Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Library Day

Zoe, Emily, & Eleanor spent most of the day today with Daisy & Anna at their grandmother's house. They went swimming, they rode bikes to the park, they played, they ate, and they had lots of fun!

The younger kids & I went to our local library for story time and to check out books. Zach has never been a fan of sitting and listening to books, so after listening to 2 books during story time, he was done. Kate & Noah followed his lead and we left the story time room at the beginning of the 3rd book. That was okay because we had one more library to visit.

We went to the Bangor library to drop off and check out books there. We also picked up some DVD's and books on tape to listen to in the car. We listened to "Finding Nemo" on the way home. The kids looked at the "Finding Nemo" book as they listened. It kept them happy and entertained. :-)

I can relate with Dory (from Finding Nemo) and her short term memory. While I was driving to pick up Zoe from soccer this afternoon, I reminded myself to pick Zoe up before heading to church. Not long after this self reminder, I was on the road heading to church without Zoe! I turned around and went to pick up Zoe and then headed to church. I have to admit that I often remind myself to do something and then 2 seconds later forget about whatever I was reminding myself about. I'm glad I remembered Zoe before I got too far out of town!

This evening, Zoe & I enjoyed one on one time together after our activities. Zoe went to Young Women's and I went to a Cub Scout ice cream social, which included one boy for most of the time until another boy showed up near the end. Zoe & I went to Goodwill where Zoe found some soccer practice clothes, which made her very happy! We went to a few stores to look for shoes, but the shoes she liked didn't fit her. We went to Friendly's for dinner. I gave up on my F.Y.T. program a few days after I took a day off several weeks ago. I'm sure I will come up with a new plan in the future, but right now I am just eating whatever...and not weighing myself.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Few More Days Off

Matt, Zoe, & Emily had a very productive day yesterday working on the house. They finished putting the first layer of insulation in the floor, so now they have a few days off before the sprayfoam is put on.

Zoe had her first soccer practice for the middle school team yesterday. All of the 6-8th grade girls that want to play will make the team. There will be an A & B team if need be.

My Mom stayed home from work today, so we went to visit her. I spent some time in the attic going through the kids' clothes. We brought home a garbage bag full of clothes for Noah, Kate, & Zach. I also organized the bags of clothes and coats that I have tossed into the attic throughout the summer.

We had some fun this evening taking pictures. Enjoy!




Monday, August 29, 2011

Irene

Hurricane Irene dumped some rain and wind on us yesterday. The corn stalks that were left standing by the deer were wiped out by Irene. We'll be picking and eating our corn today.

Our hummingbird feeder was half full yesterday morning, but as the winds picked up and the feeder swayed, most of the food leaked out. I thought about bringing the food in and Zoe went out at one point to get it, but then I changed my mind.

That was a good decision for the hummingbirds because they braved the storm and kept coming to the feeder. I need to make more food for them this morning.

Here is Zoe braving the storm. Not much of a challenge as you can see.


We did get some strong wind that pushed our living room wall in, which freaked us out a bit. We need this house to last us a bit longer!

A few pieces of insulation were blown off the new house. Matt is hoping to come home early this afternoon to fix the insulation and continue to put insulation in with the older girls. When he put 3 layers of insulation in the mudroom, he came to the conclusion that it would take him a long time to do 3 layers of insulation himself for the entire house. He has a sprayfoam company scheduled to come over on Thursday to put 2 layers of insulation on top of his 1 layer. So, he has been working hard along with the girls to get the 1 layer of insulation done.

I am happy to report that we never lost our power during the storm. My parents lost their power around 5pm and from what we read on the internet, many streets in town lost power as well.



Saturday, August 27, 2011

Zoe & Emily's Day Off

Matt left early for the temple this morning. I must have been super tired because I didn't even hear him get up and leave. He went on the stake bus trip.

I got my hair cut this morning.

Then I went to the grocery store to stock up just in case we lose power.

