each and every day....

Ho hum, another day. No, please, don't ever let that be my attitude. Never mind that it's dark and rainy. See, I had this bad dream last night...a really bad one. I was at Paul's sister's house, with a few of the kids...and I knew something bad had happened...the girls and I were trying to clean up after ourselves, and not be a burden, and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law were trying to make us feel as at home as possible, yet something was off...I finally said that I wanted to go home, and they just looked at each other. Then Emily was there, and she said, "Home is gone, Mom. The house burned down." So I asked about Paul...Daddy..., and the other kids, and she just sat there with tears streaming down her face, holding my arm tightly. In my dream, I started screaming, "No, No, No!", over and over again, and just wailing. I woke up. And vowed to never ever take a day for granted again.

Letting the dogs back in on a rainy day is a treat. I let them in first, then went for a towel. Duke's a good boy, he listened to me and just plopped down to wait, but Suri skittered after me across the floor and made me use my Not Kidding voice before she ran back and sat near the door. They love being toweled off, and neither likes taking turns. They knew it was breakfast time, too, and no matter that they have the same kind of dog food each morning, they act like they are starving and are getting a five star meal. Plus, today was a New Bag Of Dog Food Day, and they get so crazy for that, it must just smell fresher or something. These dogs are a good example of how we should behave, thankful and happy.

Two labs in the house means sweeping up piles and piles of dog hair every day. But it's totally worth it.

The princesses have their cousin Danielle here again.

Camille, Charlotte Claire, and Danielle....

We went out and about yesterday, Kim and I and these three girls...they walked around by themselves in the thrift store, it's small and we could almost see them throughout the store...we certainly could hear them, between the clacking of Cam's crutches to the silliness of their laughter...once I heard one of them say, "Come on, let's go laugh at the dresses!" Oh dear. They tried on shoes, and checked out the purses, and picked out some lovely miniature mugs for their dolls. They are all into making things for their dolls these days. They had me buy tiny little Christmas stockings in the dollar store...then last night they made a fake fireplace out of a cardboard box, and hung those stockings over them...tacks in the wall? Oh well.

I realized last night that I have absolutely no time left for mailing packages if I want them to get there by Christmas. And Christmas cards, um, what was I thinking? I think by not acknowledging how many days 'til Christmas, I was fooling myself that I had plenty of time. But guess what? The world isn't going to end if I don't get them sent.

Last evening, I spent my time in a most enjoyable way. I helped out with the four-year old group at Activity club, with Emily. Sebastian and Linnea were there, the twins I watched here for a few weeks. We sang, "On Top Of Spaghetti", and they got teary-eyed, because it is such a sad song. It was their birthday yesterday, actually...four years old!

I have to leave in a few minutes to drive Kathryn somewhere. And we have to start school...those little girls are silly in their room, having a blast, so it will be challenging....