The Kirkmans: Another week down, only 1 1/2 to go until school starts

Monday- we went on our walk. Samuel started space camp, and I got the kids registered with CYS. watched friends kids the rest of the afternoon. The day of spills and messes. Smoothie spilled and splattered all over the kitchen. Samuel got out my bucket of coconut flakes to stand on to do dishes, and knocked it over and spilled it all over the wet floor (it was wet, because Samuel gets water everywhere whenever he does the dishes. Samuel knocked over the bowl of rice I had on top of the counter for dinner, and it flung rice and quinoa everywhere. After cleaning up the other messes, Samuel didn't put the lid back on the bucket of coconut and Caleb got into it, spreading coconut everywhere. He also filled up a cup with granola and then dumped it on the back porch to "feed the ants". I wanted to scream. I've been trying so hard to sweep the entire downstairs every night to get rid of the ants, and Samuel is trying to feed them. GGGRRRRRRR..... But we finally made it through to the end of the day. For family home evening we talked about serving others, and took some food to a family in need for a secret service. Then stopped and got a frozen yogurt for a treat.

Tuesday-went on our walk. Cleaned the house since pest control is coming tomorrow, to spray for spiders and ants. Took Samuel to space camp, then dropped of Caleb at childcare, and Betsy and I went to our chiropractor appointment. Then picked up boys went home, Caleb fell asleep, then we went to the outdoor swimming pool. Caleb stuck to me like glue, until the last 1/2 hour we were there, and finally was happy and playful. I also had run out of swim diapers, so I just had him go potty before we went in the pool, and he did fine, until we were getting ready to leave, he stood there and peed on the pool deck. I guess I need to go buy more swim diapers.

Wednesday-we spent the morning cleaning, getting ready for pest control, they were supposed to come between 8am and 4pm. I finally got the kids to help me clean the garage, and as soon as we were finishing up about 11am, the pest control guy showed up, good timing. Right after he started spraying, our friends showed up, because we were making chicken noodle soup, for freezer meals. I should have known everyone would show up at the same time. So we had to take everyone to the backyard, my five kids, and her four, and keep them outside for about 45 minutes, until the spray had dried. Then we made our chicken noodle soup, Samuel left for space camp, and Austin watched the younger kids, while the moms cooked. I got my new camera in the mail today, I'm excited to start using it, so be prepared for lots of pictures and videos. I finally finished the laundry, and then made a loaded baked potato salad for for the relief society activity. Caleb fell asleep about 15 minutes before we left, and slept in the car until we got there. The kids ran inside while I grabbed the salad. Austin was being mean, and was pushing on the door, not letting Samuel inside the church, I yelled for her to stop, but she couldn't hear me, and Samuel was freaking out, banging on the door, yelling and screaming and pulling on it as hard as he could. Caleb, who was on the inside with Austin told Austin to stop it, and let Samuel in, and then tried to help Samuel get the door open, so his fingers got smashed pretty good. I was really mad at Austin, but I know she didn't mean for Caleb to get hurt, and she felt really bad about it, and tried to make him happy the rest of the evening. I put band-aids on each of his hurt fingers, (they weren't bleeding, but it made him feel better), and kissed them better. Today they are still bruised, but he is using his hand just fine. After we got home from the RS activity, Betsy stayed up with Caleb, and watched cartoons with him, while I relaxed and soaked in a bath.

Thursday-After dropping Samuel off at space camp, Caleb, Betsy, and I went to run errands. First we had a yummy lunch at panera bread, while I held a sleeping Caleb, then we went to a farmer's market, and Costco. We go through so much produce at our house, the kids are always snacking on fruits and vegetables. I tried taking the kids to a dinner and movie event they had going on, but it was so crowded and the line was so long, we turned around and went home. Then watched our own movie and made popcorn.

Friday-We got Samuel off to space camp at 8am today, because it was his field trip day, and he was gone until 5 pm. We went on our walk, and had two visiting teaching appointments, a haircut, and I taught piano lessons. At my visiting teaching appointments their were parks right in front of their houses, so the kids played at the park, while I visit taught. Worked out well, until they started throwing rocks at each other. After that we came home for lunch, then left to drive to Castle Rock to return the clothes that I bought their last week, that needed to be returned or exchanged. It is a 45 minute drive that took an hour and 15 minutes due to traffic. But we made it, and the kids helped me carry bags, and make returns and exchanges at 3 different stores, and helped follow Caleb around. After our shopping was done, we drove home which took us 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was so frustrated with the traffic, it was stop and go for the longest time. Luckily the kids were pretty good, and several of them ended up napping. But we ran out of time to finish our other errands, and had to go straight home and get Samuel from space camp. I made dinner for a family in our ward dropped it off, then came home and made our dinner. I asked all the kids before I made the dinner if they would eat it (lately they won't eat what I fix), and told them they would get some of the chocolate chip cookie ice cream I made if they ate everything I put on their plate. They all eagerly said they would, but guess what, only Austin ate her food, and she told me it was all gross, but that she would eat it to get ice cream. That's okay, it leaves more ice cream for me. I need to be more creative with dinners so I can get my kids to eat it.

Saturday-We picked up our bountiful basket in the morning, and our friends were waiting in line with us. I had to take the car in to get some maintenance done on it as soon as we were done, and my friend offered to take Samuel swimming with them. Luckily Samuel still had his swimming bag in the car, so he grabbed it and went swimming. Joseph stayed home, he wasn't feeling that well due to some allergies. So, Austin, Betsy, Caleb and I took the car in, and then walked over to the mall while we waited. When we walked into the mall, Caleb looked all around, and then hugged Betsy and said "it's so beautiful", he did this several times, it was so cute. We went and got pretzels and smoothies, then I got some nursing bras. While I was trying them on (the kids were with me in the dressing room), a newborn baby started crying in the stall next to us, and all the kids looked at my belly, and Austin said "is that coming from your belly", and laughed and told them their was a newborn baby in the changing room next to ours. Caleb loves playing hide-n-go-seek, and kept the girls and I on our toes keeping track of him. His squeaky shoes stopped working, so we couldn't hear him, wherever we went. That little guy can hide in the smallest space. We were at the mall for two hours before the car was finished. So we walked back, and drove home and got Samuel from his friends house. We hadn't done our chores yet, so we worked on those for the rest of the afternoon.

Austin taught Caleb to say "And Scene" when taking a video

Fun activity, where I throw or push the kids into the crash pad

Today-I made crepes for breakfast, yummy! Caleb fell asleep in the car on the way to church, and slept on me until the end of the sacrament part of sacrament meeting. It was nice that he was quite and still for a little while. Not too long after him waking up, Austin took him out and followed him around for the rest of the meeting. I was so hot in sacrament meeting, and my feet and ankles got really swollen again, I was so glad that the nursery room was cooler. Today is supposed to be my last day in nursery, and it went really well, we only had five kids, and they were all pretty quiet and good.