This Week at Our House #41

1. We survived our first North Carolina hurricane. It was only a category 1 by the time it got our way. We had a lot of wind and whole lot of rain. Many people lost electricity and had mild flooding, but we had neither. We just didn't go anywhere during the worst of the storm. Our van is not that great to drive in wind, rain, or snow. People talked about how the roads were flooded and cars were spinning off into the road side ditches. John had his 45th birthday on Friday. He asked for and received a gps watch for exercise. Kate and I made homemade chocolate pudding and homemade angel food cake that we served with ice cream. It all turned out well and John had a nice birthday. The kids reminded him that he is now half way to 90.
2. The week was not busy other than the regular things we always have to do. I did not have lots of places to go. We had originally planned on visiting Kitty Hawk, NC for a homeschool field trip on Saturday, but cancelled that because of the hurricane. On the whole, it was a pleasant and restful week.
3. Ruth is swamped with homework and has officially decided to prepare for a mission after her first year at BYUI has ended. 
4. Kate needs to start getting her stuff ready to apply to college. She will be applying to BYU and BYUI. 
5. Johnny keeps forgetting that he is 15 now and will correct people and tell them that he is only 14.
6. Adam went to the store to get the things he needs to make homemade charcoal. He will do that as part of school this week. Then he will use his charcoal to make a water filter. That is just the sort of thing Adam likes to do.
7. Rachel met a kid named Grant during her activity days on Tuesday. She said that since his name was Grant, he could Grant wishes. He said he could only grant one, so Rachel wished for a million wishes. Then she began to wish. She wished for perfect teeth, to never sweat, to have perfect skin, to have green-blue eyes, to never grow arm pit hair, and to never have armpit sweat marks. Grant stopped her and told her she could not wish for that much. Rachel said that he did not have that power because he didn't have a swirly.
8. Anya was grounded from computer usage for a long time because she did not know anything about the Savior, religion, or the scriptures-- which ought to be impossible growing up in our house. We tried a number of things to get her to listen to family scripture study and to pay attention when she reads her scriptures. It took a long time, but now she is doing it and doing an exceptional job. Anya is officially ungrounded. Another side benefit of forcing her to pay attention to what she reads in the scriptures is that she is reading a lot more and on her own. She has read several books this week and it wasn't so hard to get her to read her school book.
9. Joseph loved playing outside during the hurricane, but it made him cold. He took 3 showers on Saturday and I said no to two others that he requested. 
10. Joshua whines to much. I wish I had a magic stop the whining potion.
11. Arwen is very excited about Halloween. She reminds me everyday that she still needs a costume, though she changes her mind about what she wants to be nearly everyday. The last couple of days, she has been asking me how many days until Halloween. 
12. I took the dress up down from the attic and Susan has been dressing up as a princess every day since then. She mostly refuses to wear regular clothes.

Tender Mercies

1. Home school is much cheaper than I would have expected. We no longer have hundreds of dollars in school fees, we no longer have to buy the kids new clothes all of the time, there are no expensive school projects unless we choose it. The books, workbooks, pencils, paper, crayons, and glue are not that much. And how much a thing costs has always been a big deal for our family.

This Week's Pictures

Early part of the hurricane. We got a lot of rain.

the neighbor's yard flooded early in the day

You can see how the wind was bending the stop sign and all of the water in the ditch

Later in the day, the water was coming up to the neighbor's house

the wind was blowing so hard this tree was bending all over. In the morning it had less than half its leaves

