Monday: Looking up from pulling some grass out of the flower bed I see two young'uns playing train with a box, one happily skipping by, and 3 working on digging out bushes. I love my life here.
Andy with a cut that he doesn't even know how he got it. He wanted me to send a picture to Aunt Lori but I don't think I ever did.
Finally got one! We've been working on them sporadically for weeks.
Tuesday: Happy 14th birthday to Thomas! We were supposed to pick up Kylie from the airport but her flight was delayed a whole day so she ended up spending two nights in hotels (one in Brazil and one in Miami) before finally getting to us on Wednesday. Here Thomas is opening new shoes same as he got last year. :)
He also got jeans and ear phones.
Kaitlyn and Makenna sewing stuffed kittens. I don't want real kittens right now so they bought furry fabric and hand sewed themselves little pet kittens without even looking up how to do so. They can imagine and sew anything!
They turned out so cute!
Wednesday: Arriving at the airport!
Riding up the escalateor. Can't believe we're going to see Kylie!
I turned around to see if the kids were following me as I sped walked through the airport and loved seeing them excitedly rushing after me with their posters.
Waiting in the waiting area.
When people started getting off we stood where we could look down the terminal and see her.
"Como foi oaveao" means "How was the airplane?"
The other side: "Did you have a good plane ride Kylie? Was it fun Kylie?"
He thinks "a" as in "uh" should be spelled "u."
Madalyn made hers freehand.
Alexis's poster had lots of inside jokes and funny happenins from Kylie's mission written all over it so it told a neat story.
Here she comes!!
Thomas grew a foot or two while she was gone. :)
Too bad I didn't get any good pictures with faces. It was some sweet moments though. I can't wait to welcome home the rest of my 9 children from their missions. I hope they all get a chance to serve.
Tilly traced this poster that was written in pencil.
Back down the elevator, this time with Kylie.
I got a stranger to take a picture of us.
Loading suitcases.
Skipping to a restaurant to eat out.
I thought I had a gift card so we planned to eat out but apparently it was already used. But that's ok. We got 3 kids meals and 2 adult lunch combos to share and it was only $30. It was just fun to eat out because I go years without. Maybe a mommy date here or there but never all the kids together. But what a cause for a celebration!
Samuel pulled his 4th tooth out.
Missing Spencer but so happy to be with my other 9 children.
Yes, all their pent up excitement turned into goofing off as we left the restaurant.
Next we went to President Scott's law office for Kylie to be released. His secretary came out with a bowl of candy and encouraged the kids to eat up.
Unloading the suitcases and everyone talking at once, wanting to tell and show her everything about our yard and house.
Showing Kylie the kitchen.
Showing her the balance beam and other Olympic activities they did.
Eating Thomas's leftover brownies and ice cream.
Can't believe she's in our house!
Love hearing her play the piano again. Besides playing for zone conferences, she didn't get to sit down and play just for fun.
While 2 kids were at a play practice and 2 kids were at activity days I took 2 kids to the store and left the older 3 girls at home to have some bonding time. Andy and Tilly were so fun to watch scan and bag our own groceries.
Thursday: We still work outside every morning until lunchtime and it was fun to have Kylie join us.
After lunch is playtime. Someone gave us this costume and chair Andy is trying out.
Brothers doing some art together next to me at the table while I do lesson plans.
In the living room everyone is happily getting their own stuff done like registering for classes, catching up on journals, reading, or making computer games. I absolutely loved our routine of morning yard work, lunch all together, then afternoons talking and working on stuff in the living room.
When it rained we went out and played in it. Here Makenna swings Andy around and Kaitlyn swings Tilly around.
Having the missionaries over for dinner.
Kylie reading to Tilly and tucking her in.
Friday: First time filling our new trailer with a load of split wood.
Getting stuff done to Piano Guys music.
Trip to the creek. These two (Sam and Tilly) were so excited they were chattering while they hiked.
Looking behind me at the rest of the crew. So happy to be going to the creek with 9 children.
Kaitlyn, first one across the creek.
The older girls sat and read and I did history lesson plans and actually got a lot done.
When it was time to go they found a bank that made a great slide.
And a diving board.
Back at home we had 7 layer dip.
And went to the jam session at the community center. Les talked me into getting the children to sing a song so they sang, "This Land is Your Land" and did a great job. It's on the Willis Gap facebook page.
The guy on the right insisted on buying some of the kids hot dogs even though we'd just eaten dinner. I enjoyed watching the little 2 go get one, not knowing how something like this works.
Comparing heights. They are 5, 7, and 9 right now. But Andy will be 6 in 3 weeks.
Giving Kylie the scrapbook we made her.
It was my idea and I planned to do it but Alexis ended up doing it. She printed all of Kylie's weekly emails off as well as the pictures she sent and put them in sheet protectors. It was a harder job than we thought with formatting and keeping everything organized.
The weather for the next week. Plenty of rain! So we got a lot of wood cut and stacked and Kylie mowed the grass (a 3 hour job) so we're ready for wet weather and can work on inside projects. It's been in the 90's and I'm glad that's over. We don't have air conditioning.
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