Week ending 7-4-21 Talea's birthday, driveway work, 4th of July

 

Last Sunday: Branch conference. This is our chapel. It's open during Sacrament Meeting and then we close the dividers so that the youth or temple prep class can meet in the back. After church we set up tables and had a fun potluck supper. Our branch is so sweet. I'm not 100% sure we'll stay in it just because it's so far away and there would be youth and activities in a closer ward. But it wouldn't be because we didn't like this branch. They are a lot of fun and I loved them from day 1.

Monday: Going for a hike on our property with Thomas as a mother-son date.

Because of my hurt foot I hadn't explored the back woods yet so Thomas was my tour guide.

Kait, Kenna, and Tilly were at the Mizelle's and Sam and Andy went to a summer camp at school so it was the perfect time. It gave Alexis alone time to practice the piano and read on the front porch. :)

There are several springs and creeks running through our property.

With all the ferns it looked like a rain forest.

Here we watched polywogs for awhile. It was so nice to take our time and observe nature and just take in all the beauty. I still can't believe it's mine.

We watched this cute fawn for awhile too. It was tiny with white spots but I couldn't get a picture.

We came out up by our blueberry patch by the road. There are 100 blueberry bushes there but have been neglected for years. Some cool day we'll tackle cleaning them out and seeing what we want to do with them. We have 3 big bushes by our house that are in great shape.

The view of our driveway towards our house from blueberry hill.

The view of Willis Gap Rd and beyond.

Picking up Sam and Andy from school. They did a 4 day camp from 8-2. It had a circus theme and they had a lot of fun. I've never done anything like this so it was new for me to get them up and ready and drop them off every morning and pick them up every afternoon. But I'm glad they had the experience. It was free and they could see a little bit what a real school looks like since they're homeschooled.

Then we went to the Mizelles to pick up the 3 girls. Andy got to hold a kitten.

Sister Mizelle spoiled Talea with a bag of presents for her birthday the next day: some dresses, bubbles, coloring books, etc. The girls had a great time and I'm glad they got to see someone besides family. 

Dropping the boys off for day 2. It was kinda hard dropping them off so I was glad it was only for 4 days and I'm glad the teachers and helpers were so nice. I know the boys need more adults in their life besides me so I'm glad they got to learn from someone else. They loved it.

It was Talea's birthday so it was really nice not having the little boys home. While they were gone we did ballet all morning.

Then we had a tea party for lunch. Thomas ate his lunch in the living room :) and took this picture.

Then I played doctor with Talea for 2 hours on my bed. So far she'd gotten everything she wanted: ballet, tea party, and doctor. Then we went and picked the boys up 20 minutes away.

Alexis and Kaitlyn reading on the hammock. Madalyn actually reads to them over the phone and they follow along.

We stopped at our mailbox after picking up the boys and got a whole stack of mail. When the mail lady heard the Sloops moved out she stopped delivering our mail, thinking the house was vacant. We'd gotten our mail from the week we traveled and the week we were at the Mizelles. Then the 2 weeks we actually lived in the house it had abruptly stopped. So after writing her a note we finally got all our mail!

Talea opening presents.

I got her a booster seat off facebook and hid it in the shed. Kaitlyn made her a treasure hunt map to find it.

Holding her presents. She got several dresses and the booster seat. Nathan sent a teddy bear.

Talea wanted a movie party for dinner so we made party foods and watched a movie.

After the movie she blew out the candles on her cupcakes.

I guess we didn't take a picture of her cupcakes. She made purple cupcakes with blue frosting.

Wednesday: Andy's hands ripped doing the monkey bars at circus camp.

Thursday: Thomas is the best at making fancy sandwiches.

Talea requested to lie at the foot of my bed and watch it rain while she falls asleep.

I love living in the country! And where we get plenty of rain.

Some random pictures: My right foot is still very sore, bruised and swollen but it's finally healing after 5 weeks.

My ankle bone is still pretty swollen but at least I can walk without crutches.

Getting the cupboards re-stocked and organized.

Friday: During dinner Alexis taught all the kids a girls camp game. I loved hearing them all participate and think it's cool. I miss my older 3 kids like crazy but at the same time it's been fun only having 7 who are bonding in new ways and hanging out together all the time.

At the jam session Alexis led the singing of "God Bless America." It's a weekly tradition and the gal who usually does it wasn't there so they asked Alexis. After that the kids sang "God Bless the USA."

Tilly wanted to dance to every song and got Samuel to dance with her and dip her. :)

The guy in the middle brought his grandson and it was nice not being the only kids there.

Tilly showing off her non humid fuzzy hair. It's cute when it acts normal. 

And I love when cool fronts come through to dry out the air.

Saturday: Off to work on the end of the driveway. I was carrying my two new saws and so excited. I love doing yard work.

Andy already working hard trimming tree sprouts.

Kait and Tilly resting in the shade by the road. It was a nice cool morning in the 50's so we got a lot done.

Tilly and Andy talking to each other through the drain pipe under the road.

The before picture. There are two hibiscus bushes crammed under a big redbud tree and then a random other bush which we took out so the hibiscus bushes could be seen better.

My view at the kids grabbing the branches as I cut them.

First time using my new chain saw! I loved it! It was so much fun. I haven't bought myself a toy in a really long time and am so glad I got this.

Ta-da! Big bush gone and it looks so much cleaner.

Now we need to make a name and number sign.

We made several trips of taking the branches to the burn pile.

After lunch and a break from 12-2 we came back together to burn branches.

And roasted hot dogs to start our fast. I also made hamburgers inside. Afterwards we had s'mores and had a fun 4th of July at home. We never heard of anything else going on but that's ok. I was happy to get so much done while the weather was cool and nice.

Makenna and Thomas

Samuel

It looks neater in person, but we're already getting quite the collection of boxes of kindling to burn in our fireplace this winter.

Since we had dinner so early to start our fast it gave me the whole evening free. I tried getting couches and a lawn mower but everything fell through. I'm so tired of searching for those things so to make myself feel better I went to the edge of the front woods and sawed up fallen trees into little logs for the fireplace.

I had so much fun with my little chainsaw.