Zoe & Emily have been wanting to watch "Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief" and they finally got to watch it today. They enjoyed their day off from working on the new house. We also went to Dick's Sporting Goods to look for sneakers and soccer cleats. Emily now has a new pair of sneakers for school, but Zoe is still on the hunt for cleats. The pair of sneakers we ordered for Zoe last week arrived yesterday. At least we thought they did. The company sent us the wrong pair of sneakers (the sneakers we got were supposed to go to Texas, so I wonder if Zoe's sneakers went to Texas instead). Hopefully, I will get that all straightened out on Monday and Zoe's sneakers will arrive before school starts.

Eleanor has not lost her tooth yet, but Emily lost one yesterday!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Alamoosook Lake

Eleanor, Zach, & Noah had their last swim class today. They are all moving on to their next level next summer, so they are happy about that! The pool is now closed, so we'll have to wait until next summer for more pool days. I'm looking forward to pool days with no swim diapers!

We spent most of the day at Alamoosook Lake with Dodie, Juanita, Hailey, Brittyn, Morgan, & Nathan. We had lots of fun! Emily caught this tiny frog.

Nathan was willing and happy to pull the younger kids around on the boogie board.


Zoe & Morgan are always happy to spend time together!

The kids got along for the majority of the time, which was nice.




We are keeping an eye on Hurricane Irene. It looks like it will be a Tropical Storm by the time it hits us on Sunday. We are preparing for strong winds and a possible power outage.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Celebrating 62 Years




We hope you had a great birthday, Mom! We enjoyed celebrating with you!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

2 Appointments, 1 Meeting, & 2 Activities

This morning, I dropped Zoe & Emily off at the pool for their last water safety class. Then I dropped the other kids off with my grandmother. Then I drove to Bernatche Auto Body to have it looked at for an estimate to get 4 out of the 5 windows fixed. The passenger side front window was totally off the track, the driver's side window was heading toward the same problem as the passenger side, the back passenger side window wouldn't go down all the way, and our back window hasn't worked for years. 3 hours later, I left Bernatche Auto with ALL of my windows working. Sweet! When Tony noticed that I was driving around with my window down in sunshine or rain, he made it a priority. I'm glad that I was by myself and able to stay to have it fixed.

I drove back to my grandmother's to pick up the kids and then we headed to Brewer for dentist appointments. Matt met us there since I was getting my teeth cleaned along with all of the kids. Noah had his first cleaning today and he did a great job! He was very relaxed and cooperative.

Eleanor has an adult tooth that has grown behind a baby tooth. The baby tooth is barely loose, but Eleanor needs to get the baby tooth out in the next 2 weeks or she will be back at the dentist having it pulled out. Remember Eleanor's "hobo" tooth? The one that was barely hanging on and Eleanor couldn't bring herself to yank it out? Yeah. Unless Matt takes action and gets the tooth out for Eleanor, I see us back at the dentist in 2 weeks.

Matt left the dentist office with Zach and the rest of us headed to Ellsworth. We ate dinner at McDonald's, dropped 3 bags and a basket off at Goodwill, and then we went to the church. I had a primary presidency meeting and then Zoe had Young Women's and Emily & Eleanor had Activity Days. The Activity Day girls made fondue and talked about diversity.

Zoe & Kayla made cute pin cushions.


Noah's black toenail is finally coming off. It is freaking him out and he has insisted on having a band aid to cover it. Noah is obsessed with band aids. He gets band aid envy when he sees anyone else with a band aid on. He is frequently asking for a band aid, whether he needs one or not. A great Christmas gift idea for Noah is a box or two of band aids!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Fall is in the air

Kate had her last swim class today. She has completed Beginner 1 and will be in Beginner 2 next Summer. Yay Kate! We went to the pool this afternoon for an hour or so. The younger kids don't last long in the pool now because the weather is getting cooler and the pool water is cold. The rest of the week is looking busy, so I think today was our last pool day for this summer. That is sad. It was also sad to see one of the lifeguards tearing up as she said goodbye to the kids as we left. Eleanor, Zach, & Noah still have 2 swim classes left, but we won't make it to any more free swim sessions.

