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