Our Week - Last Week of Summer

Tuesday night was high school orientation for Sam, Bri & Eli.  After they came home with all the syllabi for all their classes, we raided the school supplies bucket and got all 3 backpacks filled up for the first day, which will be Monday!

I ordered a pad last week for the changing table/dresser we were given, and it arrived on Saturday, so I made a flannel cover for it.

It seems to serve it's purpose well.  On the left in the pic above, you can see a little bit of the results of a little bit of "retail therapy" I did the day after Luke came home, since we got several pairs of shorts and a few s/s shirts back, but no church clothes or pajamas.

One of our small guests asking me to take the cardboard tag off one of the toys.

I raided Katie's drawers for some shorts, including these.  Fortunately, I buy the little girls' shorts in the boys department, since they are longer than girl shorts.  The panda shirt is one that got left behind in the laundry when Luke moved.

Paul took some time off work to help get Luke settled, finish the wall, and generally help out with all the little ones.

This gave me the chance to get out a couple times with the older kids.

Eli is still making planes.

We had a birthday this week!

Sam's been busy with football practice and such so it was nice to get a chance to celebrate him and all the humor he brings to our lives.

And how are things going with Lukey?  Well, his biggest change is that he transferred his ability to scoot himself around on his back, to being able to scoot himself around in a seated position.  This is huge, and encouraging.  He is scooting around touching stuff with the back of his hand, and seems "right at home" but of course we have no way of knowing what he remembers or doesn't.

I got a wee bit crazy this week and decided to let our Toddler Guests try painting for the first time.

It actually went better than I expected it to!  I gave their finished masterpieces to their Mama.

One night, I escaped for a little time out with my big boys.  Josiah got some driving time in, picking Sam up from football practice, and we went out for a pizza.  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have caught their "Let me take a picture, and I'll give you quarters" faces.

Our Little Guests have been very accepting of Lukey.  They're a little curious about him, but they're pretty happy to have someone dropping food off the high chair that they can come along and discover later!  (unfortunately, I usually have to take it away, since they're gluten and dairy free)

A friend with small ones the same age as our Small Ones offered to watch them for a couple hours so Paul and I could have lunch out.  We had a nice, quiet lunch, where I didn't have to feed anybody but me, and nobody whined!

Afterwards, since we were in the neighborhood, he took me to see his new baby.  He headed up the apparatus committee for this ginormous fire truck that is being finished for his department.

Poor Wheelie!  He's getting old.  He looks at the baby gates and meows at us.  His former hiding place was Paul's office, which is now Luke's new bedroom... with a gate across the door to keep the Little Ones out of Paul's bookcases.

Made it into the sewing room a second time to come up with the hat and pants for a brand new baby I got to meet this week!

A tiny little bitty one!  I hope to get the matching shirt done in the next few days and give it to the new mama next time I see her.

Our Small Ones are at such a fun age, where they're learning new things all the time.  Recent accomplishments include picking up a couple new signs, and learning to say a couple new words.  We're working using forks now, and when we get the hang of that, I'm going to transition them from trays to the table with the rest of us.

Katie and I have been reading the continent book (affiliate link) over and over and over, in the hopes of giving her a basic idea of geography before we get going with school next week.

We managed to do another spelling lesson.  It's going to be interesting to try to fit in a full school day next week!

We also started a new book that we will be reviewing next month.

I printed the kids some Columbus crafts from a teacher worksheet website that we'll be reviewing, as well.

Jack and Hannah colored, cut, and assembled their bendy Columbus guys while I read them the first chapter of our book.

This was Hannah's first time doing brads by herself, and we had to tape poor Columbus a couple of times, but with a little help, she got it.

Jack is way more into the cookies Brianna baked than the craft Mom insisted on.

Whew!  Not as "summery" a summer as what I was hoping for, but ready or not, here comes school!  I'm looking forward to getting back to our school year routine, but I'm worried about getting everything done and taking care of Luke and the toddlers.  One day at a time, I guess!


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