Happy Birthday Abi!

Happy Birthday to Hermana Wride!! Aww, I remember this little baby... Abi at 2 days old ~

Now that baby is starting her last year as a teenager, how did that happen?? I didn't send her a package or anything, sorry Abi! Living international makes it a little trickier for a mom like me that is not on top of it. I told her I'll put some $ in her account though, and she can buy herself something. I'm not sure there are a lot of places to shop there on the Missionary Training campus, so maybe she'll save it for Panama. She leaves for Panama next Wednesday, Sept 9. Exciting!

Katharine slept in Peter's bed with him last night. Here they were before I woke him up. His feet were at her stomach. I helped turn him out of the bed so he wouldn't kick her. 

I told Daniel and Peter to both whisper. Peter got dressed then said he had a tummy ache, so I told him to go back to bed. I was down getting Daniel's reading minutes logged and initalling his planner, and I could hear P&K talking. I guess when he went to lay back down, it woke her up. They came down for breakfast. I asked how he was feeling, he said it still didn't feel very good. I baked a loaf of bread and enjoyed my beans and banana peppers for breakfast, while Corey went to the rec center to bike and swim. I'm hoping to go on a ride later. I haven't been riding this week cause our bikes have been in the shop since Saturday. I have trumpet this afternoon, so I can't do my 3pm ride, but I'm hoping to go after that. I'm at Burt Bros right now getting Corey's oil changed before I drive to American Fork to get my bike. Corey's bike was making noises so he wanted to take it in. He asked if I needed mine to go in for anything. I didn't have any complains, other than that my dropper post doesn't stick. Corey said they couldn't fix it, so I maybe they didn't do anything with mine? I don't know if they did other stuff, but my bike is done so I'm going to go get that as soon as the oil change is done. 

Peter and I worked in a scholastic 2nd grade book today. I'd love to homeschool him. He said it was fun to homeschool today, and he's thinking about it if he wants to, cause he knows he'd miss a lot of fun things at school. Maybe I could sweeten the deal with a Thanksgiving Point membership. Although I usually don't have a car, so maybe that wouldn't work. He and Katharine working on coloring pages. 

This evening Owen has a trumpet lesson. Nicole's kids are crashing here tonight before they head up to Idaho for school. They've been driving across the country from Maine, a trip Nicole has done many times. Corey, Lily and Wes are going to Sacrament tonight. Well, to Elko tonight, Sacramento tomorrow. Lily's going out there for a ACT class that will be tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday. Corey said it felt like the right thing to do, to take her out there. It won't be too crazy of a weekend to be a single parent, cause there are no soccer games cause of the Labor Day Weekend. Though I had hoped Corey and Wes could help us help out my sister J this weekend, but maybe I can still do it with the littles somehow. 

K, I'm going to catch up on the blog while I wait for the car, since I haven't recorded much the past two weeks yet. I'll maybe check back in later. 

Later - Corey and Lily left around 4:30 for Elko, the same time I left for trumpet. Owen is doing awesome at trumpet. He is doing jazz band, concert band, and he practiced for like 40 minutes before his lesson, and I was so impressed at his lesson, she was asking him about different songs, and I write down what to do in his lesson book but I have not been following up with him at all, but he is doing it on his own and was very prepared. His teacher was impressed with how well he's doing and so was I cause it is all him!

Wesley was a good host to Nicole's kids. He got the basement ready for them to stay in and moved his stuff out. He made pizza for everyone too, doing "date night" tonight, and then they watched some Spiderman TV series episodes. I got back and since everyone was in such capable hands, I left for a ride at 6:30 and enjoyed my time in the mountains. Wesley got a major sun burn one week ago when he was up in Bear Lake with Ethan and Bella and friends. He decided to not put on sunblock, cause he saw a meme that it causes cancer, and then he spent a full day out boating. He is still in pain on his shoulders. His whole back is peeling, and I've been coating him with aloe for the past 4 days, today we did lotion. He's going to wear sunblock next time. 

