This Week at Our House # 25

1. John is still working from home as a contractor. This week things went a bit slowly for him as he is trying to implement the thing he wrote into javascript and get it on the web. This is the first time he has ever done front end web development. But what he has does works well and is very accurate. 
2. We are getting our house ready to sell. I've been packing and cleaning out much of the summer, and now I am painting the walls. It's a slow process and so time consuming. I was thinking the house would be on the market by now, but it is looking like it will be another month before it is ready to go.
3. Ruth has been either working or helping me paint. This may not be a fun summer, but at least the kids are learning how to work hard and do practical things like difficult yard work, wall repair and painting.
4. Kate painted all of the doors to the bedrooms and closets in our upstairs. She has been doing a really good job. She has also found the time to read 2 books and is onto a 3rd. 
5. Johnny painted the upstairs hallways with me yesterday. He does a really good job and he is just so pleasant about it. He's been working hard all summer long and he has not complained once. He's really an amazing kid. I asked him about his scripture study and he said that he has 26 pages left in the Old Testament and then he will have completed the standard works. That includes reading the Book of Mormon at least twice and the Doctrine and Covenants 3 times. He will have accomplished this all before the age of 14. I am humbled that such a good kid is my son. 
6. Adam helped paint two bedrooms. He's does a pretty good job except that he gets paint everywhere!!! Adam is finally starting to read on his own because he wants to. His favorite things to read are Foxtrot comic books. They may not be the best thing, but I am over the moon excited to see him pick up something and read on his own for a couple of hours. At night I read to the older kids, and Adam is now getting interested in stories. I think in time, he has a real chance of loving reading.
7. Rachel has been the main baby sitter while I paint. I think it is a tough job for a 9 year old. She has been begging to paint and the older kids tell her how they always felt that way and now that they have to paint, they wonder what they were thinking because it is so boring. Rachel will get her turn, I am sure. But she is doing a good job taking care of the younger kids. She has been reading to them everyday and then playing games with them.
8. I have been so busy trying to keep up with the normal chores along with doing the extra work, that I have had very little time with middle kids. Anya is one of those. She is old enough to take care of herself, but too young to help with all of the work, so she kind of gets left by way-side. I feel guilty, but I have remind myself that what we are doing must be done, parents have done this for generations, and their kids have still turned out well. But I have let Anya stay up a little extra late if she wants to. Last night she slept on my legs while I read to the older kids. 
9. Joseph's primary teacher said that he is a very active child (boy do I know that) but that he knows so much and reads so well and can come up with the best answers. I know that too. Joseph really knows his scriptures.
10. I took Josh to his primary class today. All I can say is that I am glad that I am not the teacher. His class has all wild boys. I made Josh be reverent and good and sit when he was supposed to sit, but he still gave answers that were opposite of what he knew he should say. But he was good while I was there. I can see why he is having trouble, because there is one boy who is very difficult and has a tendency to get the other boys riled up. I think I will just continue to go to his class to help him to know how to behave. His teachers bring their husbands in to help and the class is still very, very wild. I know his teachers were glad that I came. They said bringing parents in has been mixed. Sometimes, like in the case of Josh, the kids behave better, and sometimes it is much, much worse.
11. Arwen loves her clothes and changes them 4 to 5 times a day. Some days when I don't have time to do a lot of laundry, she runs out of clothes and then wanders around naked.
12. Suzy has mom radar. She can find me no matter where I am in the house.

