Sunday
I wrote this year’s primary program and Sunday morning printed out the parts for each child. My children helped me organize them by families, staple them to the letter to the parents, and hand them out at church. I love primary program season!
After church we all sit around writing in our journals. It’s one of those “too good to be true” moments: Six kids ages 6 to 16 writing in their journals all at the same time. A quiet, peaceful Sunday afternoon. I hope they feel the good feelings that come from writing, doing things with your family, and having a reflective hour. I hope they keep the habit up. Writing helps us remember our blessings. In the moment life may seem hard but by the end of the week we can see God’s hand in our lives and feel grateful for the things that went right.
I sit at the kitchen table and help the younger 3 write and spell and remember what we did this week.
It’s fun when we all all the kids write on the same day because now my older kids will say, “What did you write on June 20, 2018?” And they all turn to that day and read their version of the day. It’s really fun and bonding! And sometimes hilarious! We can do the same thing but have two different views of it. One will say it was too hot to swim and another will say it was too cold to swim. They sometimes spend all afternoon reading their journals and laughing hysterically over them. It’s great!
After journal writing I heard a commotion in the chicken yard. Samuel ran out and saw a red tailed hawk that had pecked Lydia, a chicken we’d gotten in June. She only had one peck on the throat but she died a few minutes later. It’s so hard to lose chickens. The girls take such good care of them and love each and every one.
Tuesday
We watched our little friend most of the day and Talea was in heaven. She loved having someone to play with. When she sat down at the piano she said, “Do you want me to play a song for you?” Then as she was playing it she said, “Do you want me to sing it while I play?” It was so cute. She’s 6 and Wales is 3 so Talea sometimes uses a mommy voice talking to him and takes care of him. Other times they played as equals.
Wednesday
Alexis flew in Tuesday night for a 10 day break between summer and fall semesters. We got the chicks the day after she left in June so she was excited to see them. They’re pretty big now so she wanted to go buy some more so she could hold tiny ones.
Alexis holding 4 of the littlest pullets. Makenna holding Dale, a guinea fowl. Our two fowls are named Chip and Dale. They looked like chipmunks when we first got them.
After dinner Alexis took all of the kids to church activities except Talea. I got to stay home with her and work. I let her watch a show but first we made a train out of a cardboard box and got a bowl full of snacks for her.
Thursday
Top pictures are my sunflower. It was our first year planting sunflowers. Bottom picture is Andy’s sunflower and him chopping cucumbers to freeze for smoothies all winter.
I sat on the porch trying to get work done on my computer but loved watching my kids happily playing cornhole. We have the best yard and it was great weather.
Friday
We were picking blueberries on Blueberry Hill when we heard a commotion at the house across the road. I dropped my blueberries and ran and found 2 dogs attacking chickens. We were able to save 3 of them but the rest died (I think 5-6). We brought them to our house and Lexi, Kait, and Kenna tended to their wounds. One still died but the other 2 survived. The one Kenna is holding is a rooster who lost all his tail feathers. The owner came and got them when she got home from work. It was traumatic and so sad but glad we were able to help.
Saturday
Alexis bought 4 ducklings and 8 chicks and loved holding them. She only has 10 days here so she is trying to get as much time with them as she can.
Saturday
Thursday through Sunday I stayed at a friends house with their kids while they were out of town. Each night I brought different kids and we had fun. We played board games, rode the golf cart to the swimming pool, enjoyed the summer showers, and the kids watched a movie in their theater room.