This week at Our House # 40

1. It's October and there are only 12 weeks left until the new year!! Fall is here and the weather has pleasantly cooled down. We still run the a/c, but it is not very hot and the kids are spending a lot more time outdoors again. John had his normal week of work and exercise and time with the family. We are at a good period with our family now. Through home school and John working at home we have more family time than at any other time in our marriage. It is a great blessing to have John home and around the kids and such an intimate part of our lives. 
2. I really enjoyed General Conference this past weekend. I felt like the 15 apostles stood as watchmen on the tower in a way that I have not heard for years and I really appreciated that. I appreciated the warnings about the philosophies of man and the strong teachings on the atonement and what repentance truly involves. On a side note, the pregnancy is moving along. I have 6 weeks to go. I can hardly stand up without having contractions. I saw the midwife on Friday. The heart beat is good and I am measuring exactly right. I am having a lot of contractions-- maybe more than usual. After the midwife appointment, I took 6 of the kids to see a natural science museum in downtown Raleigh. The kids all enjoyed it and a few have asked to return. 
3. Ruth is doing well, though she is requesting prayers for help with her art class. There is a lot of work. She is graded by a teacher who lives out of state and does not reply to emails. She would like feedback to help her improve and the computer system for the school has been a big problem for everyone. On the other hand, she is in a room with all great roommates. They even have honorary roommates who prefer to be in their peaceful, friendly apartment. Apparently, there are a couple of apartments of guys that hang out at their apartment all of the time. I texted Ruth and asked what she would be doing with no good guys to hang out with during the priesthood session. Ruth called back and said they were watching it at her apartment. This is the social life Ruth craved through high school. I do feel like she has been blessed for always trying to be the best she can be. Oh, and apparently Ruth was awarded a full tuition scholarship, and she always thought she was stupid-- silly girl.
4. Kate is my right hand man. She serves in the house all day long. She spends lots of time each day taking care of and playing with her younger siblings. The younger kids all love and look up to her. When Kate decided to home school last January, I wasn't sure it was the right thing, but she prayed and received inspiration so I went along with it. As a result, she has a much more rigorous study schedule, but a lot more time with the family. She stands as a great example to the younger kids.
5. Johnny went with me as the mothers helper to the museum. He would have rather stayed home, studied, and read, but he came along and he was a great help, particularly when it came to navigating. I think I could have handled all of the kids, but I am not sure I could have made it to the museum without somewhat helping me find the way. 
6. I am finally getting the rest of Adam's school books bought. We bought a science book from half and it came in Spanish, even though it was advertised in English. Fortunately, we got a full refund. I then spent more money and ordered another one through Amazon. Adam is looking forward to getting the rest of his books.
7. Rachel has been really improving a lot lately. For her whole life she has argued for the sake of arguing. She would fight against things that had nothing to do with her and even against things that she liked simply because someone else would suggest it. She has been working really hard at getting over this and has made significant progress. We have been really pleased with her efforts to mature, work hard, and not rebel.
8. Anya loved the museum. Seeing the nature and animal exhibits are something she really loves. She skipped happily through the whole museum and has asked to go back. It is free, so we will return.
9. On Friday when I was waking the kids up to go to the museum, I told Joseph to get dressed and ready to go. The next time I saw him, he was wearing clean spiderman pajamas. 
10. Josh loved the museum. He skipped happily through the whole thing and has been asking to return. He is also drawing detailed pictures of hissing cock roaches that he saw at the museum. We have these huge woodland roaches that enter the house and they are creepy and we hate them. We are half impressed by Josh's drawings and half really grossed out. We have seen enough roaches.
11. Arwen has been asking for new shoes a lot. She finally got a little pair of link flats on Saturday. 
12. Susan came down the stairs Saturday evening, looked at Kate and said, "Ruth I did it. I am sorry." (She calls Kate Ruth and Ruth Ruth and will not say Kate at all.) Later when Kate went upstairs to see what Susan did, she found one of the glass girl figurines that she bought from the dollar store when she was 7 broken. Kate was pretty mad, but John and I were cutified and impressed with Susan's candor. On the other hand, Susan has been getting into everything!!!!!

Tender Mercies

1. Between homeschooling and John working from home, we have more time as a family than we have ever had before and as a result the kids are a lot closer and better friends.
2. Even though it has been incredibly hard with many unpleasant consequences, John's employment difficulties over the last four years has made him more available to our older kids through their teen years and I think they all have a better relationship with him because of it. 
3. We were able to start paying off debt last month and that felt so good. 

This Week's Pictures

This Week at Our House # 39

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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. 
5. 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.
6. 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. 
7. We went to the local dairy farm that sells ice cream. Rachel ordered a giant waffle cone and ate the whole thing.
8. 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. 
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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. 
12. 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.
13. 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.

Tender Mercies

1. John's meeting with his boss went very well and he has new projects.
2. I am really enjoying teaching my kids and home school has been good for all.

This Week's Pictures

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

It's one of those unbelievable things-- my oldest son is 15! Johnny is a good boy. He has always been a good boy. He has always been very obedient and he has always been interested in learning about gospel doctrine and how he can receive salvation. He is always kind to his siblings. He is always thinking about the needs of other people and serving them. He is careful to read scriptures nearly everyday to Joshua. He wants his younger siblings to succeed and gain testimonies of the gospel. Johnny is really good with his academic studies. He especially likes math and science, but he is a grammar genius as well. Johnny loves to play games and build legos. He is a pretty good runner when he pushes himself. He could care less about most sports and clothes and looks, yet he is somewhat particular about how he dresses. Johnny is just so good. Our whole family is blessed because of his goodness, kindness, and righteousness.

Susan Gets Hurt

Susan climbed up onto the very top shelf in Anya and Rachel's closet. She got down Rachels' markers, drew on her arm, and then came down to me all upset showing me the spots on her arms and telling me she was hurt.

We all said, "Oh no, Susan! You are turning green," except for Rachel who ran upstairs to rescue her markers.

Josh to Ruth

To Ruth on the phone, Josh said, "I think you should come home now, because I'm thinking you are dead."

Last Beach Trip Before Ruth Left

We went to the beach the Monday before Ruth and I flew out, and got some nice photos.