Church with 8

What a morning! I had a meeting at church at 8am, so Robert brought the kids by himself. When Rachel brought Ruth into the chapel, I was impressed that her hair was done. Rachel had helped with it. My awe ended there when Sam hurried in, still with Cocoa Pebbles all over his face, Mary's hair I don't think had been brushed since yesterday morning, and it was all topped off when Robert sat down with Moroni in jeans and a black T-shirt that said, "I still live with my parents" in bright blue letters. Ha!

Things were kept lively as when Joseph was passing the sacrament (water) in the foyer, he had to run to the restroom to throw up! Guess he was sick. The other deacons, not knowing what to do, stood in line for quite some time (Joseph was supposed to be number one). After a while, they all headed to the front and someone went back out for the tray that Joseph had left on the end table in the foyer. Needless to say, Robert took Joseph and Moroni home.

While in church, I peeked in on Ruth in the nursery and she was talking on the play phone to Grandpa. I guess we need to call him.

When the rest of us got back, Robert had dinner almost done. How sweet! Moroni was quite unhappy. I guess he'd only had a short nap on the way home and he was absolutely miserable. He did however learn how to drink from a cup at dinner time. I figure Mom, Desi, Cherstin and Felicia will appreciate this picture! *wink*

Softball Practice

We took the kids down to Blue Mounds Park today for softball practice, including Joseph's friend Ben (distinguished as "Big Ben" vs. our own "Little Ben"). All the kids got to hit and they all got at least one run in. Afterwards, we had soda and then some of us played Frisbee Football.

Tower Hill State Park

The kids had a great time today at Tower Hill State Park - we hiked up to Tower Hill, saw the film on how they made lead shot (they heat lead, pour it through small holes to create little droplets that become round as they fall down the tower and then cool instantly when they hit the water. Only about 10% of the shot is usable, the rest is taken back up to the tower and recycled. (I never considered that "recycling" was a wartime advance.) The mosquitoes fed well today as we walked around the park - we're just happy to be doing our part for the environment.

S'mores

Tonight we had a fire in the back yard. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Joseph made some double- and triple-decker s'mores. Ruth loved the s'mores, especially the ones without the graham cracker and marshmallows.

Doin' the Dishes

When do the dishes become a chore?

Dirt for Breakfast

I was so pleased this morning. For breakfast Moroni kept refusing the egg and milk once he had a piece of my homemade bread. I told the kids, "Moroni only wants to eat my bread, he won't eat the eggs because he only wants my bread."

My kids, sensing my pride decided to take me down a few notches by replying, "Yeah, but Moroni eats dirt!" After a good laugh by all, they tried to make me feel better with. "That's okay mom, it was probably good dirt. It just means that the dirt is better than your eggs."

Movie Time

We still can't upload photos. Our newer machine has always refused to upload the photos, and now our older one won't upload them either. I finally got the virus cleared off of it, though!

Robert and I went to see Iron Man at the cheap theaters with Phil and Hannah. Our kids were wonderful and watched little ones so we could all go out together. They love to play with Orion and as soon as he got here, off they went.

Virus

This picture was originally titled "Robert and his Mistress" since I caught him on the computer when we were supposed to go to bed. But it seems an appropriate picture since last night Robert installed a virus on our computer by accident. I spent the entire day trying to remove it from our computer. Robert and I agree that the Telestial Kingdom is reserved for anyone who writes computer viruses.

We helped the three oldest children (Joseph-12, Rebekah-11, Rachel-9) set goals for the coming week. Joseph will focus on German while the girls will focus on Latin and they will all start focusing on their Faith in God Awards (Rebekah & Rachel) and Duty to God Award (Joseph). Our goal is to help them set their goals. *wink*

Sunday Potty Training

At church today Ruth indicated that she had to "go potty". Ignoring Wanda's wise warning to ensure that I had a spare diaper, I went into the bathroom, removed her wet diaper, and she went potty. I put her pants on her diaperless bottom and headed out to the van where, I was certain, there was a diaper. There was not. Heading back inside, I decided that it would be unwise to return to the chapel, so we sat in the foyer and naturally, Ruth wanted to sit on my knee. So there I am - sitting in the foyer with a diaperless 2-year-old on my knee, knowing that at any moment something terrible could happen. As luck would have it, Sister Romney came into the foyer a short time later and fortunately had a spare diaper. So I whisked Ruth into the bathroom to correct my error.

