library and ice cream!

Here is Kathryn Grace, my eleven year old daughter. She is my 10th child, 6th daughter. She has 5 younger sisters, and of course Jonathan....she is my oldest child home for these few days...except Benjamin, who was home for a while today mowing the lawn and helping out a bit. He does not go on our outings, though. Or help with the little details, like getting Camille out of the bathroom, again! Today we were going to have a little make-over....not make-up, just hair and maybe painting their nails with shiny polish. So I gave them all showers, and started in on the tangles...oh my goodness, swimming all those days in a row, and not completely getting all the snarls out...wow. It took a while. I trimmed some dead ends, and brushed their hair out....then we decided to go to the library. Jonathan and Charlotte Claire were pushing each other around on the ride-on tractor like maniacs, then they went out on the deck with it....Jon was riding, and his feet skimmed the deck surface - giant sliver. Ouch. I, the faint-hearted, useless-in-an-emergency mom, had to take it out....and before I knew what I was saying, I was promising the child we would go for ice cream after the library. What? oh well.....we gathered up the books, got them dressed decently, and off we went....

Yesterday we went to visit some friends with a nice inground pool with a diving board....even Charlotte Claire jumped off the diving board! She had a swim vest on, but still. She is pretty brave for 3 years old. The kids swam for hours and hours, and went to bed like a dream last night. They just conked. I am looking forward to getting our pool up and running for that reason!

Tomorrow was supposed to be a playground or other fun outing day, but since we went out today, I don't know...it is nice to have some time at home, but it IS summer...last week, we went out on Wednesday, shopping and to lunch, the pool on Thursday, beach on Friday, shopping and party on Saturday, friends' house on Sunday....when am I supposed to do the laundry? Actually I fit in two loads today....

We had a very nice dinner tonight....boneless pork chops marinated in garlic and herb, with salt potatoes and a salad with red and green peppers, radishes, and tomatoes. I grilled the chops, and they were melt-in-your-mouth good. We have enough leftover for tomorrow's dinner, since only 9 of us ate. What a difference it makes when the eaters are young children, compared to the teenagers!

We all went outside after dinner and cleaned out the vans...where on earth does all that stuff come from? crayons, hair clips, chips, cans bottles matchbox cars....hairbrushes? Notebooks, coloring books, candy wrappers....and the crumbs! (and every time I clean it out, I say, NO
Eating in the van anymore!!)Maybe the same monster who puts all that stuff under the couches sneaks into the vans....

Well, it was relatively quiet a few minutes ago....Charlotte Claire-the-non-napping toddler is in bed, Camille the short-napping fusser WAS in bed, but she apparently wasn't ready to sleep yet, she cried for a bit so we got her up...yeah, she will be the spoiled one....and Kathryn took the other kids in the hot tub....now they are in, we had some chocolate (Hersheys with almonds, yum), and they are reading their books....we haven't had much tv around here, a Barbie movie today and that's it....well, Camille has her second wind, more energy that I have ever had....I have to go and work on settling her down....

But first I have to write something about my mother. I thought today about her, and her last hospital stay. Ouch. It was three years ago. Charlotte Claire was just a little tiny baby. My mother's heart was just giving out, 9 years of dialysis was more than taking it's toll. The last few times she went, they had to disconnect her early because her heart was doing funny things...she had already had a few heart attacks, a triple bypass, a few "roto-rooters", and there was not anything more they could do for her. The vein they used for dialysis was collapsing....she had had cancer, two masectomies, diabetes, high blood pressure....she had Reynaud's syndrome, so she suffered from cold hands and feet, and the diabetes started to ruin her feet...she could barely walk....she had no choice, really, but to discontinue the kidney dialysis....her body just couldn't take it anymore...anyway, today I was thinking about that last week of her life. She did not complain. Not once. And it occured to me that that was her gift to us, her bearing the suffering like that. She did suffer, but if you were with her, you wouldn't have guessed. It still amazes me how she was so truly optimistic and brave about it...she was going to be with Jesus, and she was happy about that. She made her decision, and she was ready. No fear. And I was like, "But mommy, what about us???" Did she realize how permanant this is? This separation? I am tired of it...I need to talk to her....She has not even met Camille. I want to call her.....I want her to see Rosie...she would get a kick out of Jonathan...and Garlotte Glaire....oh well...they say it gets easier, but it hasn't yet....if anything, it gets harder the longer she has been gone....so if you still have a mother, a good helpful mother, who maybe still drives you crazy sometimes, tell her you appreciate her and that you love her.....even if it is strange and uncomfortable, just do it...