Loving This Fall Weather

This past week started out as usual. Andrew took the older three to school on Monday while the twins and I stayed home. I did an hour bike ride that was interrupted a few times to open fruit snacks, break up a fight and wipe a couple bottoms. The twins pulled out several board games while I was riding and had a nice mess by the time I was done. They did do a pretty good job cleaning up when I asked them though. I got ready and then we ran some errands. We took our stuff by the thrift store, made some deposits for the office at the bank and then ran by Home Depot to return the faucet valves I didn’t use and to buy some magnets for a craft for Ellie’s party. On our way home, I called up an insurance broker about new health insurance. Looking for health insurance is such a fun experience now.  Andrew was home for lunch when we got home so I told him about our possible plans. I love how our coverage will be pretty much the same but our premiums will at least double. After lunch, the twins played for a bit and then it was nap time. 

While they napped I jumped back and forth between trying to figure out Christmas gifts, looking at insurance plans, doing laundry, calling AT&T yet again for another bill on an account that had been canceled, and working on birthday stuff for Ellie and the twins. Then it was time to pick up the kids. We finished up homework and then the kids were anxious to get outside and I started some spaghetti sauce for dinner. Andrew came home early and thought about going for a bike ride but decided to go out back and practice basketball with Jackson until it was dark.  Then we had dinner and soon it was time to take Ellie to gymnastics.

Tuesday morning I got a bike ride in and then got ready and took the kids to school.  A lot of my day was spent working on party stuff. Since I had my Silhouette out I went ahead and cut out birthday items for both Ellie’s and the twins’ birthdays. I did cupcake toppers, thank you tags, and cut-outs to use for the glass bead magnet craft for Ellie’s birthday and cupcake toppers and train cars for the twins’ party. I also cut out food labels for the leaders’ dinner and thank you tags for a little service project we plan on doing with the kids over Thanksgiving. The Silhouette got a workout. While it was all cutting I got to work taking apart and cleaning off some small tin containers that were used as wedding favors for our wedding to use to hold the magnets that the girls make. The containers had sand and little seashells in them and writing on front that needed to be cleaned off. By the end of all of it I got to mark off quite a few items on my to-do list. Andrew actually picked up the twins from school which gave me just a little more time to finish up and clean up. I have to jot down a cute moment right now in the twins’ life and it is when Andrew heads back to work after lunch (and also bed time). He has come up with different types of hugs that they request now including the Mickey Mouse hug where he talks like Mickey Mouse or the Pluto hug where he acts like Pluto and finally the spooky hug where he makes “ghost” sounds. They love it and Andrew is good at coming up with fun stuff like that for the kids.

Ellie had gymnastics that evening and rode with our friends this time. I was attending a women’s dinner/event with Leah at their church so she offered to take me and Joe offered to take Jackson to basketball practice so Jackson walked with me to the Vincent’s house and we went our separate ways. The dinner was called an IF:Gathering which is actually part of a larger event that happened earlier in the year. It is kind of like a women’s conference and we watched some replays of the simulcast. Since it was a whole weekend thing, we only saw a small part of it but they are hoping to do it a few more times so we can hear all of it. They did a great job with the decorations and food. It was a simple dinner of sandwiches but they had each sandwich in a little paper tray with a little cup of salad, a few Pringles, and an individually wrapped slice of cheese. After we ate dinner, they had a short worship session and then played the replays. They were very moving messages regarding “If” we really believe that God is real, why don’t we show it and act upon it. I look forward to hearing the rest. We got home a little later than I thought we would, around 9:30, and everyone was already in bed. I tried to move around as quietly as I could and pick stuff up and get ready for the next day.

