Fall Break

Monday morning I wasn’t quite sure who would be going to school. Jackson was up and said he was feeling better, although still not great. So we decided he could go ahead and go. Lincoln was still coughing a bit too and a little worn down but he went too. Bennett seemed much better and he and Miles spent most of their morning making random Lego creations. I was on the bike and they would come in and ask me to put together little pieces for them that they had trouble with. They each carry around a small collection of Legos in a plastic drawer from the drawer set that Lincoln is supposed to keep all of his Legos in. But being the accommodating brother that he is (most of the time) he gave them each one and gave them some of his Legos. So right now I don’t have toys scattered all across the family room, it is now Legos.

Andrew came home for lunch and the twins decided they wanted paper airplanes again which Andrew took care of. After lunch it was time for a nap and I finished up laundry and worked on billing, taxes, and transfers for the office until it was time to pick the older kids up from school. And thankfully our schedule looked pretty good afterwards. Since Lincoln was done with soccer, we didn’t have his practice and Jackson’s last football practices were Tuesday and Thursday. So that just left us with Ellie’s tumbling at 8. Lincoln wanted to finish up his monthly homework sheet so we did a few of those items including playing a game with his family. He wanted to play Candyland and his friend, Josh, stopped by just as we were getting started to he joined us too.  Bennett ended up winning.  I had dinner ready around 5:30 and we ate outside since we had been having such nice weather. It was kind of windy though and some of the paper plates would fly off the table. After dinner, Andrew threw the football around out back with some of the kids and then I had my helpers (the twins) help me with some watering after I cleaned up dinner. Then the kids all played out front until dark, which dark is now just 7. Bennett wanted to get out Lincoln’s back hoe and Miles said he would help him get it down the driveway. Next thing we know, Bennett is screaming as the tractor speeds down the driveway with Miles standing up at the top. He just let Bennett go. Thankfully Andrew was quick to react and was able to catch him before he flew into the street.  Next up was Ellie’s tumbling class. She started learning her actual routine which she was excited about. While she was in class I spent time reading and prepping for small group since I was in charge of leading the discussion for the week.  When we got home, Andrew got the kids to bed and then I finished up on my office work.

The next morning all the kids headed to school. The mornings were a little rough this week since most of them woke up with coughs and/or sore throats, but they seemed to feel better as the day went on. It was Lola’s birthday so we called her on the way to school to wish her a happy birthday.  It was also Bennett’s snack day so he was excited about being the leader. Miles was not very excited for him though J. After I dropped them off I ran by the bank and then back home and quickly made some brownies to send to school the next day for Parent Teacher Conferences. It was kind of embarrassing because I actually forgot to use cooking spray on the pan so they stuck to the bottom. I cut them up and put them on a plate but they didn’t look that great. I am just glad no one will know who they are from J.  I also decided to go ahead and pick up the playroom and the basement office, which has now become Lincoln’s Lego room. There were Legos everywhere and I would just shut the door. I finally gave in and picked it up. The storm clouds were rolling in when I went to pick up the twins and it started raining about 15 minutes after we got home. We had some thunder and lightning which we haven’t had in a while so the twins were captivated by it. Then they decided to build themselves another “hiding place” while it rained.

While the twins napped I worked some more on our taxes and spent some time on the phone with AT&T (about their outrageous cancellation charges) until it was time to pick up the others from school. That afternoon we had Lincoln’s Parent Teacher conference and it went really well. His teacher said she really enjoys having him in her class and he is doing well. His report card looked great and his only mark for needing improvement was for doing neat work. She thought he sometimes would rush through stuff to be the first done and it would sometimes be messy. The teacher had put together a couple of booklets to look at as you waited which were entertaining. He had a picture of him swimming in the ocean which was cute. And on the wall outside his room he had this artwork.