I brought my saxophone into a music store this afternoon to have it looked at. The guy said it would cost more to clean/fix it than to buy a used saxophone, so we are on the hunt for a bargain. He had one that he would sell to us for $329 and it looked brand new. The kids start school in 2 weeks, so we need to make a decision soon.

Since the weather is getting cooler, we can enjoy the parks again. On our way home from the music store, we stopped at the park near Matt's work.

Jason & Shawn came over this evening to help Matt, Zoe, & Emily work on the new house. Matt said they had a very productive evening. :-)

Monday, August 22, 2011

No More Weeding

Every crop that I have weeded around this summer has been eaten by the deer a day or two later. First it was the squash and pumpkin plants. Then my sunflowers. Now the garden.

The deer jumped the fence last night and knocked over our tomato plants and some of the corn stalks. I'm thinking that I need to stop weeding to keep the deer away!

After years of dealing with eczema, I finally took Eleanor to the doctor today to have it looked at. I paid a good chunk of money for the doctor to give me some advice on what over the counter products to use and he also gave Eleanor a prescription, which we will use this winter when the itching gets worse. I almost cancelled the appointment since Eleanor's skin has been looking better lately, but since some of her skin is still itchy and raw from scratching, I decided to keep the appointment.

We got back in time for me to bring Kate to her swimming class. It was pouring out when we left for Eleanor's appointment, but it was clear and getting sunny when we got back home.

We went to the pool this afternoon. It was in the low 70's today and there were only a few people at the pool when we got there. That was a good thing because there were no breaks, so the kids could swim non-stop for an hour or so. Zoe & Emily went to the park and then came back while the younger kids were swimming. The kids had fun playing with the lifeguards and they each enjoyed a frosted sugar cookie before leaving.

Eleanor, Zach, Kate, Noah, & I went over to my parents' house this evening for dinner and then my Mom & I met with Dodie who is our visiting teacher. We had a nice evening. Matt, Zoe, & Emily worked on the new house.

Zoe is making a book through Shutterfly for one of her personal progress projects. It will be all about the things we did this summer. Having a daily record here on my blog of what we have been doing is going to be a great help to Zoe. I'm glad that I followed the feeling I had at the beginning of the summer that I should write down at the end of each day what we did that day. :-)


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Productive Saturday

The garden before...

The garden after...

Matt mowed the lawn after I took this picture. The inside of the garden needs to be weeded as well, but the younger kids and I were exhausted after weeding the outside.




Friday, August 19, 2011

Ocean Baptism

Nathan Dauk was baptized last evening in the ocean at Naskeag Point. What a beautiful evening and place for a baptism!


It was a BYOC occasion. (Bring Your Own Chair)

Waiting for the baptism to begin.


Zoe spent the day with Morgan, so it was a great day for Zoe!





Matt conducted the service.


We enjoyed getting together as a branch for this special occasion.





How many baptisms do you attend where you can watch seagulls fly over the water?, dig in the sand with a seashell?, or watch the sunset?

Just one for our family.

Other News...
I took the day off today from my F.Y.T. Program. After losing 5 lbs, I have hit a plateau. I ate what I wanted to today and I will be back on the program tomorrow. It was fun eating ice cream at the Dairy Port with Matt this evening and eating popcorn while we watched "Midnight in Paris" at the Alamo. :-)

Zach & Kate have proved in their swimming classes that they can jump into the deep end and then swim to the side by themselves, so as of yesterday, we hang out in the deep end now. Noah likes to jump and land where he can touch. Zach & Kate have been practicing their dives as well. They love swimming in the deep end!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Emily's New Hairstyle

School couldn't start without bangs!


Kate, Noah, & I went to Birdsacre with the Young Women this evening. I had never been there before, so it was nice to get invited along. It was a perfect evening to walk around nature and to see the birds. Noah could have stayed there for hours! Zoe enjoyed taking pictures.






Noah made us laugh when Kayla was talking about having one foot (Kayla has two feet, but was talking about something else) when Noah piped up and said, "I have two foots!"





Then we headed back to the church to enjoy ice cream bars.