Basement Buddies

I took Katharine to a friend's house today, Briggs, where a few of the neighborhood kiddos were gathered for a playdate. She was there from 9-11, and I took the opportunity to go to the gym (I was able to borrow Wesley's car). I was able to swim in the outdoor pool while Corey was still there after taking carpool. He only takes it on Monday's now, which is better for him, and makes sense since none of our kids have been in carpool. Owen started jazz band last week so he's not in morning carpool anymore, and Natalie goes with Lily and Sophi cause she'd rather go earlier than be in the car with neighborhood boys, kinda funny. Anyway, I was able to exercise and then went back to pick up Kat and then we went to Macey's for the last punch card on Daniel's free ice cream cone card. Thanks Daniel for letting us use that so often. I probably owe him $50 bucks worth of ice cream for all the cones that I gave to Katharine. Sophi, Natalie, and Owen all owe him $ too. On our way home with K and Elephant safely buckled.

I went for a hike this afternoon. I had fun exploring the other side of the creek. It wasn't as scary this time. I had to run back to car cause of storm rolling in, which was kinda fun. The clouds looked ominous so I got back to the north side of the creek, and then thunder was warning me that it was coming as I hurried down the trail. When I got back to the car I was a little wet but not soaked. It was fun. 

We had leftovers for dinner tonight, and I let Natalie made pumpkin cookies for FHE, which was Flip 7, and cookies. It was funny as we were playing, Katharine excused herself and then tried to discretely get Peter to come with her by saying "Peter! Sneak! Sneak!!" Peter was smiling at the invitation, and I told him it was ok, he could go, then he scampered off to play with her. 

This pic above is from yesterday. When it was time to come up for dinner at 5:30, Daniel said "You guys were in the basement all day!" Peter replied "Yeah, it's our hobby." And then Katharine added "Yeah, we're basement buddies, duh!" We all smiled at that and thought it was so cute. Two other photos from yesterday - kids playing on the trampoline overlooking the ridge.

And more kids swinging in the hammocks. 

We went over to visit with the Morgans, who welcomed home Anna this past week, and also we went to visit with the Kofoeds after their son's farewell before his mission to Texas. Those visits went from after church until 2, then home for my ministering sisters to come visit me, and then Corey and I went with Natalie for her to receive her patriarchal blessing. Hearts feeling full for many blessings today. We are so grateful for our children and to be able to raise them in such a wonderful neighborhood. I'd say this place is as good as the 80s were! It's just a beautiful area to live in and our neighbors are the salt of the earth. So great to be able to raise our family with all our wonderful friends in this village! I've been thinking of the word "village" after reading some of the comments in this video that Mel shared with us yesterday, a documentary called "Birthgap". Corey watched some of it last night, and shared some tonight at scriptures. It's interesting to see prophesy fulfilled and see the warnings in the proclamation on the family coming to pass around us. Members of the church need to be careful that we don't follow the trends of the world (see this BYU devotional by Elder Cook from Feb 2017 "A Banquet of Consequences: The Cumulative Result of All Choices"). Corey also shared this clip that his dad sent to him - Tough love by Sister Holland, Sister Nelson, and Sister Clark. Then kids kept sharing reels and things they've seen (this is about how "scriptures" go every night!) we watched the Harry Potter HBO trailer, Hyrum shared this comedian talking about black Snape, then the kids shared Harry potter with guns and the fun just keeps going. But now it's 10:30 and we're going to bed. I'll head to the temple in the morning at 4:30 and will be back around 6:30 for girls to have the van. Buenas Noches.

Stayed Up Late

Another school week is over. Corey's still working (6:15pm) so I'm not sure what date night will look like tonight. The kids are cooking a Costco pizza, and I'm just going to blog until he's on his way. Earlier today I was thinking it would be fun for us both to go explore around the other side of the creek of Techy that I did on Wednesday, but it might rain. He also might be working late enough that it won't give us much time before sunset, so maybe we'll reschedule that picnic idea. I'd love to take the kids up there if there was a safe bridge to cross, but so far it's just been me trying to balance as I walk across fallen logs. 

I stayed up late last night, so I struggled getting going most of the day. I wasn't fully functional until it was past lunch time. That is a good reminder to myself to not do that to my body or brain again. I stayed up cause I was watching this video "The Story of Reckless Ben" with tidbits of his growing up and stuff. He's "the most Ohioan Ohioan to ever Ohio" (1:14) haha. I started watching that as I shaped some dough for breakfast. I had been thinking about him cause of a video Corey shared for scriptures last night, a new Reckless Ben one that was posted yesterday about a human trafficking ring. It had 3.8 million views last night when we saw it, and it's at 9.9 million now at 6pm! After watching it we were all kinda in awe with our jaws dropped and I might want to join his Patreon so we can see the  next part of the documentary. Wow, that man is fearless taking on people that are rich, wicked, and able to silence judges, law enforcement, and news outlets yikes! Or finding other ways to ruin their lives. So after that I stayed up too late watching the story about Ben's upbringing and stuff (I liked it, I'm impressed). When I was done with that video, I visited with Lily until 1. She was working on posters for Senior Sunrise and seemed like she still had more work to do. 

