time is our most precious commodity....

and I love time with my kids. Does that sound like a good reason to let my two little princesses stay home from school today? Camille is dressed in the Kitty Suit, a furry costume we have had here for years. She looks so cute and cuddly, I just want to scoop her up and snuggle her. Char tried it on first, but her legs are getting long, and she looked hilarious. But cute too.

So this morning, the rain was dripping, the wind was chilly, and the rooms were dark. I was washing up some dishes after the bigger kids left for school. The only ones still here were the little girls, and the two home-schoolers, Kathryn and Jonathan, who were still sleeping, and Paul, who was working from home but has since left for the office. The little girls were still sleeping too. I stood there at the sink, and got that thought in my head to just not wake those girls up...to call the bus garage to say they needn't be picked up. So I did. Paul asked, "Why are you keeping them home, because it's raining?" um, isn't that a good reason?

Then I did what any lucky mom would do, when they woke up. I abandoned the dishes, and we went into my room with the big comfy bed, and we snuggled and we talked and we planned our day. A nature walk, even if it rained, because they have rain boots, and if Char's are too small, she said we could go shopping for bigger ones. They determined that I am indeed still smooshy, and that they like me.

I made them French Toast, put on a pot of coffee, finished up the dishes while I talked to Kim on the phone, did two loads of laundry, swept and mopped the kitchen and living room, and finally sat here to write. Jonathan is talking to me, Kathyn is doing school work with the princesses as guests in her room, and the puppies are taking naps on the couch.

I have a huge load of towels to fold, and some miscellaneous clothes to fold before the couch monster gets too big and scary to tackle. I want to mail a box of baby stuff to Ben and Ashley and Baby Anya, and I have some appointments to make. (Mirielle said the other night, "Jeepers, Mom, why don't you just mail that stuff instead of talking about it?!" Well, Mirielle, that is just what we procrastinators do. Perhaps because when we finally accomplish one little thing, we have a little party about finally doing it. I don't know. Why don't you NOT do something thatyou know you should do? It's the same thing as telling me TO DO something I should.) (But I really didn't say that.)

We need to do some work on our house, too. New windows. I have a plan to put in a closet in the end of the living room, to store dollhouse stuff and school supplies and stuff I might sell on ebay someday.

I need to get some pride in my house again, to get motivated to pretty it up and keep in more straightened out. Did I mention that my girls gave a few dozen pumpkins a bath in the bathtub on Sunday? They were restless, so I told them to bundle up and go out to the garden and find some pumpkins. Now, we did not even plant pumpkins, but somehow we got tons of them. More of them than of the stuff we DID plant, but I guess we are magical that way. Anyway. They came trudging back in with these little gourds and pumpkins, all covered in dirt. I was busy trying to work out, which means I was trying to end all the conversations I kept getting into, as all the kids were home, and trying to discipline myself to go into my room and get started on some push-ups, ect. That is half the battle for me, disengaging myself from what is going on around here. Anyway. I saw all the dirt, and suggested that the girls just put the pumpkins in the bathtub and wash them all off. Then I went into my room and closed the door. Bad Mom Award! I heard the water running, heard the thunking noise that only pumpkins being dropped into a bathtub can make...and out of my room I came....well, after like ten minutes of it. (When it started to be accompanied by that silly laughter that means Little Girls Are Up To No Good.) Yup. They had filled the tub to the very tippy top with steaming hot water, and the pumpkins and gourds were all floating in there, nice and soapy.

Now, this wouldn't be the end of the world, but there was a church feast that afternoon, and lots of people had to take showers, and these princesses used A LOT of water.

But, we have clean pumpkins!

And now I must disengage myself from this and get on with my day. Mali has texted me to say she fainted during a C-section she was watching (she is a second year nursing student). Poor girl.