Last Day of September?

The kids have been asking how long til their birthdays a lot lately. Some days it seemed like September was extra long, but then a week would just fly by. This past week went like that. Scott was back to work after his Scotland trip and we kept chugging along with homeschooling. The kids are making great progress and enjoy the incentive of finishing quickly so that they have more play time. Monday also marked the start of something I've put off for awhile. Quiet practice for church. Some of you are probably thinking, "Don't they get that all the time being at church?" They should, but some of them are not quite there yet. We've spent too much time going down the stairs to get further instruction about how we need to be quiet and sit still. So, I bit the bullet, so to speak, and went for it. We put in a cd of the Bible and sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Most of you know that our kids can sit for hours if someone is reading to them, but it's different when we're at church. I want them to pay attention and not need the distraction of pictures. A "fidget" for their hands is okay, but I've only been giving them a pencil and notebook and it seems to be going WAY better! Kiersten saw really well all by herself and did great when we practiced at church Saturday. Praying we can do even better today. Wednesday we headed to town earlier than usual to meet friends, but that didn't end up working out. Instead we played at one of our favorite parks, had lunch, saw Daddy and the he took them home:). I was able to stay in town and finish some of the Birthday shopping. It's a lot easier when I don't have to keep an eye on the train of children behind me and try to "unsuccessfully" hide the gifts that I'm buying for them. We did some "spontaneous" family pictures when I got home. It was the first time we used the timer setting and I think it went really well. The kids had a lot of fun, especially when they got up in the trees. They kept asking me to take more pictures:). Scott had a meeting, which ended up keeping him out until close to 11! I think he almost turned into a pumpkin... Yesterday was filled with activity. Scott and the other men were up fixing another section of the church roof and I took the two little girls with me to get my haircut. Thankfully they were both really good! We went back home and used our extra time to get the house cleaned up. Last night I had a ticket for a special mom/baby night out. A friend hosted an event in Glidden, which is really close to our place. It started at 7, so the kids were mostly ready for bed before I left. Adelaide did great. We were out visiting with the ladies until 10! Way past our bedtime, but a rare opportunity to meet other ladies from the surrounding communities. I knew at least 5 of the ladies there, but it was nice to meet quite a few more and found that several of us have more in common than a baby on our hip:). I don't usually write posts on Sunday morning, but thought that I should write while the inspiration was fresh. Have a great day in the Lord's House!