Monday September 30

It was a slow start to the day.

After I got the kids to school, I didn't feel very good.

So I talked Dad into just hanging out and watching TV so I could rest.

Then after we rested....Dad talked me into going to the gym...I didn't want to, but I wanted to :)

Anyway....while we were gone we got a message from Heather about going to lunch.

So we got back and showered and met them at the RAM.

It was a fun time.

Fun to sit and talk and relax.

We are not very good friends for people to have....we always TALK about wanting to do stuff and hang out....but we are TERRIBLE about actually calling and doing something about it.

So I am thankful we have friends who put up with us and call us anyway, even if it should be our turn.

We need to try and be better friends......

*****

Porter is working hard in preschool.

He loves it.

I wish he got to go more than twice a week.

We try to get other stuff in on the days he doesn't have school.

He is so cute to watch when he is writing his name.

I wrote it down on the top of a page and then he copied at the bottom, the usual.

Well, he wanted to do it again, and dad started to write his name on top, but Porter said he wanted to do it himself, without looking.

So he did.

And he did :)

So cute.

When he was thinking of the next letter, he would close his eyes and try to sound it out, which is cute, cause he doesn't know what letters got to what sounds very well.

Makes me laugh.

*****

Elsie had a new favorite song......and she sings it over and over again.

It is pretty cute.

She didn't realize that I was recording her....love it.

*****

AND....another selfie of Madi.

She wore these glasses all afternoon.

I kinda love the little goofy-ness she is developing.

 

 

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Sunday September 29

It was a rainy Sunday today.

I guess I am kinda liking the rain :)

But I am still not ready for cold weather.

Church was good today.

I had another meeting after church and the rest of the fam rested until I got back.

Madi played with the little kids in the rain (and in her room) while Cassi played guitar for Dad and I.

I don't think we are all feeling 100%.

A lot of whiny-ness and emotions going on here.......

Maybe they just all need a good night's rest.

For dinner we all had our own half watermelons.

Kids thought that was pretty cool.

Madi had a fireside tonight.....her first fireside.

She really thought it was pretty cool.

I am glad she got to go.

It was the stake Patriarch that spoke, and from what I heard, he is a pretty amazing guy!

She enjoyed herself.

Now I am gonna go to sleep! 

 

 



 

Saturday September 28

We had a successful day :)

It started out by buying the cheapest dryer that RC Willey had to offer....as well as getting some free hot dogs for lunch.

Oh and free massages in the massage chairs!

So we went home and I got going on some laundry....cause we were pretty backed up.

Then we started picking grapes.

The kids all got into it and it was pretty fun....until they got bored.

Dad ended up picking most of the grapes, while I started juicing them.

It is a pretty long process...I just finished up the last bottle at about 7:30.

We got 19.5 quarts today, and 20 yesterday.

And lots and lots more grapes out there to pick!

It is pretty fun.

I love doing this kid of stuff!

Oh and the stairs are done and here are the pictures!

I am loving it.

I am glad we did it, even though it was a super huge headache!!!!!

 

 

 

Friday September 27

I have mentioned before that Brent and I suffer from PADD.

Project attention deficit disorder.

yes...the plan was to do the stairs today.

But I borrowed the steamers from my friend.....and we were kinda excited to start bottling grape juice.

So when the girls left to school, we went out and started picking.

Oh my goodness there is a lot of grapes out there!

We picked and picked and picked.

Brent set up the camp stove on the deck, which works AWESOME for this kind of thing!

No big mess in the house!

We got the whole thing set up and before we knew it, we were about 5-6 hours later and about 20 quarts of grape juice.

While we were juicing, we were still picking.

And We hope to get about that much more tomorrow.....but we will have the big girls to help pick, so hopefully the process will be a little quicker.

But it wasn't too bad.

We did other things in between and it was pretty fun to sit and pick.

It is pretty relaxing, according to Brent :)

Well, we were done at about 4:00 and we decided to put the stairs in.

