This Week at Our House # 12

1. We had a busy week with all of the regular stuff plus Ruth's birthday, a trip to the Temple and Easter. John did not hear anything from any jobs. We have increased how many he is applying to as well as the type of job.
2. I really needed that trip to the Temple. I am so glad that we did that. The Temple is about 70 miles away, but we would still like to be going twice a month. Our next trip will be for the youth. 
3. Ruth had her 18th birthday! She came home from school early to get in a good nap. She is now on spring break also included Friday for Good Friday.
4. Kate is a bit sad with Ruth turning 18. Ruth is Kate's best friend and has always been so. She will be lonely when Ruth leaves.
5. Johnny was a bit of a slacker with his school work, but so was everyone else.
6. Adam actually didn't slack on his work. He woke up early and had just about everything done by 10am.
7. Rachel sleeps in past 10 every morning. She always was the hardest to get up and motivated for school. Last year I told Rachel that she could hide Easter eggs this year. Good thing she remembered. I had completely forgotten. But she was very excited about it.
8. If the kids do their school work through the week, I let them take Friday as an extra reading and creative day. Anya has been using that time to build some impressive lego spaceships.
9. Joseph was terrible about his school work all week long, so he did not get his free time on Friday. He had to use it as a make-up day. But we are taking spring break along with Ruth, so I expect we will feel a lot better after a week of no school work.
10. Joshua is good at sitting and concentrating on things. I am hoping that will make it easy to teach him when he starts as a kindergartener next year.
11. Arwen changes her clothes way too much!!! It is driving me nuts because she will get into the folded, but not yet put away laundry and mess it all up.
12. Today Josh informed us that Suzy is not the cutest kid in the family, but  no one believes him. Suzy really is just an extra cute baby. Kate even said that she does not expect her babies to be as cute as Suzy because how can you beat her cuteness.

This Week's Pictures

Easter 2016

Happy Birthday, Ruth

It's happened. I have an adult child. Well, at least a child who can vote and will be graduating high school and leaving for college. Life will never be the same again. Up until now, all of my kids lived with me and my husband. It's sad and it's happy. Ruth is a gem. She has always been easy to live with and easy to get along with. She is fun and good and nice and athletic and pretty and smart. Though, she won't agree to all of that. I look forward to her many more birthdays even if we will not get to have them together.

This Week at Our House # 11

1. Well we heard nothing back from the job interview that John had last week, so I am sure that was another dead end. I guess we will just keep looking. John spends lots of time with the kids. He teaches Johnny and Kate math, he plays games with many of them, he draws with them, and he pushes Suzy on the swing. 
2. As I struggle with our situation, I often remind myself of the children of Israel in Numbers 13-14. Moses sent spies into the land they were to conquer. All but two of them came back saying that the people were strong and there was no way they could conquer them and their little children would be killed.They basically said, there was no way they could do what the Lord asked of them.The Lord's response was to punish them. He told them they could not go in and inherit the land. They then tried to take back their complaining and murmuring, but the Lord did not change His mind. He left them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, and then their little children who they complained would be killed, were the ones to conquer and receive the land for an inheritance. Faith and trust in the Lord really are expectations and prerequisites to blessings. I have struggled a lot with our situation recently. I am trying to have faith and to not murmur. I am trying to believe the Lord the many times He has whispered to us or told us in blessings that He would bring us out of this and that John would be able to support our family and that this long, hard trial will indeed come to an end.
3. Ruth turns 18 on Tuesday!!!! She has been tired a lot recently. I think early morning seminary and school wears her out. We have been applying for many jobs for her. Hopefully, Ruth will be employed soon too. The next step is to get her drivers license. Since we have only had the 15 passenger van or the breaking minivan, we have all been too intimidated to teach her to drive. But it has to happen now. The goal is for her to have her drivers license before she leaves for college in September and she is just going to have to learn to drive in a 15 passenger van.
4. Kate is very happy to be homeschooling. At first I was not sure about her choice, but the more time goes on, the happier I am about it. Kate has been taking walks with me to get some exercise in. I love having that time to talk to her.
5. Johnny reads scriptures to Joshua every night before bed and as a result, Josh just adores Johnny. In fact, Josh clings to Johnny and always wants to sit by him or on top of him.
6. Adam handed me a letter that said I love you from John and then later handed me another letter saying the first was a joke and not written by Dad. He also wrote another letter in code.
7. Rachel loves playing games these days. She asks me everyday to play a card game with her.
8. Anya started the letter writing game that the kids played for a couple of days. She wanted to be a messenger.
9. Joseph is ready for a vacation. He is having such a hard time doing any school work at all. I have to nag him a lot. Fortunately, spring break begins Easter weekend.
10. Joshua is getting a little better at going to bed. Since we moved here, he has not gotten to sleep before midnight. 
11. I think I can finally say that Arwen has a head full of hair. I have been waiting to say that for years.
12. My kids are reminding me to be a good mother to Suzy. She has been throwing screaming fits and just as I am about to give her what she wants, my kids remind me that is a bad idea and she should not get what she wants for screaming.

