Week ending 5-15-22 Mama, Kylie, and Spencer fly in, yard work, Little Women

 

Last Sunday: Hanging out.

Eating a 7 layer dip

And a fondue.

Mother's Day selfie. So grateful for my kids!

Monday: Weeding the garden. Kait chose the peanuts and potatoes bed. Thomas and Tilly chose the celery, peas and okra bed.

Alexis is over the herb bed.

Sam and Andy weeded the strawberry bed.

The view looking southeast.

Madalyn weeded the lettuce, spinach, arugula, and garlic bed.

I love to see Makenna get out our nice camera and take pictures of flowers and creatures.

The little boys spent the day in the dirt.

I dropped the 4 oldest at rehearsal and took the 4 youngest to Charlotte to get my mom from the airport. We had time to kill so we went to Sam's Club where they had a great time and also Whole Foods. 

Eating chicken strips and crackers we bought at Whole Foods and warmed in their microwave.

Talea dancing in the store.

Wednesday: Picnic in the park at the bookmobile.

We went back to Charlotte and picked up Spencer and Kylie Wednesday afternoon. Then we stopped by the theater where Maddie and Lexi came out in costume to say hi.

I love how excited they are to see each other. I'm so glad my kids are all close.

Talea had stayed home with my mom and walked to the end of the driveway to meet us. She climbed in the front seat and jumped on Spencer saying, "Spencie, Spencie!"

If this were a video it would be better because I loved hearing all the happy sounds of everyone talking to each other and reuniting. All 10 kids home together for 3 weeks!

Thursday: Before picture of a row of blueberries we all went to work on.

The after picture I took a few days later. The blackberries and trees are gone out of this road.

I was trying to take a picture of the oldest 3 with their similar blue shirts and jeans and messy pony tails all sweaty from hours of work on Blueberry Hill. But then Kait and Kenna jumped in. :)

Friday: I was sitting in my room with the window open and could hear this squirrel eating some nuts. It was so loud and fun to watch.

Spencer was mowing and I was trimming the northeast part of our yard when I saw Makenna just hanging out perched on top of this partially cut down tree.

Kylie was having fun playing on the slack line.

These 4 were playing dragons in their nest.

They all joined Kylie on the slack line.

Spencer mowing with Andy on his lap.

And now both boys. Needless to say it took him a lot longer than I promised it would. :) It's his first time mowing here.

Dinnertime! No seats left for me but I enjoy watching everyone happily eating and talking. We had stuffed shells, homegrown asparagus, fruit salad, and Lexi's delicious sourdough bread. This table is supposed to seat 6 but we've never gotten around to getting a bigger one. A friend gave it to us years ago and we've loved it. When I get a bigger dining room I'll get a bigger table. :)

Talea laid in Kylie's lap for a long time it was so sweet.

How many people does it take to install a new ceiling fan? I've installed many in my life and hate doing it but every time we move to a new house I buy one and install it anyway.

All done! I want to redo the ceiling soon when I figure out what I want but for this summer the fan will be great. I really like it.

Little Women play. It was fantastic! It's my favorite play I've seen so far. My 4 kids were actors in Jo's stories. So when she's reading her stories to the publishers they come alive and my kids act it out.

Singing a song.

After the play. 

Today: Samuel and Anderson reading scriptures on the swing.

On a walk to the mailbox Andy and I loved how the road looks like it ends in the clouds.

Week ending 5-8-22 Office shed makeover, little girls' room makeover

This was a week full of projects! I planned to do a room update in the 3 little girls' room, the 2 little boys' room, the office add on shed, plus mow and trim the whole driveway, mow the whole yard, and plant more in the garden. We got a lot done but not everything as we kept running into little troubles like the sander breaking, tape measure breaking, losing things, not bringing everything to the job site, kids not helping, etc. But at least we made progress!

Last Sunday: Andy was quizzing Samuel on the Articles of Faith while we waited. I was the last to sit down because I was in the hall talking and it made me so happy to see them doing that.

A beautiful afternoon so we hung out on the porch a lot.

Monday: Moving all the stuff to the middle so we could paint the add-on building. The previous owners used it as an office and so far we've put extra tubs of toys or the girls' boxes they use for their NICU babies. After we paint it we're going to use it for all the girls' dolls, beds, strollers, kitchen set, etc at least for awhile. Then we'll proably swap it for the boys' toys of trains, cars and Legos. I love switching things up.

Thomas was an awesome helper all week, coming whenever I called him. Here he was removing all the nails and screws too high up for me to reach.

Tuesday: Checking on the garden, Talea wanted a picture of her with her potatoes growing.

Samuel plants cucumber seeds.

The missionaries giving us an object lesson.

I hate that this picture turned out blurry but I loved seeing Madalyn and Talea drawing treasure maps with each other.

Wednesday: While I got started on scraping a popcorn ceiling I told all the kids to sit and do some quiet reading time. When I came down an hour or more later they were all still reading.

A nice, quiet, happy room.

The sander broke on me so I didn't get to finish until I ordered another one, but here is a before picture as we started the 3 little girls' room update. We sanded the popcorn ceiling, painted the walls, filled 2 big holes, and would get new bedding, rugs, curtains, and decorations.

The big hole over there is where there used to be a wood stove that would join the chimney from downstairs. The other hole is underneath the white wood cover up on the far right.

I pulled off the white piece of wood to see what was under it and there was a big hole from where they maybe lowered the window?

Starting to paint. Makenna picked a pretty light lavender.

I'm guessing Kaitlyn took these pictures. Hard to see, but the light purple turned out the perfect color. We're excited to make the room nicer.

Thursday: Running out to the barn to get sheetrock to fill the holes I saw the boys playing "lazy."

I love the rhododendrons everywhere!

The add-on building/shed is all painted and ready for organizing.

Madalyn and I went on a temple trip together and it was great! I got 2.5 hours with her by herself in the car and 2 hours in the temple and then 2.5 hours home. Plus some time running into a grocery store for food. We left the house at 3:15 and got home at 11:30pm. On the drive home we wished we could drive all night we were having so much fun together. I'm going to miss her when she leaves on her mission in a few weeks.

Madalyn, soon to be a magnificent missionary!

Friday: All of Kait's and Kenna's stuff was moved into Thomas's room (you have to walk through Tom's room to get to theirs) so Kaitlyn was organizing it and vacuuming her mattress we threw in there too.

Thomas cutting a piece of wood paneling to patch a hole in the living room. While we're patching the girls's room two holes, we might as well patch this one too. It's been here since we moved in.

Thomas did a great job cutting a piece of wood paneling to match. Still need to do another coat of paint but it looks good. Not sure why the hole was there in the first place.

Makenna using the compass to draw a circle on paper for Thomas to use to cut a piece of sheetrock for the big round hole in her room.

Alexis doing something with her sourdough starter. I love going around watching everyone be productive.

Saturday: At a friend's 90th birthday party I loved seeing Andy pile his plate full of veggies.

Late into the night we organized all of Kait's fabric, folding and stacking it so it was easy to see and grab when she opened the drawer. She had a dresser stuffed so full you couldn't open any of the drawers.

The room all painted, both holes patched. Still need the bedding, curtains, and decorations. But it's coming along!