Wow, it has been a week since I wrote last. I think I was getting in the hang of blogging for a while but it has been an eventful week. I seem to remember several times thinking to myself... "I need to blog about this..." but have not had the chance to sit in front of the computer uninterrupted. I do not have the ability to read (or write) while there are things going on around me... If I am on here, chances are good that my family is in another room. And I am happy to say that my family and I have been in the same room for much of this week, though my blog has suffered, my family has not. ;-)
Well, whether or not you understood any of that rant, I am now going to attempt to recap my week...
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Tuesday 26th- Happy birthday Franny! My step moms birthday. Well, Lets see... I was babysitting Brynna all last week, and we had a field trip planned for the Fire Station Tuesday. I got to take advantage of my great big van. Another family in our school that lives close came with us to the fire station. It was so much fun. Mommy M, and her 4 kids, J, S, T, and little miss K. (since they are not my family I will not divulge their names on the internet... ) With me and my 4 plus Brynna. We had 11 in my big ole van and lots of stuff to go with us. It really was a lot of fun. Thank you Mrs H for planning this. It was so much fun. Our homeschool group tries to get together with all the kids and do something fun every month. This month one of the ladies planned a trip to her husbands work... the Porterville fire station.
The group before the tour...
Jer
Brynna
Steven
Bekah
Heather
The group watching Captain H and listening intently.
After he put on all of his turnouts, he let the kids come and "snoop" and feel and learn...
Our group in the shade when we were just about done with the tour...
Then we went to her house for sacked lunches and play time... She had a slip and slide up for the little kids and a zip line up for the big ones. The mommies got to enjoy sitting in a beautiful shady area of her yard that was green and had a fountain running through it... It was heavenly!
Waiting for their turn on the zip line... Steven, Rebekah, Heather, and J
The slip n slide....
Steven on the zip line (he is 3... well, until Saturday)
My attempt at creative photography... Brynna on the slip n slide...
And the mommy spot!
We got home in time to get the boys down for naps and get the girls ready for swim practice across the street. Mrs M watched them for me while I watched little miss K so the younger ones could still nap and the bigger ones could still swim. I love being across the street from the pool. Well, THAT was TUESDAY!
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Wednesday the 27th- Chiropractor, Costco, Big 5 for a black competition swim suit (cheaper than $40) the strawberry stand (two flats for $2) The nursery for big buckets to plant new tomato plants in ($2 a piece for 15 gallon buckets) and dirt to fill them with (free if I shoveled it myself, which I did!) Then I had to figure out a way to fit all of that stuff in my Suburban.... with 5 kids in the car. I managed! Though I did leave the buckets of dirt in the drive way for my super heeman hunny to move when he got home. Those were really heavy. And back home in time for naps. Short as they may have been. Swim Meet at 5:30 and play practice at 6 (or whenever we got there which turned out to be 7) Daniel took the girls to the swim meet while I waited for Brynna's mom and fixed dinner to go... Took it to the meet in time to see my kids compete. I was SO proud of them.
Bekah free style
Heather free style
My boys cheering the girls on!
Rebekah back stroke (which she had NEVER done before EVER!!!)
Heather back stroke (Her favorite stroke)
And once again, my attempt at photography... look how big that suit is on her... don't worry, we found a smaller one now.
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Thursday the 28th- I cannot remember that we did much of anything during the day, which after the previous week was really nice! though we did have swim practice, and team pictures, it was a rather uneventful day. Very nice indeed!
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Friday the 29th- the girls both had dentist appointments. We had a family trip the the dentist for check ups a few weeks back and the girls needed some work done... Friday was the day. My wonderful mother in law watched the boys for me (I was not babysitting) and I took the girls to get their work done.... THEY DID AWESOME! I love the dentist that was working on them he was so friendly and good at his job. We were out of there in less than an hour and that was both girls. Bekah was supposed to have a root canal, but once he got in there, decided against it. Heather had a filling. Since this was the first time the girls had had anything done (except Heather who was put under and does not remember it) the dentist decided to only do one quarter of the mouth at a time so they did not bite themselves. They came home and took naps until their numbness wore off. Big lunch and then cookie baking for the play. Concessions are provided by the cast and crew and since we were officially part of it, we baked. The kids had fun with that.
Then the play. A Midsummer Nights Dream put on by Woodlake High School. I was really impressed. We hadn't gotten to see any of it so far because my kids had really small parts so not really any practice required. But they did really well, and Jer and I got to sit in the audience and watch it. That was the best that he has ever done with sitting still for an extended period of time.
Oberon and Titana fighting over the small child (MY child... )
"Tis Fairy time"
Oberon steals my baby from the sleeping Titania
Then after the play we got to hang out in the band room playing with my niece. Daniels sister came down to see the show. It was really nice to see her.
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Saturday the 30th- we visited Visalia. Win Co, Sport Chalet, Target, all over the place... home in time for naps and back to the school for the second showing of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Though this time the kids stayed and did their parts under the supervision of their grandma while Daniel and I went to an AWANA leaders banquet. We took Jer with us and ate and played games and visited with other AWANA leaders and came home in time to get the other three from the show and home to bed. MMmmmm BED!
All those grown ups caught throwing their food....
AWANA leaders games get messy...
He was so sweaty... I decided to play with his hair... funny boy!
Musical Chairs....
Got....
Brutal....
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Sunday the 31st- Church. We took Steven into church with us this week. All of the kids went to first service Sunday school, and then Daniel and I went and picked Steven up and took him to "big church" with us. The three of us sang together, prayed together and listened together (for a while). When Steven got bored, I pulled out a deck of mini cards from my purse and he spent the rest of the time sorting them. by color, by suit, and then by number... it was very entertaining for him. After church, home for lunch and naps. When the kids woke up we watched Old Yeller over dinner.
I had never seen that before. We have owned it for a while now and I have always been afraid to watch it because anytime someone mentions it, they make a REALLY bid deal at how sad it is. It was a really good movie.
Anyway, after the movie, we took advantage of the daylight and went outside. Daniel mowed and weed eated, the kids played, and I ... watched with enjoyment. Well, I watered plants and picked up as it was needed, but for the most part, I just enjoyed myself. I have been blessed with a great life. Ohh, and after the kids went to bed, Daniel and I had some home made strawberry ice cream and let the dog in the house... that was ..... n.i.c.e. .... work, but nice. I think we will have to do it more often to get any peace while she is in. She is just not used to it yet.
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Well, that was my week. With the length of this blog, I either need to have less eventful weeks, or blog more often. Perhaps a combination of the two would work best...
Until next time....
-Me
yes this is my house and it is a mess... but that is my two year old making bread ...and my 6 year old taking pictures... so there.... :-)
No, wait, its learning colors..... what a delish way for the two year old to learn colors....
Wow... hold on here... it is also math and reading WHAT is going on here?! 
#1 Cake (Costco baby!)
#2 Gifts
#3 Pizza
#4 (and my personal favorite) GREAT FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!
Then I lined one with plastic wrap. and poured plum puree on it and put another screen on top to keep out the bugs and dust and stuff... 
Then I let this wonderful heat do its magic.... and LOOK what happened!!!
FRUIT LEATHER!!! So.... well, what else? Made something that could be transported easily...
Mmmmmm..... it is really yummy.... and nothin but plum. I just cut the flesh away from the pit and took most of the skin off.... I dare say it could even be considered healthy. YAY me!!! I am really excited!