Lincoln ended up in bed with me around 3:45 Wednesday morning. A couple hours later I got up and started my Wednesday cleaning. When Lincoln got up he was very whiny and said his head hurt and he said he couldn’t move his legs. I went back and forth on whether to send him to school. He can sometimes be dramatic, so I had him go ahead and get ready. He had moments of seeming fine but I took his temperature and it was at 99. I had him go ahead and bring everything with him as we took off to drop everyone off and he was crying saying he didn’t feel good so I finally decided to let him stay home. As soon as I made the call while we were waiting to take the twins in, he perked up quite a bit and the crying stopped. So he spent the day just lying around watching TV. I was disappointed I wasn’t able to go swimming so I got on the bike at home and got stuff ready for small group which we had later that night. Lincoln was feeling much better by then. He was disappointed though when Ty came over to see if he could play and I had to tell them no, since Lincoln was out of school sick that day.

Thursday morning I got everyone dropped off at school and then did my grocery shopping. I was needing another soap container for our Christmas Child boxes and Wal-Mart was still out of the. So I checked Dollar General and Dollar Tree with no luck. I had to run by the bank too, so I got that done and headed home. I ended up getting Jackson’s soap container out of his trunk and cleaned it out. I wanted to make sure we included one so that the boy could keep his soap clean. After we picked up the older kids from school, we dropped the boxes off at the Williams’ house since they were collecting them for our church. Kelly and I ended up talking for about 10 minutes so the kids were a little antsy when I got back to the car but Kelly wanted to know if they wanted to see their little goats. Ellie and Jackson loved them while Lincoln looked at them for a little bit and then headed back to the car. The twins didn’t have any shoes or jacket (it was super windy) so they got cold easily. Plus they were a little unsure about these creatures that were about the same size as them.

That evening we went to my parents’ house for dinner. The kids were excited to go because we don’t get over there very much as busy as everyone has been lately.  First we had to drop off Ellie at dance.  Andrew met us over there and we enjoyed a yummy dinner before Andrew had to take Jackson to basketball practice. The twins weren't eating very well but then my dad got his train set out. I told them they had to eat if they wanted to play with the trains. Bennett quickly ate his meal but Miles struggled a bit.

Then I had to pick up Ellie and I brought her back so she could get some dinner.  Then it was time to head home and get ready for the next day. Andrew went to the ranch Friday morning to work his cattle. My mom came over, we dropped off the older three at school and then headed to Columbia with the twins. I returned some stuff at Kohl’s and then we went to Hobby Lobby. I was disappointed that they didn’t have all of their Christmas stuff out yet. They didn’t even have all of their wrapping paper out. We had lunch at Olive Garden where the twins didn’t really eat anything. After a few more stops we were heading back to Kirksville including Target where Miles talked about how the mannequins got their heads chopped off.  Andrew had picked up the kids from school and then they went back out to the ranch to fix some of his fence plus they got to build a bonfire and check out Granny and Papa’s new puppy. 

I got all of my stuff put away and worked on dinner. I had set some frozen taco meat out to thaw for oven tacos so dinner was very easy that night and most of the family really likes them. After Andrew and the kids got home I went through all of their papers in their backpacks and saw that Lincoln got a 100% on his first “spelling” test.  For a kid who struggled to learn his letters this summer, we were so proud of him. Later I took Lincoln and the twins over to my dad to have him check them over. Lincoln’s throat had been hurting and the twins had been stuffed up and coughing for a few days. But they were all good and after a little time on the iPad and eating several cookies, we headed home.

Andrew, Jackson and Ellie had been getting all of their hunting stuff ready since deer season started the next day. They were up around 5 getting ready to go. I had to make sure to get a picture of them before they headed out. 

I didn’t go back to sleep after that and spent some time looking through Amazon’s deals and doing my bible study. Lincoln and the twins got up a little later. Lincoln joined me in bed and asked me about my study. I usually try to share with them what I studied each morning on the way to school and if I forget, Lincoln will usually ask me about it. But our morning was also a typical morning with boys. When Lincoln first came into the room, he asked if I heard him toot out in the family room. With a big smile on his face, he said it was a big one. Then Bennett came in with just his pj shirt on and no bottoms, so I asked him where his underwear were. He showed them to me and said that they weren’t stinky underwear. I told him that was good because Lincoln’s were. Then Lincoln asked Bennett if he heard his big toot. They all got in bed with me while I worked on this blog post but the wrestling around soon started so they ended up down in the basement. They also play a little game now where the twins act like puppies and Lincoln leads them around.

