September, Week 1

These are my aspiring chefs and bakers. The kids made "desserts" out of dirt, crushed sheetrock, crab abbles and whatever else they found to make it look just perfect. I was so impressed at how good they looked, I had to share.

These are the cute little munchkins ready to go to their first day at the Home School Academy. Don't they look excited and ready!
Here, Catherine is modeling our amazing corn crop. "It's TINY, it's like elf food" But we enjoyed it anyway.

Dear Friends and Family,
Well it’s been another great week in our lives, full of fun and firsts. Monday was Labor Day and we chose to spend it, well, laboring. We got a bunch of our Saturday jobs done that we neglected on our play day last week, and we got a lot of work done on the new room. Brittany volunteered at an “aid station” at the Labor Day marathon, handing out Gatorade, water, and cheering people on. Our neighbors, the Leonards, gave us an air hockey table and so we got a space cleared out in the basement and got that set up and played with. I spent several hours shopping and went out to lunch with my friend, Faith Leonard. We had FHE that night and then finally the day ended. So it was an all around busy fun day.
Tuesday, it was back to the reality. We had school and then Michael had soccer. Mike got home and fed the kids a little while I was at soccer with Michael and then he took the rest of the kids up to the base for a “mandatory attendance” deployment information night and dinner. Michael and I met them up there and the kids watched a movie while the people being deployed and their spouses or who ever, got to hear a briefing and then they fed us dinner from Chipotle. It was good information, good food, and the kids even had a pretty good time watching the movie.
Wednesday, we had school, the four elementary age kids had track practice, we did a little shopping, went and looked at but didn’t buy a bed for Michael, got new clothes, backpacks, lunches etc ready for the kids first day at the Home School Academy, and finally went to bed. Again a good day.
Thursday was the big day that everyone had been anticipating for over a month. Brittany was off for a normal day of school but the rest of the kids all had a new outfit to wear and neat lunch packs to go in their spiffy backpacks. We got them to the school, found their classes and then it was just Mom, Hans and Daniel. We went and did some grocery shopping and then came home cuz Sam’s wasn’t open yet. We got our first load of groceries in the house, had a snack and then went back to do some more grocery shopping at Sam’s. We got that done and then went to a music store to buy Brittany some new reeds and some music, dropped that off at the school, and came home. By the time we got back here, both boys were asleep so I took Daniel in to his bed and then got all the groceries unloaded and then went and woke Hans up and we came in and he played quietly while I “rested.” We then went and picked up Brittany from school and then the rest of the kids. They reported that it was “AWESOME” and they all liked their teachers, friends and the activities they get to do there. I loved having time to do some shopping and really just as leisurely as I liked. Again Michael had soccer practice, this time Mike took him and the little boys got to go along for fun. I took the little girls and the big girls to the dance studio and we got shoes for everyone and then Brittany and Allison had dance class. Whew!
Friday, we had school here again. Friday evening, Catherine, Aunnika, and Allison all had dance class. Brittany babysat while Mike and I went out to dinner and were home in time to watch most of the kids movie with them. We put the kids to bed and then we watched our movie “We are Marshall” it was a good show. And I guess that’s about it for Friday.
Saturday morning Mike and Michael went fishing, Brittany had a dance class and then it was another day of working on the new room. We got the door hung which is an amazingly hard thing to do and get the door perfectly straight but we did finally get it. We also got the electrical stuff figured out for the room. Mike snuck in a little gardening (he loves to play in the garden) and I got a little nap sort of. I’ve had a miserable cold for a few days so that was a nice thing to get to rest a little. Saturday afternoon, Brittany and Allison went to a movie with a group of friends, Aunnika went to a friends house and Mike and I took the rest of the kids to Michael’s first soccer game of the season. It was a fun game. Michael got a goal and made an awesome save for the goalie. His team won and I think He’s going to really like this new team he’s on. They’re all pretty good but not quite as good as his team from Spring season so he feels pretty comfortable and appreciated. Anyway, it will be a good season I think. Saturday night we had a fun family cookout and then once we got the kids to bed Mike and I went for our weekly game night at the neighbors. It was great fun.
So now we are finally to Sunday. At church Mike got up to bear his testimony and just as he was about a minute into his testimony, the fire alarm went off. Well we had to evacuate the building. As we were leaving Allison teased her Dad and said, “Gosh dad, did you say a bad word or something?” After church we headed over to Sara’s for dinner and fun visiting. It was a wonderful afternoon. Ammon and Allison came and joined us later on for some visiting. Poor Allison is miserable after her appendectomy but we were so glad to get to see them and visit with them for a while too.
Ok so I guess that about covers it for the week. I think over the next several weeks, since we really have started all the new stuff now, these emails should be shorter. I hope I’m not torturing you all. We Love and miss you. Mylinda and the Fam.