Thursday, July 5
What a great day! The kids had loads of fun. I had activities planned from early morning till bedtime. They knew exactly what we would be doing and when. I do try to stay on schedule, but I am certainly not fanatic about it. I usually just go with the flow, and if something comes up, and we are running late then it is no problem at all.
We started our morning with pigs in a blanket, cantaloupe, strawberries and poached eggs. All of the kids love hotdogs and I thought they would also love pigs in a blanket. Some of them like eggs and some don’t, and I thought the ones that did might at least try the poached eggs. They all just stared at the pigs in a blanket and finally Abbie asked, “What did you say that was?” I told her it was really just a little hotdog wrapped in bread. Six of them pulled that little hotdog out, ate it, and pushed the bread over to the side of their plate, and asked for another hotdog to eat. I was pleased though when Bailey asked for her third one, and she actually was just about the only one who ate the whole thing. Joshua brought his plate to the kitchen to throw away and I asked him why he didn’t eat the egg. He loves eggs and usually has two or three when they are scrambled. He sheepishly said, “Nana it just looks too weird. It is like a sponge.” I told him it tasted like egg though. He said he just still couldn’t eat it when it looked like that. I usually try and introduce a few new things to them. They are all generally unwilling to venture out and accept something new simply because of it’s appearance. I can always keep trying though.
The first activities were planned for 8:00-9:30. The girls went to cheer camp with Morgan Chandler. She just graduated from high school, and her mom Kim is a dear friend of mine. Morgan has cheered for six years and she was a delight for the girls. She will be going to college at Alabama this fall, but I try not to hold that against her. Hee Hee – War Eagle! They all got pompoms and a cheer shirt. They loved the time they spent with her. Macy came and told me, “Nana, did you know I am now a cheerleader?” She was the one who did everything but cheer. Morgan said Macy was in her own world, but evidently she knew she was in cheer camp. It was loads of fun. The boys all got to build birdhouses. Trey, Cortney’s husband, is excellent at woodworking and he had precut some pieces of wood and let the boys put everything together to begin their own individual houses. They can carry it home and put it up in their backyard. All of them were so excited and loved making them.
From 9:30-11:30 all of them went to the school gym where Coach Mike Mitchell had two hours of basketball fun planned. I teach with Mike and he was gracious enough to do this for me. It was particularly a treat for Paige’s and Brooke’s kids because Mike was their coach on their high school basketball team. I originally planned it for just the boys, but all the girls insisted that they too wanted to go to basketball. As we were leaving the gym Caley said, “That was awesome.” All the others were shaking their heads and echoing the same. Mike told me that he did get a “Roll Tide” out of Macy. I will definitely set her straight tonight though. Mike had also said something about us being off to eat at Burger King, and he smiled and added, “on the dollar menu.” I had planned to take the kids to Burger King and I did tell them they could only choose something from the dollar menu. Grampy’s budget and mine has already been thrown through the window, but the dollar menu is still exactly what we needed to do. With nine kids the smoothies, milkshakes, whoppers, and etc. can still add up quickly. I thought it was funny they had told Coach Mitchell about eating from the dollar menu. It made me wonder what else they had told him also.
While they were all busy dribbling and shooting a basketball I was busy running here and there doing a few last minute chores I needed to do. We had a lot of left over food from yesterday, so I took it to my classroom at school and we ate lunch there. It all worked out perfect because we only had thirty minutes till our next activity. Amy, my niece, came to my classroom and did arts and crafts with them for two hours. Amy also teaches school there with me. I went home and threw myself across the bed. This was the first time I had one minute to do that. You would think I would have had an abundance of free time, but there was just too much to do. I thought I would try to take a nap, but the phone kept ringing. I got up after about forty-five minutes and started a load of clothes. I walked around the house and smiled a little thinking of the rules that were the reason the house was still in some semblance of order. There were no shoes, no clothes, no cups nor plates scattered all over every single inch of my home, like there was last year. Yes, rules work. At least for right now they were working. Amy gave all of them an apron, which they decorated. They will get to use the aprons for arts and crafts, cooking, and mind-blowing science experiments. They painted and made some magnetic boards that were just too cute.
On the way home from Amy’s activities Noah said, “Hey, you guys, we really haven’t watched television at all. Mommy says it is not good for you to watch too much either, but I really like watching it.” I thought to myself that “Nana Camp” this year was definitely more in line with what I wanted. Last year the television was on way too much.
It was now two in the afternoon and I had planned for quiet time. I originally thought during this time they could watch television quietly, play among themselves, read, or even take a nap. (Yep, like that was even a remote possibility.) I quickly decided before camp week began that this would indeed be “quiet time” in every sense of the word. They needed some downtime. Their choice was to read, rest, or nap. Of course nobody napped. Most of them read. I loved this time. Last year there was no time like this. They were usually like a heard of buffalo, running like the Plains Indians were right behind them, throughout the entire house.
From three to five they all went to “Kid Cooking” with Cortney. They made lots of fun stuff and had a blast. They brought lots of goodies back home they could enjoy for a few days. Susan May had brought over some chefs hats for them to wear. They looked so awesome.
I had dinner ready when they returned and we ate veggies from Grampy’s garden. Grampy should write for the “Southern Gardener.” He grew okra, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, peas, butter beans, beans, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and watermelons. His garden is practically weed free and Grampy can just about do anything.
After dinner we played the lemon and spoon race. This was so much fun. The kids loved it. Grampy and I laughed our heads off. Camden came in first in the older division, with Carter second, and Caley third. I guess it was a game the Busby kids excelled at. In the younger division Abbie came in first, Noah second, and Bailey third. Next came the Tug-of-War game. We tried to divide the teams as evenly as possible. Carter, Caley, Joshua, and Abbie came in first place. In croquet Camden came in first, Joshua was second, and Carter was third. In the younger division Noah came in first, Bailey second, and Macy was third. Noah got very concerned about the croquet. He went first and therefore kept spreading the word that he was finally in first place. I told him that all the others had to go also and that he might not finish in first place in the end. He kept walking around telling around everyone that he would be so very disappointed if anyone beat him out of first place. Thank goodness he ended up retaining that blue ribbon status.
We had a few light snacks and then it was “Laundry Call.” I just dumped all the clothes I had washed and dried in the center of my bed and I had all of the kids to stand around the bed and I picked up one piece at a time so everyone could claim their correct items. When all the clothes were gone from my bed the kids had to fold them, and place them neatly in their basket with their other clean clothes. I still cannot figure out why “Laundry Call” is so funny to them. The boys teased the girls unmerciful though about their cutie undies, and the girls’ repayed the compliment for the boys. At one point it got to where they would all just dive for something to claim before I even had an opportunity to hold it up.
Devotional is a special time. Grampy and I want the kids to know that absolutely nothing comes before God in our lives, and it should be the same with them for their entire life. Camden did a wonderful job. He had given a short devo with a group of young boys a few weeks ago where he attends church and it remembered it perfectly. We read some scriptures, prayed, and sang several songs.
We went and checked on all the new additions we added to our farmhouse today. We ended up with two ducks, one chicken, and one turkey so far. There are still noises coming from the incubator, so maybe tomorrow we will have more surprises. That turkey has been such a joy for all of them. We put him in the garage in a box and the kids go out there every chance they get. He follows them around every step them make.
Before we could turn around it seemed crazy that it was now 9:15 and time for the bath schedules to begin. It has been the most fantastic day. Everyone was sound asleep by 10:30, and Grampy and I were close behind.
Nana
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