Week ending 6-21-20

We had a busy week babysitting lots of different children. They were all pretty good, it just made for a exhausting week and somewhat chaotic with so many little people running through the house and lots of extra bodies to nurture physically and emotionally. The weather was really nice though--never too hot--so we played outside a lot and I think everyone had a good week.

Tuesday I took my youngest 5 and the 3 we were babysitting to the park for lunch and floating sticks in the irrigation ditch. Then we went home to babysit and additional 3 kids the rest of the afternoon. 

The baby birds are getting read to fly. They are so loud cheeping in there and poking their faces out! 

Thomas reading to his younger 5 siblings plus 2 extras we had. Totally spontaneous--he was still in his pajamas trying to take a shower. 

Thursday: I took 8 kids to a nature camp: 3 friends, 2 we were babysitting, and 3 of my own. 

  

The other kids ran ahead during the whole boardwalk but these two wanted to read every sign and look for animals and ask a lot of questions. I loved it! Here Logan wanted his picture taken with the duck.  

Lunch time! They were really hungry after walking a mile. 

Making leaf imprints on cut up pillowcases. 

We played a treasure hunt game where someone hides a clothespin and then makes a nature map to show where it's hidden. The wood pieces in the middle were the picnic table, pine cones were certain trees. That tiny clothespin on the left represents where the big one is--next to a stump.

Trying to find the clothespin. 

It's right there by that stump! :)

Looking at Kaitlyn's map as she explains what everything represents.

On the drive home 4 kids fell asleep. :) 

Mary and Cece took a selfie with my phone. :) 

Sam and Andy sleeping in the tent. Hard to go to sleep at 8 when it's so light here but they eventually went to sleep around 9:45 when it was dark. 

Coming in from tucking the boys in I find these 4 happily reading.

Week ending 6-14-20

Last Sunday: bedtime snack: Canned green beans. Silly boys. 

Monday: More rain and hail.Yay! 

Tuesday: School lunches at the playground. 

 

Samuel and Anderson making some creature power suits. 

And I wonder where all my tape goes. :)

That's Samuel's map that he made. He cuts pages out of his tiny notebook and then tapes them onto his map and draws his map out. Then he folds it all up and stuffs it into his notebook that it's still attached to. 

Wednesday: Back at the playground. Madalyn and Alexis spent Sunday-Wednesday at their aunt's house and we had a lot of extra kids over every day so going to the park was a good way to burn off energy. Plus I wanted to go before it got hot again.

We found this mother duck and her 13 ducklings hiding in the bushes. When other kids came along to get their lunch the ducks crossed the lawn and headed for the street. I went and got the crossing guard and he helped them cross to safety and escorted them down a side street. 

Make way for ducklings!  

We've taken pictures here a couple of years ago with different kids so these ones wanted to take one. 

We also have a picture like this with the oldest 7 kids at a playground in NC where there were 7 "swinging bars" as the kids call them. This one had 5 and we happen to only have 5 kids at the park today.  

Thursday: Talking to Kylie! 

Talea drawing with chalk while I sat in the swing with some school books, trying to do some lesson plans. 

 

Movie party night. The kids have been listening to this Amelia Bedelia read along book that says, "The biggest brownie in town!"The kids are quoting it around the house so I decided to make them "the biggest brownie in town." I always use whole wheat flour and add flax seeds and other healthy add-ins and it turned out really soft and tasty.

The kids watched a Shirley Temple movie and I went for a hike cause I wasn't in a movie mood. It was a hot day and I needed to get out and exercise somewhere cool. I had a great hike, trying out a new trail, and really loved it. I hiked 8 miles and came home at 9:30, a little later than planned, oops! 

 

A nice guy who reminded me of my dad helped me navigate 30 minutes of snow fields to find the gorgeous lake even though I kept telling him I needed to go home and put my kids to bed. He encouraged me to make it to the lake. Then he quickly took my picture and we made it down the 4 miles in an hour. 

Friday: Trying on clothes a friend gave us. I was going to send this to her and tell her we liked them. Now Madalyn just needs some place nice to go. :) She spends most of her day in her room doing college online.

Packing to go to Daddy's. First sleepover with him and they were so excited. The older 6 kids all went to stay with cousins in Springville so they wanted to go somewhere too and Nathan graciously let them come spend the night. He took them to the park twice, made flags with them, and ate popcorn. They had a great time and meanwhile I had the house to myself over night for the very first time in 20 years! 

I worked on lesson plans mostly as with the kids around it's hard to think of new ideas and write them down without being interrupted. I loved eating breakfast and lunch by myself and getting so much done. 

Andy and Sam showing off the cool flags they made. 

I took the 3 little kids for a walk and saw this church giving away bags of food. The church people were so excited we stopped and took some. I took this to text Alexis what she was missing out on.