Joseph was called and set apart today as the Deacon's Quorum President - he's very excited about that. Rebekah bore a short but sweet testimony during Sacrament and gave the opening prayer in Primary. Mary gave a wonderful talk on the 5 B's in Primary and I taught her class today as Uncle Philip went home sick.

Scout Camp

Joseph caught a Leprechaun at Scout Camp (Ed Bryant Scout Camp) today and named it "Matt Wiltbank". Joseph had a great week doing archery, shooting, and boating with all of the other scouts in the Stake. Joseph and Daddy slept in the van last night - which was SO much better than the hard ground in a mosquito-infested camp. Both of us are itchy from all the mosquito bites, but Joseph and I had a lot of fun last night and today - so it was worth it.

Currants

This morning Robert and I got up early to harvest the red currants and the black currants. Red currant jelly is Robert's favorite. I do, however, have to find something for the black currants. I have a recipe I'm going to try for black currant jam. Apparently black currents have more vitamin C and antioxidants than blueberries and pomegranates. Who knew?

I'll be making jelly and jam with the kids this evening.

Robert is off to scout camp for the night. He'll be bringing the scouts back tomorrow. We'll see how Joseph fared after being up with the mosquitoes all week. I wonder what Robert will come back looking like tomorrow. He's just now starting to recover from feeding the mosquitoes on Sunday.

In the Garden... again!

I took Moroni out to the garden while I was weeding. He loves being outside and the texture of the dirt. When we go to the pool I love to watch him in the sandbox, he just rubs and rubs his hands over it.

Tonight he played quite a bit in the dirt and ran his fingers through it. After a while his interest turned to some weeds that I had already pulled. He kept trying to put them back into the garden. What a fun game.

Say Cheese!

We didn't go to the pool today - Shock! Instead we drew self-portraits and the kids played with friends. We're going to watch movies with Daddy tonight. It's so weird not heading to the church for cub scouts tonight.

Bug Bites

Sunday Robert took Joseph and a bunch of other scouts up to Ed Bryant Scout Reservation for Boy Scout Summer camp. All he did was drive them up, help set up the tent and come home. He has over 70 mosquito bites from the hour that he was there. We're all just wondering what Joseph is going to look like when he comes home on Saturday. Robert looks like he has a plague from the short time he was there. (Check out his sexy legs.)

Yesterday for FHE we went swimming in Mount Horeb. Or at least some of us did. I forgot to bring Robert's swim suit with us, so he just waded into the kiddie pool a bit. We made up for it today (Robert brought his own suit) but due to lightning, they closed the pool early.

There's always tomorrow.

In the Garden

Yeah, yeah. I forgot to post yesterday. I guess I was just so exhausted that it slipped my brain.

Like our Green Tomato? Rebekah and I were weeding the tomato plants in the back (a lot of weeds can grow in a month) and Ruth came out to help us. She got so excited when she found a fruit growing on the vine and said, "Mommy, I see an apple!" How fun!

We then explained to her that they were tomatoes and tried to make sure she understood to leave it there. I can just see her picking it and tasting!

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy day. We got to sleep in and watch movies with the kids. Ruth helped Moroni get some ice cream. Tomorrow we won't be so lucky with all of the work that needs to be done.

Today we went to the pool in Mount Horeb. We haven't been there since we returned. It was a lot of fun and quite a stress reliever. Robert even met us there after work and the kids were so excited to see daddy at the pool. He told them that we could go tomorrow and that he would even swim with them.

We're supposed to get our big van back tomorrow. That day I skipped writing? Well we were on our way back from Colorado and within 4 miles of home, we hit a deer. Or rather, the deer hit us. Irony: it knocked out our air conditioner which we almost paid $3k to have fixed two weeks ago. Now we only have to pay the $500 deductible to get it fixed and have a new front end on the car. Should have hit that deer a month ago, huh?

It's nice to get routines back together after being gone for a month.

Moroni is getting more and more daring. He is even starting to stand himself up and last night he even attempted a couple of steps. He won't give up trying, that's for sure.

I took Joseph to scouts tonight. It was really weird not going to Cub Scouts myself. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it.

Take Your Child to Work Day

Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, and Mary all accompanied Daddy to work today. They learned quickly that attending meetings is boring and, like Daddy, did everything they could to get out of going. Preferring instead to stay in Daddy's office coloring, decorating the whiteboard, staring out the window, and ingesting copious amounts of soda and snackies.

We leave for Wisconsin in the morning. It'll be nice to sleep in our own beds.

In the picture Emily, Abby, Ruth and Orion were all playing and looking out the window together. Hopefully they will continue to be close as they grow up.