This Week at Our House # 37 Lots Got Done

Last Saturday I checked the weather and it said there would be no rain for a full week. I decided that we could make double the dinner on Sunday, so we could have it two nights, and then would have time for an after school beach trip on Monday. Just as we were leaving for the beach late Monday afternoon, we noticed storm clouds in the distance. About 2 miles out, there was mild rain. I decided to keep going, thinking the storm was in the opposite direction of the beach. I was wrong and we drove into a huge storm. At that point however, we were far enough and decided to at least get ice cream cones at the grocery store near our beach. Once we went over the

bridge there was no storm. However, when we arrived at the public beach, there was a police car blocking off the entire road. We went and got ice cream and talked about going to a further beach, but by then there was loud thunder and visible lightening. We went home and drove through an even bigger storm. The weather man, as usual was wrong. And it turns out that the tornado that touched down on Emerald Isle during the hurricane, hit our closest beach and will be closed for a while. We thought the double dinner on Sunday was a good idea, so we are

going to try and get to the beach again tomorrow. We will have to go to a beach further out, though. One funny little note was when we arrived home, Sam said to Ruth, "We go back home and died. it rain it rain!"

The rest of the week was pretty good. Rachel is struggling with school, but everyone else is doing well, mostly enjoying what they are learning and getting their work done. I am not sure what to do about Rachel. She is completely unconvinced that she needs to learn anything at all.
Susan finally lost her first tooth. When it came out, there was no drama at all because she waited until it completely dropped out.

Tuesday, I did our weekly grocery trip. Kate and a bunch of the little kids came along with me, while Adam stayed home to do some mowing and Ruth rallied the kids that were home and got the house cleaned. Kate and I are a great team shopping. We have been doing it together for a good number of years, and we have a good system. We got through to stores with long lists and a bunch of little kids very quickly by dividing the list.

I came home with a sushi platter, sold at Sam's Club, and frozen egg rolls for dinner. This is one of those times where I realize what a large group we are. The sushi platter was gone, including the pickled ginger, in less than 10 minutes, and all 32 egg rolls were eaten there after.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I worked on mowing the lawn. I am doing more of the mowing to get more exercise in. When I mow the little kids come out and play outside. Joseph has been working on building a hill for our yard. He spent about the same amount of time on that, as I have spent on mowing.

For a science lab, I bought the kids some little glass chips from the dollar store. They thought they made good Go pieces. Go is a Japanese game. Adam decided to make a Go board. He spent several hours on getting the lines straight, carved, and inked. Then late on Friday, he stained and polyed it. It looks really nice and the kids have spent hours playing Go. They are allowed to read and watch an anime called Hikaru No Go. That is the main reason why they are familiar with the game.

Adam and I fixed the wood finish on our countertops of Friday. That was interesting, because we use the bar in our kitchen all day. It is the heart of the home. The kids were not used to having to stay away from it. But no one seemed to get wet stain and polyurethane on them, so it turned out well.

Adam and I also cleaned out the garage on Friday. That was hot and hard and gross. And later that evening, I finished mowing the south side of our house. I have the north side left, which I will do on Tuesday.

The 40-something year old, drug addicted son of one of our neighbors has moved into a camper on his father's lawn. When he was out mowing his father's yard this week, John brought all of the kids into the house. Josh looked at him from the window and said, "That too drugged man is creepy." He is. When he mows on the riding lawn mower, he talks to himself and hoots and hollers. One time, I heard him say, "Woohoo. I am the man." He's a sad sight. I think our kids have had all the education they need to get on why you are not supposed to do drugs.

Generally we live in a very quiet place. In fact, John was sitting outside with Arwen. She heard a car drive by, seemed surprised and asked John what that noise was.

Kate said that while she was transcribing "good weather for sleighing", Joseph with great concern asked "What kind of slaying?" We thought that was a pretty funny misunderstanding.

Anya spends a lot of time drawing. She has one girl character that she draws everyday. Sometimes she will spend several days on one drawing. If you want to know where Anya is, she is likely sitting down

with her drawing board.

Ruth sent me this about Arwen, "I hugged her and said goodnight and she put her eye against my cheek, blinked and said she had kissed me with her eye."

Gideon wants to be walking. He holds on to furniture to get around and when the furniture ends, he always tries to take a step before getting down and crawling.

Johnny, forgetting that Gideon cannot walk yet, set him down on his feet. Gideon stood for a moment before falling down. Johnny said that Gideon actually can stand. Well, not long enough to be left with nothing to hold onto yet. 

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