Aaaand she had to be at Skyline at 5:45 am for that! I went to bed, she worked on it until 2. She was supposed to wake up at 5, leave at 5:30, and she sent me a text at 2am before she went to sleep asking me to help be sure she was up at 5. Well I did not see that text cause I did not wake up myself until after 6, so she missed her alarm and woke up in a panic at 6:15 and then just grabbed the posters and sprinted out the door just wearing the clothes she slept in. No make up or changing her clothes, nothing. Then Corey and SNO and carpool left at 7:15. I got Daniel and Peter up at 8, they left around 8:30, and Katharine slept until 9:30. I got her breakfast, let her watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and some Bluey while I had my GBOM salad and Berry and Seed dessert. I was tired, read a little bit, but mostly rested on the couch next to her until Owen got home at 1. D&P got home at 2, they had a swim party with the neighborhood at 3, I paid Natalie $3 to take them there, and also bribed her with brownies. Yeah I've been struggling to get going all day. Trying to catch up a bit on the blog while I wait for Corey now. 

Yesterday was pretty good. Katharine played with a neighbor Becca from 10-2, I read and worked on a disciple binder for myself. 

Inspiration behind this is this quote: "Brothers and sisters, now is the time for you and for me to prepare for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Now is the time for us to make our discipleship our highest priority." So, if my discipleship to Jesus Christ is my highest priority, what does that look like? What am I doing? One thing I think that means is that I'm studying about Jesus every day and thinking of ways I can apply what I learn about him to my life, in ways that I act and things I do. So I read a few Liahona articles, I'm keeping track of what I read, I'm going to try and read an article or General Conference talk every day, and try to apply to my life what I learn. Yesterday I left for the rec center at 4 and did some kettlebell stuff with 20 Minute Marriage ~ for my 1st round I used a 26 lbs kettlebell, 2nd round 35 woo. Also a round of LeoMoves stuff. 

Plus kettlebell halos w/17lbs 10 each side, and bottoms up presses from this Trevor's instinct video. I was able to do the right arm easily enough, 3sets of 10 each time, but my left arm was really hard! Had to do 1or 2 at a time and rest until got to 10, then 10 more halos each side. Ended with 60 bear crawls. I still like Zuzka, and there are lots of other great fit people on youtube that are in my feed. After that workout, I hurried home so we could take Daniel to soccer practice. Lily took him while I got dinner ready, then they ate while I left at 6:45 for a ride. Went to the ruins and did techy on the descent, 11.48 in 1 hour 32 min. I was straight into the wind on the road for the first 3 miles, it was slow and hard. I left the ruins at sunset, 8:06, and was able to see ok on the trail ride down. Today I just did a little hike around the creek near the 1st bridge. It is my spot to go to when I don't have a lot of time. I love the creek. It's my happy place. 

I call this rock below "Chief" cause it's huge, and I think of Jesus being the Chief Cornerstone. Jesus is my rock.

Corey's almost here, 7:30 now. We're just going to go to Aubergine. It's late for dinner and I'm not too hungry (had a bit of fresh sourdough) so I think I'll just get some nice cream tonight. :)

New Washer and Dryer

Today Katharine went over to Scarlett's house to play. 

They are the cutest little duo! Katharine was over there playing from 9 until 2!! I didn't have a car so they came to pick her up and that was so nice of them. 

I've already decided that Katharine and Scarlett need to stay together, so even though Kat has not started kindergarten yet, I have decided that she will be going to junior high with Scarlett, trusting that neither of our families moves away in the next 10 years. 

Today was a great day for her to be gone to play, cause that helped me to not have any interruptions, and that was important cause I had to clean the laundry room up before the new washer and dryer arrived.  Hooray and hallelujah and good bye to the current washer and dryer issues, until new ones happen with these machines in a few years. Meghan said she got a lot done too, cause Katharine and Scarlett play so nicely together. It's a win-win for the girls and for the moms. So the delivery dispatch said they'd be here between 12:30-2:30 but they came at 3. That is ok. I had the room clean my then - and I did so good! It was VERY clean. 

