The More the Merrier: This Week at Our House # 39

John and I went to the Temple this week. It is harder to get to the Temple here than it was in Utah. We have gone from a 10 to 15 minute drive to an hour and a half drive. But there is a bonus to it. The drive gives us a time to talk to each other alone. As parents of 10 kids living in a small house, we have very little privacy and almost no time to talk. The drive to the Temple is often refreshing. John is still trying to get in serious exercise everyday. It's hard to tell if he has lost much weight or not and that is discouraging to him. But he is much more active and doesn't need to sleep as much, so we are seeing benefits even if it is not the desired weight loss.
I am getting to the point where the pregnancy is all consuming and dictates every part of my life. I waddle more than walk now. Having a bathroom nearby is important and sometimes, I am just too tired to do anymore. But in some ways this pregnancy has been easier than the last two or three. The kids do a lot more around the house and they are a lot more understanding. Home schooling makes it a lot easier for me to rest. I take Kate and Johnny to seminary at 6:15, then we come home and go back to bed for an hour and a half or more. After that we do a fairly intense version of school with no breaks for a good 3 hours. Then we take an hour off for lunch finishing off the day about an hour after that. Not having to pick kids up or drop them off or get them dressed and fed in the same intense way and that lack of homework has made life a lot easier. The first time I tried homeschooling, I was so self conscience about the decision and tried so hard to get the kids involved in social events that it was much harder and busier than regular school. Now it is pretty relaxing on the whole.
Ruth seems to be doing well. She is not getting anymore sleep than she did in our busy household and I think it is because she stays up late with her roommates every night. Ruth has been blessed with 5 great roommates. She is becoming good friends with them all. They hang out together and get along and have the gospel standards in common. I think Heavenly Father is really blessing Ruth right now. During the General Womens Session of conference last night, I enjoyed texting, Ruth. I love that there are so many more ways to communicate now days than there were when I went to college. When I was off to college, I talked to my parents once a week or less. I communicate with Ruth most days through texting, email, or phone calls. Since we no longer pay per minute, that is just not a big deal and I continue to enjoy the relationship that I have always had with Ruth.
Kate talks and texts Ruth more than I do. We are starting to get her transcripts and stuff ready to apply to college. She will be starting her applications for BYU and BYUI in another week. I think she is a little nervous about this. Since she will have homeschooled the last year and a half of high school, things will not be as straight forward as they were for Ruth.
Johnny had his 15th birthday! he played soccer and several games with Kate, John, Adam, and Rachel as part of his birthday. I think he had a really good day.
I have been making Adam run a lot more. He does not like it, but it helps him to be calmer and more patient with his siblings and himself. He tends to see it as a punishment and in a way. I hand it out as a punishment. I did tell him that this was not just to punish him but to help him calm down and help him to be more competitive athletically with the other boys. That seemed to pacify him more on the matter and he was more willing to push himself harder. Since the the trampoline broke, Adam lost his main way of exercising and he needs that physical time.
We went to the local dairy farm that sells ice cream. Rachel ordered a giant waffle cone and ate the whole thing.
Anya somehow made it through the first eight years of her life in our home without learning anything about the gospel. John has been having her read one page a day in the Book of Mormon and then she has to report what she read and what it means before she is allowed to build legos. That seems to be doing the trick. She can now read a verse in the scriptures and say something other than I don't know about it and she is a finally paying enough attention to know things like Jesus was resurrected and baptized.
I have Joseph running along side Adam, and even more. As a result, he is sitting better for his school work and going to bed much better.
Joshua handed me his dirty clothes and I noticed that he had a giant gaping hole in his underwear. I exclaimed that the hole was huge. Josh said, "I know. what should we do about it?" I said that we would have to buy him new underwear. Josh shuddered (he has always hated getting new clothes). Josh said that he thought tape might work or maybe staples. It was a pretty funny conversation.
For the most part my kids have changed a lot from the age of 3 to the age of 4 and that is definitely the case for Arwen. She is growing up, doing more, and trying out new things. She has been saying some rude things almost by way of experiment. She is learning more during Josh's kindergarten lessons. I don't push it on Arwen at all, but she pays attention and is picking up her letters and sounds, and counting and adding more. Arwen likes to remind everyone that she is a big girl.
Suzy has been getting in to everything and playing in the toilets once again. There were a few weeks when we did not need to keep all of the bathroom doors closed, but then she became interested in the toilets again. She is really good at climbing things without getting hurt and will get into whatever she wants no matter how high it is. This is frustrating to the older kids who have to diligently keep their things put away and out of reach of the younger kids.
We now have a boy name and a girl name that we both agree on for this new little baby. I am 33 weeks pregnant, so in just another 2 months we will be living in newborn heaven and new born haze. I think we are all looking forward to meeting this little one which we expect is the caboose.