This Week's Pictures

This Week at Our House #24

1. Happy father's Day to John. He's such a good Dad. He spends one on one time with each of the kids every week. He will often find things they like to do and do it with them even if he hates it. In fact, he started playing basketball with Adam because Adam loves basketball, but John absolutely hates basketball. When John was a missionary he would sit down and do math research while the other missionaries played basketball.
2. We bought a nice camera this week. I plan to start doing some photography to earn money for missions and colleges and for a back up if John is ever unemployed again. It's been fun getting to know the camera some. I have been working on using photoshop and I plan to get to know that a lot better too. It's kind of fun to take up a new hobby, and one that I have always had some interest in.
3. Ruth worked and rested and that was about all. She and I have had a bit of a sinus infection, so feeling bad for me, she has taken it upon herself to do dishes and such a little more.
4. Kate has been my cleaning everything out help. I keep her so busy and tired that on Monday she said, "Mom, you have a lot of energy for an ol... nevermind."
5. John bought some new video games for the kids this week, so I didn't have much interaction with Johnny other than "Get off the computer and do you chores," and "good night, mom. I love you."
6. Adam has been playing video games right along side Johnny all week. Adam however takes a little time to talk to me. He asked me if he looks better in his glasses or not. I said not, and noticed that he is now taking them off for pictures.
7. Once again Rachel is making a concerted effort to be less argumentative and is doing a good job. I suspect this will be a temptation for her for much of her life, but it is good that at such a young age she understands and is trying to be better about it.
8. Anya took a black binder and made it into her pretend laptop. She has since used it to write stories. That is just so cute and makes me so happy.
9. I noticed some black stripes on our toilet paper as well as some black smudges on our toilet seat and I knew that Joseph got a Sharpie.
10. Joshua has become quite the amazing artist. I am astonished at how good his pictures are. I will have to photograph some and put them up. Three months ago he could not even draw a face.
11. Arwen, my dear, is potty trained!!!!!! I have not had to tell her to go at all. I don't even know when it happens, I just know that she is dry! And for the first time in a very long time, we only have one kid in diapers full time and I am not pregnant.
12. Suzy of course had her birthday. She got a little fisher price smart phone and loves it. It plays music and she dances. She loves pushing the buttons too.

This Week's Pictures

Suzy's Birthday!

My darling,spunky, little Suzy, turned one today! It's bittersweet. Babyhood goes so quickly. We're so glad that she is a part of our family. She's been such a fun little baby. We'll miss these sweet days, but we look forward to the joy she will bring in the future.

This Week at Our House # 23

1. John worked a fairly long week. He needs to get everything finished up. He's been working on getting our back yard looking better. While it definitely needs more work, it's looking transformed.
2. We had our second full week of summer vacation. I sent the 3 oldest kids to Lagoon (our local amusement park) on Tuesday, and then Ruth and Kate were gone Wednesday night through Saturday for youth conference, so I was a little busier without my most reliable helping hands. 
3. Ruth had a fun week. She worked Monday, but then had the rest of the week off for Lagoon and youth conference. She had a week of fun. Youth conference was river rafting. The first night rained, so they were pretty cold, but the next day it was pretty hot and they had fun going down the river. Of course she came home pretty tired. 
4. Kate had a really fun week. She had some good friends with her on the raft during youth conference, so she kind of lucked out in that way. 
5. Johnny LOVED Lagoon with his sisters. I let them spend the entire day there. But Johnny did not get to go to youth conference, so he stayed home helping me with some pretty heavy duty house cleaning and repairs. He did two dump runs with me, and a lot of yard work with John. He's definitely getting a taste of real hard physical labor. 
6. Adam likes to wear his pajamas in the house. He gets annoyed when I tell him to get dressed because he likes his clothes and is worried about ruining them. It's pretty funny really. I took the 8 youngest kids to This is the Place State Park for Huntsman Day (which was free with free ice cream). Adam LOVED it. He was fascinated with the blacksmith, the wood workers, and the tinsmith. As we were leaving, Adam said, "Thank you, for such a great Friday."
7. Rachel told me how unfair it was that Adam is a big kid and can do big kid things and how she is only a year younger than him. I reminded her how when Adam was 5 he said he wanted to be a big kid, so I told him that he could be if he did chores like a big kid, which he did. I also reminded her that I had told her that she could do big kid things if she did big kid chores and she told me that she just wanted to be a little kid. So Rachel said that she will be a big kid now and do big kid chores, but she has not been very successful.
8. Anya's in a bit of the same dilemma as Rachel. She wants to be a big kid and stay up until midnight, but she is not there, not even a little bit. She needs her sleep for one, and unlike the older kids, she expects me to hold her and cuddle her and play with her until midnight. Since I need my time to be me instead of mom, I just can't do that until midnight.
9. Joseph is having a good summer. He had a lot of fun at This is the Place State Park. He loved the pony ride and panning for gold and the little play houses. 
10. I think Josh is actually potty trained. He's really not wetting his pants anymore. I'll have to keep a close eye on it, because he gets a train ride when he finally finishes this process. Although he did get a mini train ride at This is the Place.
11. Arwen is potty trained for the most part. She rarely wets her pants. She takes herself to the bathroom, cleans herself up, and washes her hands. She's fiercely independent compared to Josh.
12. Suzy's birthday is Friday. She is a funny, stubborn, cute little girl. We all adore her, so she's pretty soiled.

This Week's Pictures