I moved the books into my bedroom, doh, along with other boxes of clutter to sort through, but the laundry room is clean and here is the new washer and dryer! 

I am grateful for my daughters and daughters in law for being my sounding board - Bella said front loaders get mold, so that tip came just in time, cause I was looking at front loaders. These are LG, which the RC Willey guy said LG is the best for washers and dryers. So, the only thing I need to do is switch how the dryer door hinges on. I know how to switch it, and tried to switch it myself, but I could not for the life of me get the last screw to get loose, so I called RC Willey and they are going to send someone to do it on Saturday. So the laundry room looks great, next step in there will be to organize the cupboards and closets, but for the time being, it looks very clean and presentable. But yeah, do not look at my bedroom though. I plan on taking the boxes in here to the basement, cause I just cleaned my room a few days ago, and have kept it clean for 3 days, so I don't want it to be a "one step forward, two steps back" situation. I sorted while I visited with Nicole today, have a few more to do. The basement is already a mess, almost helpless, probably more than 10 steps back, so now it's 12 after I moving more boxes down there. Hopefully Wes and I can still get after it before he leaves for Idaho in two weeks. Not today though - Wesley and Hyrum left this morning for Provo, and they are going to Bear Lake with Ethan and lots of friends and will be back Sunday. Wes goes back to Rexburg on Sept 8th or 9th. So yeah, I'm sure last minute panic will kick in next week.

Tonight I did a 6:54pm hike at Lisa and spent an hour and 40 min exploring. I discovered a new land on the other side of techy near Hogum Fork, so fun!

Well, I guess someone else already discovered it (they started to build a cabin)

Tried to mark the trail where I can enter and cross the creek - at the top of ruins, end of the climb before the last stretch to the ruins. So that was fun. I get scared though being in new places by myself. Nervous a cougar or moose will sneak up on me, or I'll accidentally come across it's path. Wes and Hyrum took the kids out to see Spider-Man Brand New Day last night. Corey and I let them have a kids night out and we went for a ride. 7:09 pm ride to ruins from the trailhead, cause we were late getting out and the sun was setting around 8:10. 

I'm the local legend for all athletes on temple quarry to mushroomland with 20 efforts AND 3rd bridge to top for All Athletes with 21 efforts, woot woot! 6.67 miles, 1 hour 3 min.

For the kids, the show was at 8:20, so we had gone to bed before they got back home around 11. 

I'm glad they get to go have fun making memories together, and that I get to go to bed on time.

Looks like Kat gave up at some point during the show. Yesterday she and I ran some errands - emissions test for the van so I can get it registered. She drew all over her face yesterday, giving herself patterns, so we just went out like that. 

After Burt Bros we went to Costco. She saw dolls she would like for Christmas, but which one!?!?! Elsa, Belle, Rapunzel, Ariel, Jasmine, or Moana??? I can't buy any of them with her with me, so we'll see how we do this, or if she even remembers.

Today was Abi's p-day. She said it was a good week. We had a lot of us on the call!

And then she is so nice to call again after the little boys are home from school so they have a chance to talk to her too. 

We love and miss you Abi!!!

Backyard Games

For FHE tonight, Corey planned some back yard games. I was up here at the computer so I didn't catch most of the fun. I feel behind and so I took the moment to myself while I had the chance. When I went out I caught the last of a relay they were doing - passing flour on a face card to each other. 

Katharine got some in her face!

They had two teams and had also passed an orange between their necks, had to take turns putting on and taking off a shirt one at a time, did an egg relay holding the egg in a spoon in their mouth, also spinning around while they had a baseball bat touching the ground (but they used a broom stick instead of a bat, which didn't quite work...) They had fun and they all participated, which is better than their mother did. I got out to take a few pics though, so I did my part.

I was grateful to get out on a ride today, just up to the ruins. At the top I thought it was going to rain on me, so I quickly headed down, and then it passed with no rain, so I stopped at the bottom and spent 30+ min there listening to the creek. 

I've seen people climb this huge boulder. I have named this boulder "Chief" after the Lord: "Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone". There's another big boulder close to it which I call "Captain". I saw a fish at the creek again! I like quiet private places to be alone.

The girls are great at helping watch the kids so I can get out on my ride, and also playing with Katharine when I need to get other stuff done, like eat breakfast. Wesley took my licking for me today so I could eat. He played barbies with Katharine and I am grateful. It was fun to watch (little video here). It's always fun to watch others play with her, I don't find it as enjoyable when I'm the one playing, I get exhausted. I decided, after watching Wes, that it's ok to lay down as I play with her. 

