September 10 on 10: Stephanie

This girl had me up way too much last night but she sure is cute and come morning, all is forgiven. Back in pjs after a summer of just wearing a diaper to bed (and a sleepsack) - oh, and these pjs on my 7 mo old? They are size 0-3 mo.

Sisters playing with each other while I do a little workout. Rob and Henry were at a father/son campout, it was very strange (but also nice) to have just us girls in the house in the morning.

I enjoyed seeing how June had her toys out while playing. She plays so much with these toys.

My family working hard (I didn't help)

I did this instead: menu planning+nursing. Just as important as the car washing. 

Took this baby grocery shopping - she's new to sitting up in the cart and it's a game changer! Also, she has her first cold (the culprit for keeping her up in the night) and is moody which is unusual for our typically happy baby.

Rob is so good about playing with the kids on Saturdays - I accidentally take an unofficial day off on most Saturdays.

We went to Tucanos for dinner and the baby ate more than the kids. Good thing they were free.

A puzzle at the restaurant helped a little to prevent the climbing and standing on benches. 

August 10 on 10: Lisa

We made it home to Ohio Monday night about midnight. So today we are still in vacation recovery mode. Not terribly pretty or exciting - but here's our day. 

8:15 - Had to get Clancy up to make it in time for his feeding/occupational therapy appointment this morning. The rest of the crew slept until close to 10. Dreamy. 

9:20 - on the road

11:15 - done with therapy and enjoying some snacks. 

12:15 - decided we needed to take my van through the car wash. The yellow jackets next door had decided to feast on all the dead bugs we acquired over the course of four days and enjoyed attacking us when we were trying to get things out of the car. Yikes!

1:20 - still trying to get everything out of the van. I spared myself the humiliation of a picture from inside where the kids sat for our trip. Four kids + four days = disgusting (in both look and stink)

2:00 - this is what Zachary has looked/felt like for several days now. Time for a nap. 

3:00 - taking a short break. 

4:30 - much happier after napping. 

5:30 - making dinner. Tonight we had alphabet or zucchini pasta with ground turkey and sauce. It was tasty. 

6:10 - it has rained HARD for most of the afternoon/evening. Good thing I washed my car.

And that was our day. 

June 10 on 10: Lisa

I think today's caption should read: "The Honeymoon is Over." Yesterday was the first day of summer vacation and the kids got along great! I was so hopeful. Let's just say today was not so nice. 

6:15 - received my daily wake up call with Colin letting me know which Lego set he wants next. 

7:30 - ready for his big day!

...While these two were stuck on the couch. 

8:00 - we've been experimenting reading our scriptures and scripture stories during breakfast to see if it helps everyone get along better throughout the day. 

9:00 - Zachary was mad because I wouldn't let him throw the letters from the letter puzzle into the fireplace so he decided to kick the rest of the toys. 

Clancy felt sorry for the toys. 

10:00 - we reviewed our summer house rules, as we forgot them very quickly. 

And I finally put together our responsibility chart. 

I had hoped to post lots of pictures of everyone enjoying some fun outside in our backyard - but after multiple incidents including some biting and lots of tears we decided maybe separating the crew may be best. 

1:00 - down for a nap. Don't let them fool you. They aren't going to sleep. 

1:30 - deciding which messy pile on my desk I need to tackle first. 

2:00 - saved from cleaning and organizing by Colin needing my help. 

3:00 - Clancy found Alyssa's giant Dora pillow. He's showing you the Map. 

Zachary likes the toys again. 

3:30 - Dora needed to hang out on my head. What's not pictured here are three boys climbing and jumping all over me to make sure she stayed on my head. Ugh. 

4:00 - this is our neighbor's pool. Most of today included two teenage boys and a flirty teenage girl splashing, squealing and screaming. While I'm happy they were having fun, I do miss my quiet afternoons. 

Alyssa decided she was going to hide out in the basement. Probably wise. 

5:00 - slam dunk!

5:30 - a gourmet dinner of pb&j for the boys and cereal for Alyssa. Yum! You'll also notice we have no doors on our cabinets. We're in the middle of trying to paint them. Maybe by the next 10 on 10 we'll actually be done. 

7:00 - the day ended with a surprise flyover from this hot air balloon. A nice and peaceful way to end the day. 

