on the drive home--I pulled over and took it.
Andy loves drawing D. Todd Christofferson's face and cutting him out.
Kylie came home so that we could go to the post office and turn in all her stuff to get her passport. It was so fun having her here! I forget how happy she makes our home. Here she was helping Andy and Talea move the granola bars out of the pan and into a container so we could use the pan for lasagna.
Andy eating a lot of lettuce as I made the salad.
I took this to send to Spencer to ask where he was because we were done with dinner and there was still this much left. He went to Cedar City for a Shakespeare competition for 4 days and had a great time, his school winning first place out of 50 or 60 schools.
Every night I read the Rose Years books to Kaitlyn and Makenna from 8:30-9.
They're my favorite series and we've really been enjoying this time together.
After tucking the girls in I walked by Kylie's room and was so happy to see her in it!
I really miss her and Madalyn a lot. Our home is not complete without them.
After tucking the girls in I try to go play the piano. (Happens only a couple days a week.) As I was playing Talea came and said, "This is a cozy spot for me to eat my pwetzels." It was so cute.
At 11pm Alexis, Kylie and I were chatting and eating popcorn when we heard a loud knock. This is what we were door-ditched. Too bad Spencer wasn't here so we sent him this picture. It's from a girl named Emily. He has lots of girlfriends. :) Emily, Emmie, Aby, Berkley, Lexi, Lacey, and Violet. Those are just the ones I'm thinking of at the moment. There are probably lots more.
The girls each texting Madalyn and ignoring me. :)
We had a great night together.
Saturday: We made wheat cinnamon rolls in the shape of a pumpkin.
And lots of little pumpkins.
Watching General Conference
Before the women's session the girls and I grabbed some food at a grocery store, warmed it up and ate it.
I loved watching the girls taking selfies and laugh and joke for a long time.
Bedtime wasn't occurring to them. :)
An impromptu concert in the only room that didn't have little kids sleeping. I loved watching and listening to the 3 of them hanging out. We miss Kylie here so much!
Sunday morning seeing Spencer for the first time after being gone for 4 days. I love how all the kids jumped on him. I didn't get a good picture though. Wish I'd had my camera on me at that moment.
Birthday party foods for Spencer.
We celebrated a day early because he was going to be so busy on Monday. He wanted mostly unhealthy foods like processed appetizers but also homemade tortilla pinwheels, meat and cheese rolls, cheese ball, and fruits and veggies.
Alexis made him lemon bars for his birthday cake.
Spencer lights them and blows out the match.
Laughing while we sang to him.
After conference we (everyone but Nathan and Andy) went on the Alpine Loop to take Kylie to BYU but it was soo crowded! That's why in past years I've gone on a weekday around 10am. :) Spencer drove and did a really good job in all that traffic on narrow roads.
1 comment:
Have a relaxing day!
Post a Comment