Now I don't struggle building her a castle or sorting legos while she plays, but I admit I struggle if I'm asked to be part of the narrative. My breakfast today and of late have been a big GBMOB salad. 

Good stuff, I might need to make them smaller cause it take a bit longer to eat that than eat a bowl of oatmeal. I'm very satisfied after, so maybe I could do a smaller salad. I'm also still feeling a bit of a crash in the afternoon, so I don't know if that's anemia (I haven't been great at taking my iron pills) or if I'm getting a glucose spike still? I'll keep trying to listen to my body. 

Bella and Eliza shared some cute photos of the grandkids with us recently. Yesterday Bella shared this one of Alvie running around the park pointing a stick (magic wand!) up to the sky, we think he's working on his Patronus Charm!

"Expecto Patronum!" Bella said "Alvie was a wizard in his past life!" haha! Cutie. And Eliza has been out in Oregon with her family at a sisters retreat (I think?) She and Mary got some cute photos playing a the beach. 

Mary and Alvie are both running around and growing up so fast! 

Farewell and Homecoming

We went up to Layton today for Mikey's farewell and Sam's homecoming. Mike is going to El Salvador and Sam just got home on Thursday from Peru. Hyrum and Wes drove up the girls in the fiesta, which Wesley is going to buy from Ethan I think, or lease? So those 5 in that car left us room in the van to pick up my parents. We had a nice visit on the drive up, although my dad forgot his hearing aids so he only caught half of what was being discussed. We went to the 2nd hour afterwards and that was nice. Sat with my mom, Beka, Mel and Lily. Afterwards the kids were excited to jump the fence to Neil's house. They have two ladders set up, one on each side, so it's safe. My parents and Corey and Katharine and I drove over. Daniel fell in love with Amy's sister's dog. 

Cute little wiener dog. It had on a shock collar and Daniel got it off and was playing with it, testing people ability to not flinch. Then we sat around visiting. 

Neil suggested a shock phone, like a shock collar, which would give you a few seconds of buzzing warning before it zaps you if you don't put it down when your parents say!

It was fun to visit. My parents are having a meeting this Wednesday that is kind of a big deal. They told me a little about their hopes for that. 

When it was time to leave, Wes was gone picking up something from a friend, but we were able to shuffle everyone around to get a ride home so we didn't have to wait for Wes to get back. Beka and Matt took my parent's home, Mel and Christian took the LS, and HNODP and Kat came in the van. At home, a few moments before sunset, Hyrum Natalie Owen and Peter joined me on a quick run up the canyon to my close exploring spot by the 1st bridge. We had 3 minutes of silence listening to the creek, other than that it was a bit more rowdy than I've been accustomed to up there. 

I think they liked it though. The mountains are my happy place. 

Crest with the Gygi's

We had a great ride with our friends the Gygi's this morning! I asked Jill earlier this week if they'd want to join Corey and I for a ride of the Wasatch Crest, and I'm glad they took us up on it! They've done it before but it's been a few years. For Corey and I this was our first Crest ride this year, and we probably only need to do it once every summer. Maybe again in the fall? We woke up at 6, got dressed, loaded up our bikes and went to pick them up at 6:20. Wes came along with us to be our chauffer. We drove straight to Guardsman's Pass by Brighton and unloaded and then Wes drove the car back down and left in near Macey's in Holladay on Wasatch, and he called Lily to come pick him up there. Wes took some bad photos of us, trying to be funny. Too close...

Or too far away...

But the far away ones got the sky, which was very pretty. 

Ok Wes, that's enough dinking around from you!

As you can see, the sky was party cloudy, and that gave us amazing shade for most of our ride this morning. It was so nice and the temperature was lovely, AND it rained a little bit last night (thunder and lightening, but only for like an hour) which was just enough precipitation to wake up the aromas of the mountains. The trail wasn't muddy, just amazing "hero dirt" as the biking community says. It was actually so perfect, I felt like it was a gift from God - a gift of time, sights, shade, and smells. Love love loved it. 

We were back at the car around 11:30. Total distance was 23.78 miles, 3 hours 6 min of riding. It was a lot of fun to be with the Gygis!