Pictures tomorrow for sure.....it was just too dark for good pictures and we had to leave for our date night anyway :)

I took some pictures at Katherine Albertsons park, and Dad went with me and waited while I did the pictures then we went out to eat at PF Changs.

It was a lot of fun.

We didn't get seated until about 7:45....

But the kids were all good at home and I am glad we got to get out.

I have more pictures form today....but I will have to post those later ;)

I need to get to bed....it is getting late!

 

Thursday September 26

Today was going to be my clean-up day.

Went to the gym and then to Lowe's so I could buy a new brush to apply my final coat of polyurethane on the stairs steps.....which will HOPEFULLY be put in tomorrow!!!!!

Got home, put the final coat on, fed porter his lunch and then took him to preschool.

I was feeling pretty yucky.

Kind of nauseous, and I had no appetite (and you know somethings not right if I have no appetite!!!)

So instead of cleaning....I took a nap.

And I guess it was a much needed nap, cause I felt much better afterwards.

But I didn't get as much cleaning done as I would have liked to :(

Oh well.

I did run to borrow my friends Grape juice steamer...cause I think we are finally going to try and do something with our grapes this year.

We hate to see them go to waste, and they are so good....they should make good grape juice :)

Maybe we will do that tomorrow or Saturday.

Elsie and Porter played with Kyra and Canon this afternoon and the big girls helped me clean up more....they were both pretty ornery about it.

Cassi got to go to the school tonight for one of her Student Counsel duties....

Babysitting during the PTO meeting.

She had a great time....she LOVES the little ones!

Here is Porter going to hook Mater up for the night with Madi.

Cute kiddos.....

And another beaut from Madi's daily photos :)

She was supposed to be cleaning her room. 

 

 

Wednesday September 25

I just had to snap a quick picture of Cassi and Porter doing their chores in the rain this morning.

Just so cute :)

Porter is a good helper and helps Cassi with the morning chores and Madi with the afternoon chores.

*****

We watched Canon again today.

They played good together...and had a little down time watching a movie and sipping hot chocolate, since Port didn't get his nap.

Cute boys :)

*****

Elsie is doing great with reading!

She got to go on a field trip to the Meridian High school AG expo.

She had so much fun!

She came home from school pretty worn out.

But she still worked hard for Joanne for speech therapy, and did a bunch of homework.

You can tell by her eyes in the black and white picture that she was super tired....they were starting to cross.

She had a great day and I am thankful that she has such great aides at school to help her out.

Miss. Dinka went with her today.

They had a lot of fun.

*****

And Madi....Oh Madi....she went to Young Woman's tonight.

The original plan was to hike table rock....

But with all the rain, plans got changed.

But they had fun anyway.

They are a great group of girls.

 

Tuesday September 24

So we decided to take on the stairs today.

Brent ran all the steps through the planer....except the big one.

We had to sand it down.

Then we got them stained again, two coats.

The re-staining and re-polyurethane isn't what is the bad part of it all.....

It is the waiting time it takes to get them all ready to go!

So I will get them done while Dad is at work, and HOPEFULLY we can get them installed on Friday!

But dad did hang my pretty light and put up crown molding.

So that made me happy.

*****

It is fun going through the pictures Madi takes throughout the day....

She took one of herself walking home from school in the rain.

Pretty girlie :)

*****

The little kids helped me get tomatoes out of the garden for dinner tonight....

It was still raining.

But they still wanted to help me out.

Love spending time with them :)

 

 

 

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Monday September 23

Dad worked a few hours this morning.

Port got to go play at Canon's house while I went running.

Port came home and we cleaned his room together, then I tried to lay him down for a nap.

I painted the shelf on the stairs while Porter called my name the whole time.

Nap wasn't happening....

Oh well.

I got him out and that's about the time Dad got home.

And then Madi came home.

I have been promising her that we would go and buy her a jacket, since it is getting colder outside.

Well, we just keep running out of time, or forgetting.

So today I made sure to make time.