The hunters got home around 11:30. They cut it short so that Andrew and I could go on a bike ride. It was a nice sunny day, besides the wind, and probably one of our last chances to get out before the winter sets in. It was so crazy that we could go out with our shorts and light long-sleeved shirts in the middle of November. Molly came over to watch the kids for us and we headed out. We went out on Highway 3 which is a popular route for cyclists but I had never been that way. The wind was out of the south, southwest so it was kind of brutal on the way out. We took 3 all the way to 156 and turned around to head home. The ride home was much more pleasant and we ended up with 24 miles.

Then Andrew, Jackson and Lincoln headed back out to hunt until the sun went down. I laid the twins down for a nap, cleaned up and showered before I went outside to prune back our rose bushes for the winter. Ellie and Faith had been playing outside all day and came in to see if I had any ideas of what they could do. They turned down my offer for them to help me prune the bushes though. Ellie did help me later in the evening with a couple of desserts I was making for the K-Life dinner. We made chocolate-frosted peanut butter bars and pumpkin bars. Then that night I made one last grocery trip to get last-minute items for the dinner and for the first part of the week. When I got home, Andrew had all the kids in bed and he was asleep himself. From the looks of it, Lincoln and the twins got into the Halloween costumes and pulled out some superhero and even the Thomas costume. It took me a while to get everything put away, switch out some laundry, pick up and then finally collapsed into bed.

Andrew went hunting the next morning and the rest of us skipped church. With the dinner that night I knew I had a lot to get done, especially while still having the 5 kids around and trying to conquer the mounds of laundry that a hunting weekend brings. They did their best to get me off track as there were quite a few fights, crying, screaming…you know five kids playing (we have started the "Santa is watching you" and I think it is going to have some impact-the twins take it pretty seriously). They also had their good moments and Ellie became my number one helper. She washed the potatoes, helped prep the salad, ran things back and forth for me and prepped the meat and cheese trays among other things. 

Andrew got home around 12:30 but it felt like he had been gone a long time. He got lunch for the kids while I kept plugging. At the end of it I had cooked four pounds of hamburger, five pounds of chicken, 7 pounds of pasta, 5 pounds of potatoes, 3 pounds of carrots and four large loaves of garlic bread along with the salad and desserts. While the twins napped, the older kids spent most of the afternoon playing outside enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures. The time went by quickly and everyone came together in the end to help me with the finishing touches and getting it all loaded into the car, including Batman.

We had to stop for ice on the way which put us just a bit behind schedule but we still made it to the K-Life house before six so we were doing okay. We got everything set up, prayed with everyone and then they all started eating. The twins were excited to see Charlie there since they are in the same class at school. They had fun running all over the house. We also got to meet the director of operations from K-Life Nationals. And we actually had food left over this time since there weren’t quite 50 there. But it never goes to waste since several college students live in the house and the adjacent apartment and they appreciate any leftovers. Even though it is kind of crazy, we are so thankful for all that the volunteers and Kevin and Chelsea do for the kids in our community and are happy we can provide a meal for them.

After we got things cleaned up we headed home. I was grateful I had been cleaning up after myself throughout the day so I didn’t have a big mess to clean up when I got home because I was tired. I just had to clean up some of the dishes and utensil we had taken with us that weren’t disposable and that was it. Andrew snuck downstairs to watch some TV and fell asleep. I gave the twins a bath, some Tylenol (they both have had earaches that I think are just from congestion since my dad said they looked good a couple days before) and they were in bed a little before nine and I followed a little after.