the good the bad and the ugly...

Sammy is good. He just is. He is tough and determined and does what needs doing. Today, for example, he did 25 push ups every hour for the first five hours of the day. He took a few sisters and his cousin to the pizza shop today, just because.

He tricked me today, my army son. He had an empty soda bottle, and as we sat there on the deck with Emily and Margaret and Kathryn and Suzanne and Sonja and Olivia (a cousin) and Charlotte Claire and Camille and Dani (cousin) (Joseph was in his room, Jonathan in his room with his friend Phin)....anyway, Sam tricked me. He pretended he was "chewing", and spitting into the bottle. It was only coffee, but he thought he was so funny. I was actually pretty shocked, but very relieved when he laughed and said he had also fooled both Emily and Margaret when I was in the pool. Chewing tobacco, yuck.

Anyway. Summer, I love summer. Here is some more good....
Down our road...the wildflowers grow, there are so many different ones... Queen's Lace and the cornflowers,the Tiger Lillies, and the wild daisies and buttercups...

This is also good. Miss Char didn't want to smile, so Cam tried to help her. Emily came over and took these three (with cousin Danielle) blueberry picking. I am thinking....pie.

This is also good....I love these dogs, and of course my baby Camille. Labs are good pets. They are smart and good and faithful, and lazy and cute, and they don't mind when the kids smother them with loving. They are the kind of dogs I always wanted, they follow me around the yard, rarely run off to visit the neighbors, and usually come when I call them. Duke actually always comes, Suri stops to look at me to decide whether or not to listen...if I promise a treat, she will almost always come. After having Rosie-The-Bad-Dog bite Camille, I never can fully trust an animal, and always remind the kids to be gentle with the dogs, not startle them or tease them or step on their feet...but these two are just good and nice:)

I'm not sure this is the Bad and the Ugly, but their room IS messy. But they keep busy, and they love dressing up.

Hmm, I am not so sure there IS a Bad and Ugly. Granted, things aren't all sunshine and puppy dogs. There are always trials, and some things I cannot write about, because they aren't my stories to tell. Paul and his A-Fib, for example. He is on meds, and has to have a surgery/procedure done in the near future, which is almost always successful, but it still wears on me a bit, as much as I don't want to worry about it. He takes such good care of himself, never misses a work-out, eats healthy food, ect. To have something wrong with him is much harder than I ever would have realized, I would rather have it myself. I think he'll be okay, but believe me, even the thought of it being something serious, I can't bear it. I simply love him so much.

I tried to articulate this to the girls today as we floated around in the pool. This world puts so much emphasis on looks. Girls feel fat and insecure. But none of that really matters. Paul is 52 years old now, but I don't look at his gray hair or his wrinkles and think, "wow, who is this old guy?". No, I just love him. It doesn't matter what he looks like, although I must admit he has really nice eyes. And a cute smile. Never mind....

Sometimes I feel a little guilty that Paul works so hard, while I stay home and enjoy the kids. But then I am not just enjoying them, I am connecting with them, teaching them and guiding them. They are growing up so fast, slipping right through my fingers. These summer days are blissful...sitting on the deck eating cherries, them with their iced tea, some of us with coffee. We dip in the pool, wander out to weed the garden, have some lunch. My lunch today: I like to microwave a few slices of pepperoni, it makes me feel like I'm having pizza, without all the cheese and dough, plus we don't have any pizza, and it gets a lot of the fat out, and it's yummy. So I had some of that, a few almonds and cashews, a handful of blueberries, and a few lime tortilla chips. And some cherries.

Now I am having that yummy afternoon coffee with a few pieces of chocolate, salted caramel chocolate, to be exact. I am not going to have any more, either.

We are having a yummy dinner tonight, because I think all the kids are coming over. Emily and Abigail and Mirielle and Mali and Aaron...I think everyone will be here except for Benjamin, who is far far away on the west coast. We are having burgers on the grill, pasta salad with cucumbers, red onions, black olives, tomatoes, and green beans from Emily's garden, brownies with homemade frosting (the yummy cake frosting I make, Sam asked for it.)

It is hot here, 83 degrees. Sam says we're babies, it isn't hot. He did his Basic training in Georgia, so he thinks this weather if just fine. Plus, we have a pool in the back yard. His sisters say that he is the baby, he needs two blankets at night because he thinks it's chilly. Evelyn says he is the captain of the Wussy Pops, her ultimate insult, since Jonathan is just a Private Wussy Pop.

I didn't go on my walk this morning. I woke up two million times to a certain bedroom door opening and slamming, as per usual when the little girls have someone sleep over. They stay up late and get up too early:). I sneaked out here and Sam was still sleeping, so I told the girls they could have one of the chocolate chip cookies I made last night and watch a movie on my computer, good parenting right there. I then got back in bed and finished my book, oh heavenly bliss. Remember the book and movie, "The Shining", Stephen King? Well, a few years back Mr. King was at a book signing, and someone asked him whatever happened to Danny Torrance and his mom. Mr. King had also been wondering what had happened to them, so he started writing, "Doctor Sleep", which is just plain good reading. I read it in fits and starts because I haven't had much time for reading lately, but I really enjoyed it.

I still have it in my head that I need to go on my walk, but like Sam says, I am a big baby and it's too hot out:)


Sam is sitting at the table with some of his sisters, talking about stuff. It's a lazy afternoon, and I totally love it.