May 10 on 10: Lisa

Today's pictures were randomly taken when I happened to remember it was the 10th. Not my best effort for sure, but enjoy our day, nonetheless.

8:20 - walking to the bus stop in a huff. Can't remember exactly why, but I do know it had something to do with shoes.

9:00 - we should be getting in the car for preschool. However, he was just so tired and had a rough night. He fell back to sleep around 6:00, so I figured I'd let him sleep a bit longer. Getting to preschool a little late surely won't affect his future academic career.

12:00 - home from preschool and everyone wanted to watch Super Why on PBS Kids. Both Clancy and Colin are in their superhero garb. Zachary refused to get dressed (i.e. threw a HUGE tantrum) when I had a Batman shirt for him. I guess Batman isn't his favorite. Who knew?

1:00 - Spiderman showing off his new Kindle. We purchased them for our upcoming summer drive across country. According to him, it's his "dream come true."

1:30 - Still not dressed and now trying to squeeze behind his dresser to avoid taking a nap.

Sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 - I was frantically looking for Colin's social security card as we needed it for his speech evaluation on the 11th. It wasn't where I thought it was. Nor was it in my alternative spots. Thought I may have put it in our lockbox, but then couldn't find where I put the key. Finally found the key, but no card. After going through nearly every file and pieces of paperwork we have (which is A LOT!!!) I found his and his brothers' cards oddly tucked in a random file in the back of one of my file drawers around 5:30. Not sure how they got there, but VERY glad to have found them. Now to put the house back together before the evaluators come tomorrow! Ugh!

4:00 - after refusing to sleep, Clancy and I hung out on the couch for a while. He enjoys looking at and taking pictures with my phone. Here he's saying, "That's me!"

Later in the day I made a tasty chicken and summer veggie stir fry with a sunflower seed butter sauce. While it was tasty, it certainly wasn't pretty, so best to let that photo slide.

In other news, we're ramping up our preparations to potty train these two. WHOO to the HOO! They're VERY excited to sit on their new Blue Potties. Let's see how excited they are to use them.

I also thought it might be a good idea to try out this kids urinal as none of my children are particularly tall and standing on a stool is tricky sometimes. Plus this one is sort of cute and has a fun spinner to aim at. Training to aim early on certainly couldn't hurt. Unfortunately, it will be going back. It is TINY! The bowl is so small you'd never be able to empty a full bladder in it, a little boy would need laser precision aim, and if you hit the bowl or spinner with any force, you'd have splatter everywhere. Good try L'il Jumblr - your product is certainly cute, but you obviously have never had little boys. 

To put it in perspective, and here it actually looks a little bigger than it is.

And that is mostly our day :)

May 10 on 10: Stephanie

I'm so proud that I remembered to take pictures ALL day long so I'm just going to go ahead and post more than 10 this month!

9am: kids are totally ready for the day in the 9 o'clock hour. Miracles happen. Also, they're calmly and nicely playing with one another.

10am: Just like Dad

11am: Funny faces on the way to Target (getting out of the house is kind of a big deal - yesterday we didn't leave at all)

noon: I didn't take this pic for the blog, I took it to send to Rob and Monica for their opinion about the hat. Monica said, "yes!" Rob said it was too "Blossom." I didn't end up buying it but I think I'll risk the Blossom reference and get it next time I'm at Target. 

Blossom:

3pm: reading with the kiddos before their quiet time

Also 3pm: While the kiddos have quiet time I'm getting the next size of clothes (3 months) ready for my growing baby and watching some YouTube videos 

4pm: Baby legs on the baby legs (nursing)

5pm: Snapchats of the baby, a fun pass time of Rob and Henry's. This one is "Jail Baby"

Also 5pm: Rob took the kids away as I was making dinner - and this is the result: clean kitchen right before dinner begins (food is on the table)! Another 10 on 10 miracle.

6pm: popsicle dessert in the front yard.

Also 6pm: we went on what was supposed to be a quick walk around the block but we stopped to spend time with neighbors' pets.

7pm: Henry is making a video of opening his new Skylander, you will not see it on YouTube

9pm: Rob sent me this picture from campus where he went back to work tonight... this is the stressed look of a PhD student whose dissertation deadline was moved up. I'm so thankful for all his hard work, dedication and sacrifice! Thanks for making a promising future for us, honey!