I am blogging, the kids are messing up the house!

Friday, September 11th: After my mom and I moved many boxes from the attic to reorganize and go through for Fall clothes, my mom found the shin guards! :-) Zoe also found a Halloween costume to wear this year. Yay!

I had the kids get ready for bed at my parents' house, so then when we got home, they could just get in bed since I knew most of them would fall asleep on the way home. I love it when I'm prepared like that.

I feel like I am being blessed with more patience lately than I normally would have. I am grateful!

Saturday, September 12th: Zoe and Emily had their first soccer game of the season and it was Emily's first game. Their team lost, but the team played a great game and they have improved a lot from last year. Zoe is now one of the older girls and is one of the better players, but Emily played most of the game as well. It's going to be fun watching them play together this season. Eleanor had several friends to play with at the game and the other kids played with soccer balls and had fun running around. My mom and Victoria showed up for the second half of the game.

We came over to my parent's house after the game, so I could go through the clothes that we had brought down from the attic. I've been organizing by seasons, but it never stays organized, so now each child has a box or boxes with clothes that they will grow into or will fit them the next season. Then when I receive clothes that are too big or are out of season for a certain child, I can just put the clothes in that child's box. I have high hopes of it being a success and staying organized. Something is not truly organized until it stays organized over time.

When my kids are at my parents' house, they eat constantly...and it drives me nuts!

Zoe has been practicing making a sound on her flute and she is getting better everyday.

Eleanor brought home a pet caterpillar from my parents' house. It lives in a container on the porch.

Matt is home from his adventure with Don. :-)

Sunday, September 13th: Matt, Zoe, and Emily went to Newport's unit conference today. They left at 7:00am and got home around 2:00pm. My mom was supposed to go with them, but she woke up sick, so she stayed home. Sacrament was an hour and half long and Zoe said it was LONG, but I think they like traveling with Matt and would endure another long Sacrament meeting again. The girls thought it was neat that when the Newport Primary sang the Hello song to them, they sang the word Hello in French. They sing the Hello in different languages, which keeps it interesting and fun for the kids. Neat idea!

We had an interesting Sacrament meeting. It involved a short workshop. I didn't think it was appropriate and I didn't like it. I am a firm believer in the handbook and following the rules. If you have a new calling, read the handbook and follow it. Everything works out when you go by the handbook. When I was in Primary, I would often sit down on Sunday afternoon and review the handbook. It was a good reminder of how things are supposed to be run and what things we needed to improve on.

Noah discovered he can walk backwards during Relief Society. We were sitting in a half circle, so Noah would go in front of me and then walk backwards to me or one of the sisters near me. It was so cute!

I read several conference talks in the afternoon. The kids played in their room. They also taught Noah how to crawl around and bark like a dog.

Monday, September 14th: Zach played with Eleanor's pet caterpillar and then lost the caterpillar.

I watched Lauren for a few hours for Jenn. Kate and Lauren are close in age and they got along for the most part, but they also had a few minor spats. The kids played inside for awhile and then they went outside. I pushed them on the swings, but they had to take turns, so they played as they waited for their turn.

I did some laundry and organized some of Zach's clothes, fitting in the Fall clothes and packing up the Summer clothes.

Eleanor had her first reading homework this evening.

We had FHE. Zach was on the game, so we played a shortened version of Yahtzee. Yahtzee is a great family game because the little ones can get involved as well as the bigger kids. We made Noah watch, though. It's also a great game to practice math while playing.

Matt and I watched 4 hours of "Colonial House" after the kids went to bed. It was taped in Maine, so it was neat to know that while we watched it.

Tuesday, September 15th: Noah is at a super cute age, so Matt and I would like to keep him at this age. Eleanor agrees. Today she told me that Noah should stay the age he is forever and that he can't turn 2 or 3...

Zach, Kate, Noah, and I went to playgroup today at the community center with Andrea, Christy, Jen, Terri, Sarah and their kids. We had a lot of fun and plan on making it a weekly event. Yay!

Zach, Kate, and Noah have been playing outside together a lot lately, which has been nice.

I've been doing at least one load of laundry every day and I'm still organizing clothes.

Matt worked late this evening. I had a good evening with the kids. They were able to watch an episode of "Survivorman" before going to bed. Noah had fun backing up to Zach, who was laying on the floor, and plopping on his head. Poor Zach!

Eleanor has a strong desire to read. She loves her reading homework!

Zoe is all stuffed up this evening. Zach has had a runny nose the past few days. I think the colds all started with Eleanor this past weekend. So far, it hasn't developed into anything serious.

Zach says plause instead of pause.

Wednesday, September 16th: Matt and I have been getting up at 5:30am this week. Matt exercises on the rowing machine and I take a shower. I love being up and showered when the kids wake up! I have more time in the morning to read my scriptures and work on my lesson, which is nice.

I prepared my lesson this morning, which is awesome because I am going to the temple on Saturday.

I took the younger kids to storytime. That went well, but things turned sour when we went to the grocery store. Kate had a tantrum when I put Noah in the seat in the cart because she wanted to sit where Noah was. Then Zach started crying when I threw the tissue paper away after giving the kids a cookie because he wanted to throw it away. I refused to retrieve the tissue paper and I refused to waste another tissue paper, so he cried throughout the store. Fortunately, I only needed one more thing after he started crying. On the way out of the store, one person said that it sounded like Zach needed a nap and another lady said, "Poor mom!" to me. Yes, it was one of those trips to the store that you don't want to repeat!

I put away laundry and organized more clothes this afternoon. I know what my answer is going to be the next time someone asks me what I do all day...I do laundry!

I got out the sleeping bags and put in a movie for the younger kids, hoping that Kate would fall asleep, but she didn't. They had fun laying on the floor and watching a movie, though.

Noah likes to unplug our lamp and clock in the bedroom.

It was a busy evening with soccer practice and a PTO meeting. Matt called me from work at the exact time he was supposed to be home to take the kids to soccer practice, so I could leave by myself to go to the potluck dinner and PTO dinner at the school, but I ended up leaving with all of the kids and dropping Zoe and Emily off at soccer and then taking the rest of the kids with me to the potluck dinner. Matt met us at the school and he left with the kids when they were done eating and I stayed for the PTO meeting. I'm glad I went. I met Eleanor's teacher, Miss Gould and I got to talk with Mrs. LaLonde. I volunteered to help teachers out by doing work at home (like cutting things out) and I volunteered to go to the school library as often as I want in the evenings to help reshelf books. Nothing too major.

I have felt content all day. I love my family and my life!

I started reading "Harris and Me" last night, which is a book included in the 5th grade curriculum. Zoe's teacher gave me the book to look over since she knows that I am concerned about what Zoe watches and reads. I don't know how she knows that, but I'm glad she does. I read 3 chapters of the book and decided that Zoe is not going to read this book. Drunkeness, porn, cigarette smoking, swearing...not the things I want Zoe reading about in 5th grade...or ever! Who approved this book???