Saying Goodbye to the pool

Wednesday, August 26th: We received the title to our Yukon!
Zoe did her first load of laundry from start to finish.
Eleanor got her haircut. I couldn't get two appointments together for Eleanor and Emily, so since Eleanor won the coin toss, she got her hair cut today. Emily has to wait until next Tuesday. Emily was bummed.



I took Zoe school shopping in the evening. We had a very busy, productive evening, but Zoe still does not have a new backpack. She is planning on using last year's backpack until she can get the backpack she really wants at L.L. Bean. As we shopped, I told her that she could buy a more expensive backpack with the $25 we owe her, but she wants to save her money, so she wasn't willing to spend the $25.
Zoe also needed sneakers, which usually is a big process with her because she'll find a style that she likes and then she'll look for her size to discover there are none in her size. She is now shopping in the women's section for shoes, which is weird. The first pair of sneakers that we came to at Kohl's that were on sale and Zoe liked, they had her size! Buying sneakers for Zoe has NEVER been that easy.

Random Notes: Emily is enjoying her Harry Potter so much that she said, "Harry Potter makes the other books seem boring. I don't want to put it down!"

Monday at the pool, Eleanor and Zach were pretending to baptize each other. An older girl who was playing with them asked them what they were doing and without hesitation they told her they were baptizing each other. Eleanor also explained that she is only 6 and she has to wait until she is 8 to be baptized. The girl wanted to join in and offered to baptize them.

I bought another box of Luvs and they are working much better than the last box I bought.

Thursday, August 27th: I had a doctor's appointment, so Matt took the kids to swim lessons. Patti picked up Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor to go shopping for an outfit for each of them...so sweet of her and the kids had a great time! Matt went back to work when I got home and I went outside with the younger kids to weed the garden. The garden looked like one big weed. I discovered that I don't mind weeding. Noah helped me by picking up dirt and dumping it on the plants. Zach did some weeding, too. I took a break to push Zach and Kate on the swings and then went back to weeding, but I didn't have much energy left by then. The garden has become Noah's sandbox.


Here's a random picture of Noah in his swing.


Patti couldn't buy clothes for the older girls without buying something fun for Zach and Kate, so they got these fun bubbles!


With very little energy, I took Emily school shopping in the evening. Emily had been shopping all afternoon, but she was ready to go for round two. Emily found the best deals at Old Navy. She found yoga pants on sale for $5, which fit her perfectly and they had different colors to choose from in her size, so she bought 4 pairs. She also found 4 shirts, so she left her first store with 4 new outfits. Emily is very easy to get along with when it comes to shopping. If she can't have something, she doesn't put up a fuss and she just moves on to something else.

We found a medieval dress for Emily for Halloween and we also found this costume for Kate at Goodwill.

Is Kate not the cutest Minnie Mouse you have ever seen?!

Friday, August 28th: Today was the last swim lesson for the summer. Emily passed her Sharks class and will be in the Intermediate class next summer. Zach will stay in his Beginner 1 class. Eleanor passed her Beginner 2 class and moves on to Seals next summer! Eleanor was so excited when she learned that she'll have her class in the deep end next summer. I'm a bit surprised that she passed...maybe because she seems too little to be swimming in the deep end already! Her swimming has improved a lot this summer, though. Kate will be in the Pre-beginner class, which I think she'll be ready for.

I stopped at a sale at a daycare and got two great bargains. I left the kids in the car and went to check out the Dora castle that Eleanor wanted. I got the castle, van, and a box full of toys for $1! I also bought a rocking horse for $.50. The kids spent the afternoon playing (and fighting) with the Dora toys.




I did some more weeding in the garden. Zoe helped weed for awhile and Eleanor came out to help, but then she was off playing. I was sore from weeding the day before and I was tired, but I was determined to weed the rest of the side of the garden I had been working on. I finished it with Zoe's help and it looks good.

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor went through their clothes. They put their school clothes in their closet, and decided which of their old clothes to save and which ones to give away. Zoe brought 3 bags of clothes into the living room to go to Goodwill. I decided not to go through the clothes and to trust that everything in the bags were clothes that the girls didn't want. The closet is still stuffed with clothes!

Matt has been super busy at work, so he worked a bit late this evening. I made pancakes for dinner and told the kids that if they cleaned up and got ready for bed good then we could watch "Finding Nemo". There ended up being too much fighting and fooling around for a movie, which the kids were not happy about, but I wasn't happy either, so I didn't care how they were feeling about it. Matt and I got the kids in bed and then we watched disc 1 of "Frontier House". I am thankful for our modern way of living...I do think our kids could benefit from more work, though.

Saturday, August 29th: It turned out to be a rainy day in the 50' , so the Primary activity at Aimee's camp was cancelled once again. The kids played in the morning and Zoe read her Harry Potter book. She's on book 2. At one point, Eleanor was loudly doing a rain chant and Zoe yelled from our bedroom, "It will probably work better if you whisper!" When the kids fought, they were given a chore to do. Even Kate received a chore. There was less fighting, which was nice. Matt spent most of the morning at work. I cleaned the bathroom...I was trying to get rid of the throw up smell that we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The kids were told to clean up the living room and their room if they wanted to go over to my parents' house with me. A few of the kids received several more chores while cleaning up, but they were all able to go with me. My mom and I played several games of Phase 10. Zoe started a game with us, but soon lost interest, which happens often. Zach had a slight fever in the afternoon and evening. Matt made corn chowder for dinner. I wasn't feeling great during dinner, but I felt a bit better after I ate. Matt gave the little ones a bath and made sure the kids got ready for bed while I cleaned up the kitchen. The kids were very good this evening and were able to watch "Finding Nemo" with me. Noah was too busy getting into the yogurt containers that hold water from the air conditioner and pulling up the vent cover in the living room to watch the movie. It was more peaceful when Matt put Noah to bed.