a teeny tiny break in the craziness...

I'm finally sitting here in the quiet...well, almost quiet. The last remnant of children are settling in to bed...Jon has a friend over, the little girls have cousin Dani here. Kathryn is heading to bed, those teenage girls of mine were having quite a lively conversation a bit ago. Kathryn was the mediator, trying to make peace between Evelyn and Sonja. They weren't exactly fighting, they just misunderstand each other all the time. They truly try to get along, and they are the bestest of friends when they are friends. But they can get loud. And silly. They do bring fun and joy into the house though.

Who am I kidding? The kids aren't going to be quiet yet. Sleepover, and all.

Anyhow. Tomorrow two of my brother's grandchildren are coming over for the day, as he usually watches them and is going on vacation. The little girl E., is two, and her big brother L. is five. We are very excited to be having them over, and hope they really like it here.

I worked the baseball game today. I didn't just get up and dressed and leave though. I made sure that several other kids here had their lunch packed and soccer stuff, as they were going to church with soccer practice after. I said goodbye to Paul, who headed back to Massachusetts for work. Then Kathryn and I went to the game. We work in the chicken fry stand, selling chicken, fries, deep fried hot dogs (yeah, seriously), and fried dough. And soda and beer. We don't do the cooking, just the selling. We come home smelling like cotton candy and fried food. Oh, and today the cotton candy sellers gave us as much cotton candy as we wanted. I felt a little piggy taking 4 or 5, but they assured me they would throw out what we didn't take...and I found myself trying to de-pig my image by saying I had nine kids at home....one of the ladies wanted to fill a garbage bag for me...no, I said, they don't need that much. The little girls were pretty thrilled when I walked in with it though.

Abigail brought the kids home from church and soccer practice, and watched them here, and took them in the pool. Emily brought Suzanne and Evelyn on a waterfall hike. Sonja ended up at her friends' house for the afternoon. Margaret worked at the grocery store in town today. I have to count on my fingers sometime to figure out who is where with whom.

I ate some leftover chicken strips at the fry stand, so only had some raw carrots, a few almonds, and some slices of pepperoni for dinner...oh, and a homemade iced coffee: cooled coffee with ice and unsweetened baking cocoa, some half and half...into the blender, sometimes I add vanilla. Yum. The kids had individual frozen pizzas and baby carrots and iced tea. It's nice not to cook dinner after a day working the baseball game....oh, and I took a dip in the pool with Abigail when I got home. :)

Yeah, so I don't have any pictures from the beach on Friday because my new phone died on the way there. I don't think I charged it properly, oops. Abigail took some but hasn't sent them to me yet. The beach was absolutely pristine. The sky was blue, the sand was warm, the water was cool but not cold, and there were big waves to play in. We went to a beach on the east side of Lake Ontario...it was just perfect. Evelyn and I made a charcoal fire and roasted some burgers and coneys (spicy white hot dogs), and hot dogs. Kim brought a watermelon, and a thermos pot of hot coffee, which we had after dinner with some of Mirielle's coconut brownies. Yes, I had one, it was my birthday. Sitting there on the beach with the sun low in the sky, toes in the sand, eating a brownie and sipping hot coffee...ahh. The day zipped by too fast.

But, Paul was home when I got there, and he had shined up the kitchen for me. It was so very nice to see him.

Saturday...yesterday...we braved the mosquitoes and picked raspberries from the bushes out back. Paul and Jonathan mowed the lawn. I sat in the sun talking to daughters, went in the pool about five different times with different kids, then after dinner, took Camille to town to get ice cream at the store, and the Annie movie from Redbox.

Even Paul liked it.

Well, it seems we are having surgery done on Duke. It's scheduled for next week, and it can't come soon enough. The vet is pretty certain the tumor is cancer, and that he doesn't need a third round of antibiotics. But, the ear is horribly smelly and disgusting and gross. Duke doesn't realize that he smells...poor guy.

It'll be nice to get it done. He'll have to wear The Cone Of Shame afterward, so it can heal without him rolling on it and rubbing it against everything...he's going to look rather silly with one ear, but he won't care, and neither will we.

I am tired enough, I suppose. Morning comes quickly, and I have a book to finish.