Ellie left for gymnastics in Macon while we were gone and then Andrew and Jackson left for football as soon as we got home. The twins had trains and their Magformers out for the afternoon and played with those and watched a bit of Hocus Pocus while I got dinner ready. Ellie got home just as I was finishing it up and then Andrew and Jackson got home a little later. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was on that evening so the kids watched that while I cleaned up dinner. I had told Lincoln what his teacher had to say about him and also brought up the point about needing to do neater work. He decided to start working on it right away and had me print off a picture with shapes so that he could practice coloring it and trying to stay in the lines. He was so excited to show it to his teacher the next day.

Wednesday got off to a decent start with the exception of Miles’ being upset that Bennett had the green underwear and Bennett taunting him about it. It was Miles’ turn to bring snacks and he was excited to be line leader. The big excitement of their day was that a fire truck came to their school. I asked them if they got go inside of it and they said they didn’t because they were scared. So I don’t know if that was true or if they just weren’t able to get in. After I dropped the kids off, things kind of went haywire. I already had a pretty busy day with getting the house cleaned, making snacks and finishing preparation for discussion for small group. Plus we also had Jackson and Ellie’s Parent Teacher Conferences.  It started with the pool closing just as I got there because of lightning in the area. Then there were things like wasting my time having to chat and call Amazon which took most of my morning and not having quite enough of what I needed while making small group snacks which all put me behind. There was also the lovely part when I was carrying a cup of milk and my lunch plate over to the counter and I slipped on a slick spot on the floor and spilled my milk all over the floor. In the end though I got the snacks prepped, the house all cleaned, was able to get my issue with Amazon totally resolved and got on the bike for a quick ride. Then I showered quickly and got ready to pick up the older kids from school. Andrew showed up just a little before I left to go on a ride. It was a great day for except for some wind. The temperature actually made it into the 80s. While we were waiting in line to pick up the kids I worked on preparing for the small group discussion some more.

Molly came over a little after we got home from school so she could watch the kids while we went to Parent Teacher Conferences. Jackson’s teacher was up first and she had great things to say about Jackson and that she really likes having him in her class. It was nice to hear that he actually participates in class and she said she loves talking to him and hearing his insight. He got straight  As and is reading at a 12.9 reading level which pretty much means he reads above a 12^th grade reading level. Then Ellie’s teacher just loves her and said she is definitely a bright spot in his class and a great role model. He has 24 kids in the class and quite a few rowdy ones so he said he really appreciates having her there. She also got straight As and is at a 5.4 reading level. Although the grades and reading levels are nice, I am more proud of what the teachers had to say about our kids’ character and that they really enjoyed having them in their classes. I know our situation could totally be different and I don’t want to take any of it for granted.

We got home from the conferences just in time for our pizza to be delivered. So we ate and Andrew took the kids outside while I finished getting everything ready for small group. Ellie brought out her mat too and worked on some of her tumbling moves. She also helped the twins and Lincoln do back flips J.

The discussion for small group went well and had us all thinking. We talked about passionately pursing Christ and not just checking things off of our “holy” to-do list. Miles came up part-way through the discussion wanting a cookie. The last time we had group, Danielle had made cookies so I think he was remembering that. Tears welled up in his eyes when I told him there were no cookies and we sent him back downstairs.  I have snacks downstairs for them so it isn’t like they are going hungry J. And he survived without any cookies. Thursday morning I did a 3 mile run on the treadmill and I ran all of it with minimal pain. Some things are still kind of sore and I can definitely feel it about 2 ½ miles in but I am excited that they are getting better. Andrew accidentally slept in so he just went ahead and got ready instead of going to the office first. I was thankful he was there because Bennett came down while I was on the treadmill with a nose bleed so he got him into the shower and got him cleaned off. I went have been pretty late if I had to do that too. I ran upstairs to check the damage in Bennett’s room and his bedding was fine except for a few drops here and there but there was quite a bit of splatter on the carpet beside his bed. So I just soaked a towel with cold water and set it on top of everything since I didn’t have to deal with it at the moment. I did have to remove the bed rail cover and wash it though. After that I quickly got breakfast for some of the kids and packed Lincoln’s lunch. He has been doing it himself more lately but I decided to just go ahead and get it done. Then I showered and got ready as quickly as I could and we were out the door to take the kids to school. I have started trying something new on the way to school. I do a devotional every morning before I get out of bed that is an app on my phone. It is called She Reads Truth and it has been something I have actually stuck with.  I have been doing it since the beginning of the summer and really like it. They have different plans that last from several days to several weeks. There is a new devotion for each day that includes several readings from the Bible, a commentary on the verses and then comments from other readers on what they are feeling about the verses/commentary. So I have decided to share what I have learned with the kids while we go to school. It also has helped me pay better attention and really try to learn something for myself from the studies.