While we were gone, Lily took the kids to their games. Instructions were not totally followed, but in their defense, I didn't write them down. (Owen and Daniel's soccer games were right after each other, O at 9 and D at 10:15, and Owen was just supposed to stay for Daniel's, but Lily took Owen home cause she thought Daniel's game was at 11:30, and that she didn't need to go get him until 12, so after the game Daniel was a little lost waiting for someone to get him. The coach still had one more game to coach, her kindergartener's team, so Daniel stayed and played with their kids until Lily got there. So some miscommunication, but it all ended well. Games were attended even without me there to manage, and I was able to go on a ride, so yay, it worked.

I took a shower and then a nap after we got home. Then I went to the church to do some stuff on the Relief Society board, which calling I'm going to be released from soon, so I'm trying to have it all organized and ship shape.

I told the older kids yesterday that Elder Kearon's talk from this week is required listening. I did some googling after listening to minute 21:04 ~ The ancient Greek word for "consider" in the biblical phrase "consider the lilies" is καταμανθάνω (katamanthanō), which literally means to study a thing thoroughly, to examine it with real care, or to learn it by heart. When Jesus uses this word in Matthew 6:28 during the Sermon on the Mount, he is not telling his audience to simply cast a passing glance at the flowers. Instead, he is commanding them to investigate, dissect, and deeply analyze the nature of how they exist without anxiety." (So good!) 

9pm, shared a polo with my siblings and then said it all again to my kids. I was preaching to them all about the health that comes from eating a plant based diet. My siblings and I have been talking about this a lot because of my mom's undiagnosed dementia, which is getting worse. I have shared this with the kids before (June 2017), but now that Corey's on board and with my mom's health, it's coming up again with a bit more power and urgency. So, I remembered this part and decided to give us all a refresher on this great book! There's a great quote that has stuck with me since I first read it in Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live" on page 58 - 61, he talks about how wealthy nations are the ones dying from dietary disease, and poor nations die from infection diseases from poor sanitation problems. See this graph:

Then starting on page 61 (all emphasis mine) ~ "The diseases of poverty are mostly infections diseases and are found in areas of the world with compromised nutrition. Heart attacks and the most common cancers (breast, colon, prostate) are found in rich societies where nutritional extravagance is the rule. No where in the world today can we find a society that combines economic wealth with a high intake and variety of unrefined plant foods. CAN YOU IMAGINE the HEALTH POTENTIAL of a society that would be able to enjoy excellent sanitation, emergency medical care, refrigeration, clean water, flush toilets, and availability of fresh produce year round and yet avoid nutritional ignorance and nutritional extravagance? WE HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY TODAY! An unprecedented opportunity in human history the opportunity to live a long and healthy life without fear of disease. This opportunity can be yours!"

After our ride today, Corey went to work at his dad's. He stayed there a little late, but that's ok. I read scriptures with the kids. Talking at scriptures ~

Laughing as Hyrum told stories and was being clever. Daniel is dressed for church tomorrow complete with tie, lol.

We're leaving at 8 to go to church in Layton at Uncle Neil's ward for cousin Mikey's farewell and cousin Sam's homecoming! Exciting. Sam got back on Thursday, Mikey gets set apart on Tuesday. 

Oh, a few things from yesterday - I took a quick hike at 6:40 am, exploring below the 1st bridge before Lily had to go to school. 32 min, .74 miles

I am looking around at a closer spot so I can go have private quiet time when I need a quick escape but don't have the time to walk to the ruins. The 1st bridge will work nicely!

Natalie stayed home from school yesterday to babysit for a neighbor who had a wedding and couldn't find anyone else. Katharine woke up at 6 and went with her and was with her all day. I checked in at 10 - I thought it was funny. 

That is why I miss having Peter at home, cause he was the same way with Katharine. It helped me out a ton to have a kid who knew how to play like a kid! We joked that Natalie should split her babysitting money with Katharine, haha. Katharine was there with her all day until 4 and I got a lot done around the house. With the money she earned, Natalie wanted to go buy clothes, but instead Corey took her to Hobby Lobby to buy a sewing machine and some fabric, so that she can scratch that itch but do it by making her own clothes and ALSO learn a skill at the same time. So she stayed up last night working on that. I haven't taught them anything, they're just gonna teach themselves and learn as they go.

They broke my sewing machine earlier this year, and I don't sew much so I didn't care about fixing it (just to have them be the ones to use it and probably break it again). We'll see how long this one lasts them.