This Week's Recap

So as I posted on Wednesday, we have a few extra family members for the week and our kids are having a blast! Last Sunday before they arrived Elijah said, "I'm excited to have an extra brother for the week, but that also means I'm going to have TEN sisters for the week!" 

   The boys have been busy tobogganing outside, stealing food from the kitchen, playing Catan, Minecraft (of course!)...

...and making everything from lie detectors to radios with an electronics curriculum that just arrived.

The older girls have kept the younger ones busy as well. Lots of Barbies, tea parties, colouring, braiding hair, and playing outside. 

Having thirteen kids here doing school during the day has been a little bit busy. We only had two breakdowns from kindergartners that wanted to go play and a few boys trying to skip out on classes that they didn't think I'd notice. :)

We plan to bake some special Valentine's Day cookies tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Now for an update about our reading challenge! I finished my biography book "Unbroken" and it was an amazing story. I can't wait to watch the movie! At some points it was almost unfathomable what Louis went through. What so many soldiers went through. It was an eye opening book for me. Keona's going to read it for her biography as well.

I started reading "The 5th Wave" series to screen it for the girls but then I got really into it and had to know what happened next... Scott bought me the next one in series and I plan to read the final book when it comes out in May. Like I said... I like teen books. :)

I started "The Girl on the Train" last week and am about a third of the way through. I'm reading this for my "a book I've been meaning to read." So far I'm enjoying it. I have no idea what's going on yet- so that's always fun. 

Keona is reading "Alex Ryder: Eagle Strike" for a book she's been meaning to read. Actually, Elijah has been bothering her to read it for a long time now! So that's what's going on there.

Addy enjoys reading the dictionary...

I'm pretty excited for Family Day! It's always nice to have Scott home for an extra day. We're planning a little surprise outing with the kids and then relaxing. Ah... Relaxing.

 Did I mention that we ran out of fruit on Wednesday? Cause yeah, thirteen kids go through a lot of fruit. Thankfully Scott was kind enough to stop on his way home from work with Keona to grab some apples that were on sale for 99 cents a pound. So he bought 20lbs worth... That should last a few days. Oh, and Keona started her first job! She's working part time in the office with Scott. Mostly just filing and data entry, but it's exciting for her. 

What else?...

Rain is getting bigger by the second. There was a day last week when I wondered what we were thinking getting a puppy. Justus is pretty much middle age now- for a dog. He just sleeps, eats, plays with the kids for an hour and then sleeps again. I had forgotten what having a puppy is like! Not to mention, we got Justus when he was 13 weeks and already trained to go outside. It never dawned on us that at 8 weeks... They couldn't be trained yet! *kicking myself* But she makes up for it all in cuteness! The kids have been a big help. The girls take turns getting up with her first thing in the morning and taking care of her. Even Prayer. Who has decided that she is not an animal person and her children will never have pets... 

And for everyone who has expressed concern about Justus... 

He is doing just fine! He's been spoiled with extra treats and attention. He spends lots of time running around outside with the kids. Only occasionally roaming off the property and getting into trouble. He even let Rain hide in his bed with him when a loud noise scared her. 

He even tried to protect us from the Bell guy by keeping him from getting out of his truck in the driveway. Poor guy...

I guess that's about it! Hopefully I'll have time for more than one post next week.