After I dropped the kids off I had to go back home and get Andrew’s laptop for him and drop it by the office and then I did my grocery shopping. Back home I had to call AT&T again about them not disconnecting our U-Verse since we got another bill with them. Discontinuing service with them has been horrible. I tried to multitask and put away the groceries and start the meat for French dip sandwiches in the crock pot while I talked to them. Then Andrew called and said he could pick up the boys, which was great. With all the difficulty with AT&T that we have had, I was happy to get an email saying they were going to credit our account over $600 for the cancellation fees they tried to charge us. So at least I got something accomplished from all of my time on the phone with them. After they ate lunch (and after Andrew made them their obligatory lunch time paper airplanes), the twins and I headed upstairs to attack the blood stains. I broke down and bought a handheld  carpet cleaner at Wal-Mart and thankfully it was on sale. I just used cold water with it though since that is always the best with blood. It took a little bit but we finally got it cleaned up and the carpet cleaner had a tank half-full of red water-yuck. By the time we got it done, it was time for the twins to go down for a nap. And while they were down for a nap I was able to finish up laundry and our tax preparation documents and get them emailed to our accountant. That afternoon we only had to pick up Lincoln since the other two had Little K. Lincoln was so excited to tell me about how he got to have an extra recess and a certificate to Colton’s for having perfect attendance for the quarter. But he thought we should use the certificate that night and was disappointed when I told him we would have to do it later since I already had dinner going. Plus Jackson had his last football practice and Ellie had dance so everyone was going to be eating dinner at different times. I wrapped it up for Andrew to take to Jackson and Ellie so they could eat before their practices. He picked them up from K-Life and they ate while they went to Jackson’s practice. Then I picked Ellie up from there and took her to dance.

While they were gone, I cleaned up from dinner and then we headed outside to play until it got dark and we had to go pick up Ellie. The twins were excited to find some dandelions that they could blow. Andrew and Jackson got back from practice a little before we got back with Ellie and I surprised them by letting them know that we were going to the late showing of Pan that night in celebration of their awesome report cards and conferences. My mom and I had talked about taking them sometime over their “break”  but when I went to check out the times I noticed that Thursday was the last day it was going to be at the theater. So we decided to just go ahead and go.

It started at 9:25 and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stay awake but the kids were excited. The movie was pretty good and I think the kids found it entertaining so overall it was a good night. Lincoln’s night kind of went downhill after that though when I tried to get him to take some honey for his cough. He coughed quite a bit during the movie and I thought the honey would help him sleep better and keep him from waking others up especially since he wanted to sleep downstairs. He started gagging and spit most of it out. So we tried again in little bits but that wasn’t quite working either. So then we did cough medicine and about that time Andrew came into the bathroom wondering what was going on. Once I told him, he was determined to get Lincoln to take the honey. I told him he would get to clean up the mess if he threw up and I left to get ready for bed. After a bit, Lincoln was in the shower and Andrew was trying to figure out how to wash the bath rug that Lincoln threw up on. So it didn’t quite work and Lincoln was sent to sleep in his room instead of sleeping downstairs.

