teenagers...

I have five teenagers right now. Mirielle is 19, Joseph is 18, Aaron 16, Mali 15, and Samuel is 14. (but I also have Emily who is 24, Abigail 22 and Benjamin 20)...and of course Margaret, who is 12 and a half going on 16. So...my teenagers....

This week they are painting. After we got home from the beach and got the little ones in bed, they began again. Joseph is in Norway, so it was the four teens and Margaret. Now they aren't very particular about little splashes, drips, or spots of paint that fall where they may, except for Mirielle. She helps me scream at them. But they are so funny...when I went to bed last night I was still laughing my head off. Mali was up on the ladder painting the upper reaches of the foyer, and Sam though for some reason that this was a good time to throw a huge plastic spider at her....so Mali thought it was a good time to use a word we don't say here. Not a terribly bad word, but shocking and hilarious at the same time because we just don't say it here. They were laughing pretty hard at that.....while asking Sam what kind of idiot he was....

It seems they had nachos and popcorn with hotsauce last night, and there was a cup of coffee in the 'fridge that sloshed when I bumped it....they must've forgot their iced coffee. They are forever making these coffee shop type beverages.

None of this really bothers me though. They do rub elbows sometimes, argue a bit, but mostly they get along and it is lots of fun.

The beach was nice yesterday, when we finally got there. We left the house kind of messy, which rankled a bit but didn't kill me......I did have one very sweet 11 year old sweep up the kitchen and living room floors for me, and Mirielle did the dishwasher quick. Just feeding the kids and gathering the suits and towels and getting them dressed and hair brushed and the sand toys and my chair and the coolers and some cups and plates and paper towels and swim diapers and sunscreen....then we got it the van. First we picked up the two boys that were going with us, they live a bit over out of the way, so the ride seemed kind of long....then a stop at Price Chopper to get lunch. Seriously, how can lunch cost $97? I DID let them pick out 2 dozen donuts at the horrible price of $6.99 a dozen. It seems to be our beach ritual. Aaron was pushing Mali in a wheelchair, do not ask, so they got a cup of coffee for me and Mali held it. Counting the two friends, there were 14 of them with me. All hungry and wanting different things for lunch. We got a case of water bottles, soda, juice, Arizona iced-tea, ham, olive-loaf, turkey, rolls, chips, tostitos with lime (yum), cheese popcorn, cookies, peaches, three kinds of candy bars.....no wonder it cost so much. The rest of the ride, about an hour, was pleasant. I mean, driving to the beach on a sunny day with a cup of coffee and a donut. Those brats in the backseat devoured the rest.....

Of course I have no pictures of the beach, since a ghost charged my camera batteries for me. I remember one of the kids coming to me and offering to charge them. No one remembers this. No one knows where the batteries went. Aaron does have some pictures on his camera, so I will borrow those.

The water was warm and clear. And wavy. It stays shallow for such a long time, Camille and Charlotte Claire were just running around in the water, jumping in and letting the waves go over their heads. I was a foot behind Camille the whole time, and boy, she has ten times the energy I have. Aaron and Mali had gone for a walk, Sam was building castles with his friends, Mirielle fell asleep in the sun.....so it wasn't exceptionally relaxing, but I did ask the older ones for help after a while. Actually, I said if they don't take a turn with Camille we were going home. yeah, I could have worded it better. But the big kids are the ones who really pushed for the beach trip, so I think it is only fair that after a while they help out. And they did.

We ran out of green paint.....so off to Walmart I go today. We also have a very minimal amount of milk left. And we are out of propane for the grill. I don't feel like running around all day. But Mirielle's car isn't running, Abigail isn't here, she is still with Tonje, who is due in four days, and Benjamin is at work. Mirielle conveniently doesn't drive the 15 passenger van....so I get to go. Hmm, I should stop at the farmer's market, too.

I got up before the kids and it is nice. I dreamed about homeshooling last night because Paul sent me an article about it. Statistically, home schoolers score way higher, almost twice as high on the standardized tests they are required to take in some states. And the scores are consistently high, no matter the parents education, or their income. hmm. I have no doubt that they recieve a better education. Mainstream America is starting to notice this. I hope the government doesn't decide to regulate even more.

Kids are waking up....