Hello there! We are back and ready to chat about all the stuff we have been up to. Not a lot, to be honest, but we are finally done with a lot of the garden, so that has allowed for a few different activities. My allergies have been insane, but thankfully are getting a little bit better!
Week 6: August 21st -27th
Again, we start out with my double long days. It's not a lot of fun, to be honest with you. Being away from those babies makes me sad and William struggles quite a bit with it, but we all enjoy the six days home together! Pam comes and stays with the kids on Mondays when I work, so everyone enjoys that! After nap time, Jonathan brought the kids in to visit, which definitely lessens the sting of separation. They went swimming in the evening, it was so hot and we try to take advantage of all the swimming we can.
Jonathan and Dad worked on the basement while Mom watched the kids on Tuesday after she was done with work. We have been wanting to trench water and electric to the garden, so the guys had to get everything prepared for that. Jonathan did a lot of digging and they had to cut through the wall. The goal was to trench on Wednesday, but it rained instead. Mom and Dad visited in the evening to play with some babies, so that was fun! I finished putting some potatoes in the freezer and put up spaghetti sauce, I also made granola. This was my last day of tomato processing, thank goodness. And I stopped doing herbs too in case that was bothering my allergies which just kept getting worse and worse and worse.
Pizza on Thursday! I hadn't made pizza in quite a while, it was delicious. It was raining in the evening, but we took the kids to the doctor in the morning and had a mini family morning out, topped off with Dunkin'! Kids are growing and healthy! All good things! We had some extra time together on Friday morning as well since the internet wasn't working. We had a storm Thursday night, so that was a bit of a challenge for Jonathan working! He buzzed over to Mom and Dad's to take advantage of their internet...so ours came back up shortly after, of course. Friday was a big day! I took the babies grocery shopping by myself for the first time in the morning, then I cleaned, Jonathan mowed and Jonathan and Amelia made some really tasty cookies!
Our weekend was a lot of trenching for Jonathan and a lot of baby watching for me. We had a good time, went swimming on Saturday because it was still hot out. Subway for supper and swimming for fun! It was a pleasant evening after Jonathan was out working so hard all day.
It was hot again on Sunday, we took the babies to church, then we had a meeting after church for small group and they went home with Nana. I had to stop at work to submit an order. Jonathan worked on the trench and I went to pick the kids up. When we got home, Amelia was very excited about going out to help Daddy, it was super cute and he was thrilled to spend some bonus time with her. I don't think she was much (or any) help at all, but she thought it was a good time! While they were "working", William and I threw some Mexican Delight together.
Week 7: August 28th - September 3rd
Monday was my last day off so I did a lot of prep. We are starting to introduce Amelia to letters, so I got all ready for that the next week, I had the chance to talk to my partners about work and then we got to relax for the evening! We did some packing of food and prepping of food, chicken crescents, potatoes and green beans. The evening was spent hanging out as a family!
I worked Tuesday, had a work interview and Jonathan got a hair cut. He then spent the night with the kids. Wednesday was big day. My allergies were worse than they had ever been, I ended up calling the doctor's office and switching some things up. By the time we went to the Stark County Fair I was feeling a little better! It was a great visit, we left when it started raining, but we enjoyed it the whole time we were there! It was so much fun, Amelia loved most of the animals, the goat barn was quite scary for her.
Thursday the kids both actually napped well, that was a treat! We went to the library, Yoder's, the school and the car wash while William napped in the morning, then spent some time together all evening. Jonathan mowed, the kids and I ran to get milk and the store. Mom and Grandma came to visit for a minute, then we went out and dug some potatoes. It was just a start of that super long job, but always good to get it going.
I finally worked the evening, which was a blessing, there was a lot that needed to be done and the weekend was the best time to do it. While I worked, Jonathan and the kids hung out Friday evening and then he spent Friday working with Dad a little bit. It was the holiday weekend, so that kept it interesting. They did some jobs around Dad's, then went to Grandpa's too. Jonathan worked on the trench a little bit, then made us hot dogs and noodles for supper! On Sunday, Jonathan moved some dirt after church while the kids napped. I grabbed some supper on the way home and we watched some shows while we ate. Afterward, we looked at some clothes to see what the babies were going to be needing for the next season coming up here!
Week 8: September 4th - 10th
Monday was Labor day, we had a great time together. We did some school, hung some decorations, looked at clothes again to make sure we got everything out of the basement that we had, made chicken pot pie pasta and went swimming. It was a great evening getting some refreshment since it was so stinking hot! We are trying to take advantage of any warm days we have left! I got a ton of stuff done while we were having a little bit of down time and felt a lot more prepared for the evening.
On Tuesday I worked, got a lot of stuff done and had a few meetings. All of which were very necessary. It was a super smooth day preparing for one of my employees to be gone for quite a while. We went for a quick swim on Wednesday, did some studying, went to story time for the first time all summer and had some visitors as well! I did a few organizational things, but otherwise just relaxed and got some stuff cleaned up.
Therapy on Thursday for William and I. Kyle came in town, so that was a lot of fun! We had a good time together, game night, met Cassie. Jonathan had band, so that was a bummer, but he got to come afterward! I made butter on Wednesday, so I made a buttermilk cake with chocolate buttermilk icing for dessert. It ended up being pretty good!
Due to a switch, I ended up working a long day on Friday, but was off the rest of the weekend. Jonathan and I finished digging potatoes on Saturday, Jonathan planted grass while we were doing some reading and did some meal making. The Landis' visited us, we had waffles for breakfast and made steak, pork chops, foil potatoes and green beans for supper. It was delicious and the kids loved spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa! They played so well and loved showing off all their toys!
The weather was supposed to be a little nasty on Sunday, but thankfully it turned around! We had a picnic after lunch at church, it was such a fantastic time, great opportunity to spend time with everyone. We were on ice cream dispensing duty, which went really well! The babies went home with Nana and we went shopping and out to lunch. We were able to get all the clothes the babies would need for the next season and got a little date afternoon as a bonus!
It's been a marvelous few weeks and we are excited to see the start of fall. We are currently experiencing what I believe to be the second fake fall...but we will see what it turns out to be!
Enjoy the cooler weather! We love you all!
Love,
Jonathan, Allison, Amelia and William
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