We all slept in the next morning, even Andrew but soon he was off to the office. It was a rainy day, dreary day so that definitely helped with the sleeping in. But then it was time for everyone to get up, get ready, have breakfast and then they had to do their big room clean of dusting, vacuuming and making sure everything was put away. Then I got on the bike and did an hour ride. I was stopped a few times to put together Lego pieces, help put together a plane and break up arguments about who was whose “best buddy”. That evening was Parents’ Night Out and Ellie had a birthday party to go to just down the street. So she and Grace walked down together. Andrew and I couldn’t make any decision as far as where we wanted to go eat. We would have done AJ’s but we decided that we would let Jackson stay home instead of going to the church so we thought we should stick around town and nothing sounded good. Plus we were both pretty tired. So we had a pretty lame “date night” but it was still good. We just ate whatever we had around the house (I had toast) and we watched Facing the Giants with Jackson which he enjoyed watching. But before the sun went down and we started the movie we had a little basketball practice with him since his season will be starting up soon. The twins and Lincoln had fun at Parents’ Night Out and were excited with their pumpkin lanterns that they made.

The next morning Andrew took the boys out to the ranch while Ellie stayed with me since she had Science on Saturday classes at Truman. I tried to get a run in before I had to take but I didn’t have time to shower so I just took her looking lovely. The biology major fraternity puts on Science on Saturday where they offer a variety of fun science classes to students to choose from. Ellie’s age group gets to choose three while Jackson’s age group gets four. Jackson was signed up, but we had to cancel his registration since his football game was moved to the afternoon. He was bummed about missing it. Ellie had a fun time and is already looking forward to doing it again in the spring. When I got back from picking Ellie up later, Andrew and the boys were home, muddy boots and all. It was quickly time to head out to Jackson’s final game and tailgating party. It was still pretty dreary and cool outside when it we got there. The final game is called the Orange and Black bowl. Each grade is broken into orange and black teams so they get to scrimmage each other for the final game. We had lunch before and then they handed out awards. Jackson got the Toughest Tiger award for the 5^th grade black team-made his dad proud J. Jackson had a great game. He thought it was his best. He had some great tackles, great coverage and ran the ball in for a two point conversion. Andrew’s parents were able to make it and the sun finally came out making a great afternoon for their last game. I think Andrew was sad to see it end.

When we got home, Andrew quickly headed out for a bike ride while I laid the twins down and got to work on some of my chores around the house. Jackson started working on his teepee for class by gathering and cutting twigs and then constructing the frame. Then that evening we went out for dinner at Colton’s. Lincoln had a gift certificate for perfect attendance that he was very anxious to use so I thought it would be a good night. The twins had a couple too that they had received at school. I was hoping to get there at 5 but Andrew didn’t get back from his bike ride until close to that time so we got there around 5:30 and it was already packed. We ended up having to wait over a half hour so Andrew took the younger boys and went to fill up the car but things went smoothly after we got to sit down. Well except for the occasional crying about random things. After we ate, we decided to continue our family fun night by doing some grocery shopping and getting pumpkins for the kids. The three oldest went with me into Aldi hoping to get pumpkins there but they were out, so we just got our groceries. At Wal-Mart, I just did some quick shopping and then we picked up pumpkins outside. The kids were excited to set them out on the front porch when we got home.

Sunday we went to the early service and then the kids and I went to my parents to meet up with them and head up to Pella while Andrew stayed behind to work. He also had to turn in Jackson’s football equipment. Since we had a four day weekend I thought it would be good to get out of the house for a little bit. We met Kaitlin and her family there to eat lunch, celebrate Lola’s birthday and check out where they were going to build their house. Pella is such a neat town. I love it because everything is clean, has great character and a Christian emphasis. We walked around the downtown area before we ate lunch. Kaitlin brought a cute Minnie Mouse cupcake cake to celebrate Lola’s birthday after we ate lunch. Then we drove out to the neighborhood where they will be building to let the kids play on the playground there, let Lola open her gifts and to check out their lot. It is a beautiful neighborhood and the park was fantastic. All the kids had fun on all the equipment. I think Kaitlin and Zane will really like it there. I think I would. But then it was time to head back home. We got home around 5:30 and hung out at my parents’ house for a bit because the kids really wanted to. But Andrew was waiting at home for us, so we needed to go. When we got home, the twins decided to dress up in the old Buzz Lightyear and Batman costumes and “fly” around the house. We also watched Hotel Transylvania and just chilled out before it was time to head to bed.