This Week at Our House # 26

1. It's July, and we are halfway through 2017! I always heard that the older one gets, the faster time flies! It's flying now. I remember when I had just two little girls and how the time just dragged. Now I miss that time. John worked and we looked at houses. He took Ruth, Kate, Johnny, and Adam to the Temple to do baptisms. There, he got the sad news that in January, the Temple will be closing for repairs for a year and a half. That means we will either have to go to Washington, DC or Columbia, SC.
2. We put an offer in on a foreclosed, run down, double wide with a 2 car garage on 3 acres for $50,000 and the bank gave it to the other offer which was a cash offer. We were pretty sad. The sale was supposed to be opened to families who needed a home only first. We even had to sign papers saying that we would move in asap after the closing and live there for a full year. Who with $50,000 in cash buys an old manufactured home to live there? We think someone lied and it was swooped out from under us by an investor. We were excited about a $400 a month house payment. It's not likely such a deal will come up again, and if it does, I am sure we will be in the same situation. So it is back to the drawing board. But at least we are working on it.
3. Ruth did baptisms at the Temple with her siblings. She reads scriptures for 2 to 3 hours everyday and she is going out with the missionaries. I am impressed at her dedication to be spiritually prepared for her mission.
4. Kate enjoyed her temple trip. She is looking forward to being able to put in her mission papers and take out her endowments. Kate is reading Mansfield Park to Ruth and Rachel and she is reading History of the Church with Ruth. 
5. When Johnny plays computer or video games, he sits Sam on his lap. Sam likes to watch Johnny play video games. It's pretty cute.
6. I am still seeing Adam sit down to read without being told. That is just so much better. But, Adam is not a computer game guy like many of his other siblings. His preferred activity is to be outside and that, of course, is very good. 
7. Rachel has always been a very emotional girl. We have been working with her recently to get her to stop reacting to everything she does not like with yelling. We know she will have a nuch happier life if she can get this fixed.
8. Anya drew a bunch of really nice dragon pictures this week. I am planning on having her work on drawing as part of her school curriculum this year.
9. Joseph has gotten Rachel, and Anya, and Adam into playing John and Johnny's favorite card game. We play a lot of games in our house.
10. Joshua likes to dump out huge amounts of toys and then play war with them.
11. Arwen and Susan are following in the path of Ruth and Kate by falling in love with The Land Before Time and playing with dinosaurs. Arwen is really good at picking up when I tell her to. She is quick and efficient and not quite 5 years old. (Of course, I love that.)
12. Susan is still not potty trained, so I have put her back in a diaper. It seems to have helped more, because she is telling us better when she has to poop. Josh was really hard to potty train too. Sometimes, I find myself wondering if there is something wrong with her. But other than speech that has been a little delayed, she has no signs of autism. She is friendly. She has great eye contact. She plays pretend and has for a long time, and she plays with the other kids more than she plays by herself. 
13. Sam climbs the stairs now, and he follows me all over the house. Wherever I go, Sam will not be too far behind. Sam expects different things from different people in the family. It's pretty cute. 

Pictures

Attempts to take passport photos for Ruth's mission president were pretty funny