Half a day off!

After a bit of last minute cleaning this morning we pretty much declared ourselves a "mini vacation". We got to sit around, read books, plant some seeds with Scott and wait for the party to start. Okay, so there were a couple of History lessons for Elyssia and some tooth brushing going on, but for the most part it was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable day.

Scott headed out with Garrison, Caleb and Kiersten around 12:30. I had told Garrison that he could stay if he wanted to, but he chose to go with Daddy. I think he made a wise choice. We had 4 little girls for Elyssia to play with and 2 little boys, but they were 1 and 2 months. The girls did pretty good with the little guy playing around them, but really just enjoyed putting on their own tea party. Elyssia was a very good hostess. If I hadn't been the hostess of the Epicure Party I probably would have pulled out the camera and taken some pictures. I really should have taken some during the day, but it was one of those times where we just enjoyed all the friends and forgot about capturing the moment. There were 9 of us ladies and 7 kids. Quite a nice group. The Food was delicious and we were able to eat as much as we wanted, without running out of anything:). There were plenty of leftovers for Scott and the other kids to try when they got home.

The kids had several adventures with Daddy. He took them to Peavey Mart, where they got juice and donuts, because it was a special sale day. The boys, especially, like to look at the farm stuff, tools and occasionally some of the tractor toys. They also went to the Lumber Yard and Home Hardware. Quite a trek for the little ones. Kiersten fell asleep on the way home and stayed that way for about 30 minutes after they got home.

We had a relaxing evening, enjoying some of the leftovers, reading books, having a bath, picking out church clothes, devotions and some snuggle time. It's almost quiet now. All the little ones are in bed, but I can still hear Kiersten chatting. She was fishing the dishes out of the rinse water tonight. Her stacking skills are quite impressive. I was surprised that she could stack the bowls so high without them all falling. Thankfully I was able to move a couple lower before we had a catastrophe;).

Sam, who stayed on the porch for the party, was actually quite laid back today. It was nice to see him enjoying himself, even though he wasn't allowed to run around with the little ones when they went outside.

Garrison took a turn reading to the dishwashers this morning. He chose a book that he didn't have memorized and did pretty good with it. He did, however, change the names of the dogs in the book because he couldn't remember. After a quick reminder he proceeded to finish the story:). He also seems to be accepting the fact that the words that he's reading in his schoolbooks are definitely found in most of the other kids books we have. He didn't want to stop reading the other day because he hadn't found out what happened to the bear. This is a VERY good thing! Caleb is looking on with great interest and we may just have to start his learning to read program sooner than I thought. I think he's afraid of being left behind. I've been taking some time while the others are doing their independent work to sit and work with Caleb. He's quite good with numbers, colors, etc. I think letter identification is the area that we need the most work on. We just happen to have a book about bears that they bought from the library the other day. I'll try to see which ones he can't identify and go from there.

Other news in Avonlea, as I say to my sister in law, is that my brother's movie is premiering tonight! So very excited for him:). Praying it goes well. Many of you already know that it's called "The Solomon Bunch". It's the first full length movie that Jason has done and they're having a red carpet premiere in Atlanta. I'm looking forward to hearing about it from all the family back there.

Things are pretty quiet now. I guess I should pick out my clothes for tomorrow. The Goffs are back and we're all really excited to see them again. 2 other families that we haven't seen in awhile should be there too, so it might be pretty full. It's something to look forward to:).