This Week at Our House #10

1. I can't believe we are already 10 weeks into the new year-- a fifth of the year gone. John had his job interview on Wednesday instead of  Monday because it kept getting postponed. He said it went well and he said they are considering him for 2 different positions. Maybe that is good; I don't know. John and I attended the Temple on Tuesday. It was wonderful to be back there and doing family names and having the quiet time to ponder and consider things. 
2. The weather warmed up quite suddenly this week, so I switched out all of the winter clothes for summer clothes on Saturday. My kids have been a little edgy with my choice to postpone turning on the air conditioner. But they have spent much of everyday outside anyway. I have been taking some good walks with Ruth and Kate. It's great getting exercise that I desperately need and having nice conversations with my teen daughters. I took the 7 youngest kids on a field trip to the beach and to a civil war barracks, Fort Macon, on Friday. I thought we would just move through the barracks quickly and that the kids would tolerate it, but they all loved it. Instead of me dragging them through it, they dragged me through it. They excitedly wanted to see every nook and krannie and dark, dank room. I am glad they loved the day so much. Their excitement made it fun.
3. The youth in the stake had a super Saturday where they went roller skating. Apparently, Ruth, Kate, and another girl who just moved in from Utah too, enjoyed the beautiful drive most of all. I need to help get Ruth applied for jobs and she needs to start studying for the driving exam. We decided to wait until she turned 18 to get her drivers licence because then she is not required to do anything but pass the tests.
4. Kate read Dracula this week. 
5. Johnny has been very helpful this week, and he has been trying hard to concentrate and get an in-depth understanding of his school subjects.
6. Adam loved the guns, cannons, cannon balls, and bullets displayed at the barracks. He was also one of the only kids to swim in the cold ocean water. Adam builds things. He builds with connex, legos, and blocks. He will make several different copies of his things trying to make improvements on them each time. 
7. Rachel loved Fort Macon too. She was down right excited to explore. Rachel has gotten better at getting her school work done quickly.
8. Anya spent as much time as she could outside riding her bike, climbing trees, digging for shells, and looking for frogs.
9. Joseph loved running through the barracks. He was a bit loud and a bit hard to keep track of, but it was a great place for him to get some of that little boy energy out. At the beach he mostly just laid in the sand because it was cold. Adam buried him once and I buried him a second time. The sand helped to keep him warm. 
10. Joshua loved being outside all day. There is a ditch around the whole neighborhood to catch runoff water and the kids were constantly looking for frogs in it. Josh loved the beach and the barracks too and he was really good at staying with me which I greatly appreciated.
11. Arwen loves dresses. For the summer, she has mostly dresses, so she changed her clothes about every 2 hours to wear them all in one day. Actually, Arwen changes her clothes all of the time anyway. 
12. Suzy loved the beach and the barracks and was just as excited as the rest of the kids. There is a porch swing at this house and Suzy loves me to swing with her on it. Suzy loves the outdoors. We have to keep a close eye on her because she will just sneak outside. Last week, if we did not know where Suzy was, it was because she was playing in the toilet. This week it is because she had escaped the house and was exploring the outdoors.

This week's Pictures