Once I got the little kids from school, Madi and I left to Target.

She also got herself an alarm clock, running shoes, and some under shirts.

That girl has been saving her money for years, and never spends it.

So she spent some of it today.

She didn't like any of the jackets at Target, so we went to Kohl's and she found 'the perfect one'.

We had a fun time and we had a great talk in the car on the way home.

This is the kind of stuff I am talking about.

Taking the time out to spend with my kids.

I know she enjoyed her self and she talked more and asked more questions then before.

It was pretty great.

We got home and had some great spaghetti squash from our garden.

Our first one and it was so yummy!

And we have a bunch of them in the garden, so I am excited that they are ready to pick now :)

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Then we had our FHE.

We talked about money and chores and our family responsibilities.

We are starting a new allowance thing.....we will see if it catches on :)

 

Sunday September 22

It sure was a nice Sunday.

One of those days when you hear a talk about the same topic you have had on your mind....

I have been thinking about just cutting stuff out.

Focusing on my kids.

Focusing on my family.

And not fret about the extra stuff.

The extra stuff is fun, and not bad.....but my kids need my attention.

And that is what I have been thinking about this past week.

Well, at church today, the speakers spoke of giving yourself to Christ.

Cutting out the unnecessary.

They really had amazing talks.

Sometimes it is hard to figure out what needs to be cut out.

Especially when the things you are doing are just fine and dandy and not bad things.

But the focus needs to be on the family.

These kids need to have a solid foundation.

So I am not sure what needs to be cut out yet....

I do know that I will be doing less photography.

I love it, and the extra money is nice.

But this time of year gets crazy, and I end up losing all my weekends with my family.

So I don't want that to happen this year.

And there is a lot more I can do.

I don't want my kids to see me on the computer very often.

Either editing or blogging.

All they see is that I am not spending time with them.

And, as soon as the stairs are done, maybe less projects.

Or maybe just limit the time spent on projects.

Once they get home from school, it needs to be about them.

I just love my little family.

My family needs to know that they are center of my world.

 

Saturday September 21

 

We had hopes of finishing the stairs today.

And we were close, oh so close....

More on that later :)

The big girls mowed lawns this morning while we worked on the stairs.

All the kiddos played really well together, which was so helpful.

The Youngs came over to visit for a little bit.

It was a good break for the kids.

It was fun having them over.

While Drew was here, he helped Brent load up Jenni's framing stuff so we could take it over to her house.

While we were in the garage, Porter found our Christmas blow up Santa, plugged him in and he blew up.

Fun for the kids right....

Well, for some reason, Mater was spooked by the Santa.

He got spooked while he was on the stair treads.....which were in the garage.

There are claw marks all over all but about 3 of the steps.....not cool.

Don't even know where to start with them now.

May have to sand them all the way down and start over.

Which I do not want to do :(

We will see what happens.

Frustrating...cause we were so close to be DONE.

Well, then we got kind of cleaned up and then took Jenni's framing stuff to her.

Then we went out to eat.

Elsie's teacher called at the end of last week and said they were having a hard time getting Elsie to finish her work.

She was being very social (which is better than her being stubborn!)

But her teacher had an idea to have her either earn a green card at the end of the day for doing her work and getting it done, and a red card if she couldn't keep to her class work.

Well, she earned a weeks worth of green cards....so we promised her dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (where she always orders Mac and Cheese :)

So we got there and she was squealing all the way to the door, then we were told it was an hour wait.

Oh man.....bummer.

I should have gotten a picture of her face when we said we would have to pick a new place.

That frown makes me so sad.

But we knew they weren't gonna last an hour.....

So she decided on Red Robin, with the promise of going to Buffalo Wild Wings at another time.

We waited for a little bit at Red Robin, but not more than 15 minutes.

They all were happy with dinner....and Elsie got her Mac and Cheese anyway :)

It was a fun evening and a good day, except for the marks made on the steps.

Maybe they will be done, someday.

Maybe....

 

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(these are all out of order....)