getting a really really long turn...

And I never even waited in line. Yeah, I am getting a super long turn at being Mommy. Some people have a few kids, so maybe ten or twelve years of interacting closely with children, followed by the brief preteen years when you think that maybe they will be easy teenagers, or perhaps, "What the H are we gonna do?!" Then they deal with the bickering for a few years, which differs from the childhood stuff, especially with girls. Looking at your sister wrong can cause stomping and/or slamming. Anyhoo...

I am getting a super long turn at this. Emily is 30 now, born when I was just 19. So for all these years it's been like a twisty turny ride...and is it awful to say that I have wondered at times when it would end? You know, it looks fun when you're in line, then you wonder if you're crazy, then the next thing you know you're strapped in and there's no turning back...some of those rides are horrific, they can't end soon enough for me. My life as Mommy has not been horrific, but there are those sudden twists and nauseating curves that make me hold on for dear life.

Yesterday, for example, was a good day. We did our school work in the sunny kitchen, each child working diligently without complaint, understanding all their work without stubbornly putting their heads down on their books complaining that it was TOO HARD. ha. Homeschooling bliss here. I decided to make things more fun by using Jon's light saber to point out places of interest on the U.S. map, which graces our dining area wall, and looks like a million bucks, ha. Davian, who is three, knows his geography, and lights up the whole room with his enthusiasm when we start looking at maps.

I made them some eggs and bacon and toast, then it was time for homeschool gym class, the pool! We did a lot of racing, making sure the kids (and I) got in lots of exercise, not just splashing fun. Kathryn, 17, my homeschooling senior, worked out in the gym, then met us in the locker room for showers. She told me how excellent her workout was...then I headed into the bathroom, and....there was commotion, I heard yelling, I heard someone saying, "mom" really desperately and quietly and I thought I imagined it...Kap had fainted in the shower, fallen and hit her head. Two nice ladies were attending to her, were so kind and concerned...they summoned the front desk lady who brought a cold water bottle and a granola bar...Kap was pale and shaky, but after eating a few bites of the bar, started feeling better. She had been up since the wee hours, and had eaten an apple...I think her sugar levels just dropped in the hot shower.

Never a dull moment, that's what I always say.

Home. Ah, home. Kids were so hungry after their swim, I suggested that we play restaurant. Jon and I were the cooks/waiters, and Camille sort of was too, although she was a customer with Davian and Char. They set the Little Tikes table all nicely, in the living room over where the toy kitchen stuff is. They had tomato soup and grilled cheese, apple slices with cinnamon and sugar, and powerade in glasses with ice. Then they played with this collection of really small dollhouse stuff that we keep put away from small children...they played for SO LONG. Jonathan then took Davian out back on an "exploration". I made a batch of banana bread so as not to waste the ones that didn't get eaten, then started on the four pizzas for dinner...I ended up giving a pizza to Sonja, one to Char, and one to Cam, and asking them to make them...pepperoni and black olives, red and green peppers, sauce and cheese, and melted butter with garlic in it for the edges of the crust. For me, a pan of roasted cauliflower, topped after roasting with cheese and pepperoni, and some peppers.

Then...to the grocery store, after Davian went home. Kathryn, Sonja K., and Camille came along. We needed more bananas, ha, milk and bread and cinnamon and eggs and cheese...we also got grapes and chicken and pork chops and more pumpkin spice coffee, half and half, and popcorn.

We stopped at Tim Horten's on the way home for a treat, they got frozen hot chocolates, and I had an iced coffee with sugar free pumpkin spice.

Home...ah, home. We put it all away....and bedtime!

I will spare the details of how I let the dogs out before bed and Suri didn't come back in so I forgot and went to bed and must have been barking intermittently for a long time, then finally Duke took up the cause, and started in on barking non stop...3 a.m,, Paul in France, me thinking we have an intruder...when I tiptoed down the hallway, armed with my dangerous phone, I saw only Duke and remembered Suri was outside. I was sorry to her, and she forgave me, she wanted to stay up for a long time and be friends, but I needed sleep.

Anyhow. Most of the time this parenthood ride is amazing,and I want it to slow down and never end.

This morning, I went to throw a load of lights in the washer, and ugh, there were clothes in there. I opened the dryer, and yeah, clothes in there. Since I am nice, I didn't just throw the clean clothes on the couch for the dogs to sleep on, I folded them nicely and thought fondly back to last week when the older kids were in Israel and I had the washer and dryer to myself the whole time. I noticed all the good detergent was gone, and I thought of days gone past when Samuel was still at home, and I would say something to them, "them" being the teenagers, about using too much detergent or leaving clothes in the dryer, and he would say, "I guess Mom hates us all."

Davian is here now, and we have school to do on this dark and rainy and cozy morning.