10/10/10-10/16/10

Sunday, October 10, 2010
We are having continual problems with Laina!  She has definitely been acting up lately.  Last week she took it upon herself to cut her hair,  last night she decided to let her inner artist shine.....all over her bedroom wall, and today she wanted to show her independence by refusing to go to primary.  She goes from being a little terror to being a complete sweetheart saying how sorry she is.   I am definitely not looking forward to her as a teenager!!

Monday, October 11, 2010
Even though I am still trying to recover from the end of the school year last week, we went ahead and started the new school year today.  The kids get bored if they don't have something to do and they are really eager to get caught back up with the states school system!   The kids really seem excited to learn which makes it a lot easier for me!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010
After school today, I took the kids swimming.  Laina was throwing another fit so she sat and did homework with me because she didn't want to swim.  Alysa and Cole are getting more used to the water.  They like to use the 'noodles' to float around the pool.  Morgan is getting a lot more confident with her swimming and soon will be able to out swimming me!  (Doesn't take much to accomplish that though!)    The dog, Smiley Dog, that has taken over our development seems to have become attached to us.  He walks us to the country club and then waits for us to come back home.  Today he wanted to play and kept bouncing around and barking at Laina and I.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The weather was good today and there were no cranes overhead, so Morgan and I went to the job site to finish painting the entrance sign.   It turned out pretty nice.   It was pretty fun to get to do something with Morgan.  She is growing up so fast and turning into quite a young lady!

After painting, we rushed back to pick up the girls from Lily's, then headed home to clean before the quilting class.  I could not believe how many people showed up today!  There were about 12 adults.  Most of them were nonmembers that came with my friend, Vilma.  Luckily the weather was nice so the ten million kids that came with them were able to play outside.  Once again the kids had a blast!  Morgan and Cole told me that Smiley Dog helped them babysit.  Any time the kids started to wonder off, he would start barking at them until they went back.  I guess the dog is useful for something!
So, last week I told some of the ladies that I wanted to do a humanitarian project for Christmas and make blankets to donate to a hospital.  Well, they must have liked the idea because they kept asking me questions about it today.  They suggested that we take the blankets to an senior home where there aren't as many people so that everybody could get a blanket.  I am pretty excited that others are excited to help out.  It should be fun!
The house was so packed that I didn't even see my piano students come in.  I kept wondering if they were going to make it, and I finally noticed them sitting in a corner patiently waiting for me.  I felt horrible!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010
We woke up to dreary weather again.   We haven't had rain for about a week and we thought that the rainy season might be over.  Nope.  It was good though because it helped me to stay inside and do a lot of catching up on homework.
I have decided that even though it is extremely hard to homeschool four kids, it is so much fun to be spending time with them.  It is fun to feel like I know them a little better and to have a better relationship with them.  I think back to being in Vegas and having the kids come home from school, rush to get homework done, rush to get dinner made, rush to take care of other activities, and rush to go to bed just to start again the next day.  Our lifestyle is so different now and I think it is good for us.  The kids can do their work at their own pace, I get to be involved and learn what they are learning, we can do other fun things during the day, we can take a day off if we want to, and we get to rely on each other to help out.  It has definitely been a blessing for us.  I wonder what it will be like when we end up back in the states and the kids go back to public school.  I think I will be a little lonely!

Friday, October 15, 2010
All of the kids joined me for a trip to the market today.  They are such good sports.  Each kid carries a bag to distribute the weight of all the food.  We also went searching for some flowers.  We couldn't remember which street the entrance to the inside area where the flowers are, and we ended up going in on the wrong side.   After finally conquering the crazy maze, we found the flower section and picked out what we wanted!
The kids all got to go swimming again today.  We are counting that as our physical education class.  Today, each child received a challenge, and I was very impressed at how well they each did.  Cole actually was swimming with his face in the water with the help of a kickboard.   Candy bribes seem to work wonders for him!
We returned to the club later for dinner.  They have a little Mediterranean restaurant that the kids have wanted to try out.  It was so fun to hang out as a family without any teasing, fighting, arguing, etc.  The kids were all hanging out and helping each other.  It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, October 16, 2010
Paul's (the owner of the company that is doing all the tile work for the temple) wife and two sons arrived in Guatemala this week.  We invited them over for dinner, as well as the Orellanas.  We thought it would be a good chance for all the kids to get to know each other and help the Bottema boys feel a little more comfortable here.  I remember too well how nervous the kids and I were when we came to Guatemala and not knowing anybody!
The dinner was hectic, but enjoyable.  We grilled salmon and had a bunch of other stuff.  After dinner, all the kids took off to play.  Poor Morgan was kind of by herself.  There were 6 boys and 3 smaller girls, and then Morgan.  She spent most of the time by herself or hanging out with the adults.
After dinner entertainment consisted of a LONG Whitney family picture show.  Lily hadn't seen our pictures from Alaska, so I told her I would show them to her.  It turned into me getting a little out of control and sharing our life history.  Yes, I guess I do miss my family a little and really enjoyed our time together this past summer!
When everybody was ready to leave, we said our goodbyes and went outside to find all of the boys (including a couple of dads!) playing football.  They were having so much fun that nobody had the heart to tell them to stop!    I think we have the makings for a Thanksgiving football game next month!!