camille is sick now.....

Camille Anaya. She is sick. She woke up from her nap with a fever of almost 103 with her mouth open, meaning she does not exactly co-operate with having her temperature taken.

Evelyn, Kathryn, (with Camille),Sonja, Suzanne, Charlotte Claire, and Samuel with Rosie.

Jonathan is going to lose his first tooth soon. I almost yanked it out, but...I just couldn't. It is very loose and he is very excited!

Charlotte Claire and her dollies with Kathryn.

For dinner we had grilled turkey and cheese on sourdough, but I had ham and cheese on rye with tomatoes. And celery and carrots. And ice water.

Now I am sitting with Camille. I reluctantly gave her a half-dose of childrens's ibuprofen because she pointed to her open mouth and said, "Hurts, hurts." I don't like ibuprofen for babies and kids because it makes my kids hyper. But if her throat hurts, I have to give her something. She isn't eating anything, but she did drink some cherry juice.

I hate seeing my kids sick, but I do like how cuddly they are. Camille is a snuggle-bug anyway. Jon seems like he might be getting sick, too. He is also very snuggly. Well, Camille wants me to READ IT READ IT....

home from shoppin'

and I never remember how crazy it is when I walk in the door with groceries until I am actually in the door with groceries. But sitting here taking a breather, I am remembering all the years I did it with a nursing baby. The baby always needed mommy as soon as we got home. How did I manage? The baby always had to be fed before the store, and after the store, too. We went to Target today, returned $18 worth of things and spent $31 on more things. I couldn't resist. I got Kathryn a skirt for $4.24, one that she had her eye on and we were waiting for, Aaron a pair of those long plaid shorts he likes for $4.98, two sweet little pairs of pants for the two little girls for $2 each, a nice shirt for Sam for $4.24, some C batteries for Jonathan, the battery freak, and a FancyNancy game for Sonja K. for Christmas. It was half price.

On to the grocery store. I got sourdough bread for $1 a loaf, three of them. We are having grilled cheese for dinner, I think. (it is only 5:07, there's no hurry to decide, ha.) Joseph and Samuel were with Abigail and I and Jonathan and Charlotte Claire and Camille. Samuel missed the bus because his alarm clock fell and the batteries fell out, and I didn't know he didn't get on the bus because I slept through the first trip kids leaving, oops. Camille was up for a long time last night, and when I finally fell back to sleep, it must have been deep. I don't use an alarm clock because I always wake up on my own when I need to be up. Almost always.

I never got around to cutting the coupons today, I went through them and ripped out three of them. I need to get more diligent again. Mirielle always gets good deals with them. We use good shampoo and conditioner for cheap. Kerry, if you have any suggestions, email me at dellamom16@yahoo.com Thanks! One of the good deals I got today was this: 4 boxes of cereal for $6, then a dollar off three. So 4 boxes for $5. $1.25 a box is not too bad. About what it is worth. But they were a store special item, so I could only get four, that is like one day's worth.

Well, the natives are getting restless (is that politically correct?), they are rummaging in the kitchen, so I had better make some dinner. I don't feel like it. I feel like sitting here in this deliciously comfortable chair with my feet up. Or perhaps I could lie down on the couch and fall into a refreshing 20 minute nap. And wake up energized and happy. ha. I'd better stop with the dreaming and get moving.

goin' shoppin'

And I let Jonathan stay home today. He is just too little to go to school everyday, getting home after 4pm each day. All day kindergarten. Ridiculous. Anyway, he has a cough and he started crying about something silly this morning, so I gave him a big hug and said he could stay home today. Sonja took it hard. She really wanted to stay home too, and so did Suze. They have already missed a fair amount, so I explained to them that Jon is still so little, he needs to be home a bit more. Suzanne was okay with it, but Sonja.....she couldn't find her shoes, she dragged those feet, she just made it to the bus with a sad face. Oh, if she only knew how close I as to being suckered into letting her stay home too.

Today we are going to Price-Chopper. I stayed home for two days! I was going to wait until tomorrow to go, but tomorrow night I am supposed to go to the enchanted pumpkin walk and I want the girls to get their naps. And we are almost out of milk. I am going to Target, too, because I have two pairs of jeans return, and a pair of sneakers. They only total about $15, because they were all 75% off, but still. They do not fit the intended recipients, nor their siblings. So back they go. Hopefully I won't find anything too wonderful and cheap that is more than the $15, because I am trying not to spend money.

Mirielle isn't here, so I am going to attempt to cut the coupons myself. And try a little harder on the meal planning. Last night Abigail made spaghetti and some mixed veggies. I don't know how much she made but every bit got eaten. I left the table right after dinner to help Evelyn finish cleaning her room. We took everything out of the closet, and oh, the little things that were on the bottom! Hair things and Barbie shoes and so many crayons and pencils and beads! Game pieces and Hotwheels and puzzle pieces. When Paul came home from work, I heard him ask, "Where's Mom?", and the kids told him I was in the closet, because I had literally moved all stuff aside and was sitting in the closet sorting through it. One thing I love to do is sort. Jon came dancing into the room and said, "Dad doesn't think it's weird that you're in the closet, Mommy!"

Their closet was a mess because a certain daddy cleaned up the hall a few months back by taking all the stuff and putting it in the closet. Now it is spotless, with a basket of play clothes, a basket of dress-up clothes, and just an empty space. Just a small empty space, but I wasn't the only one who was excited about it. Jon loves playing in closets, so I know what he is going to be doing. As long as those two crazy little sisters of his don't pull down all the hanging clothes...

Now all this room cleaning and closet cleaning does have a huge side affect: laundry. Lots of laundry. Ugh. I went from actually being caught up to being at least 8 loads behind. Oh well, it feels nicer than it should to have that closet clean. I am thinking of the closet in Charlotte Claire's room now, filled to the brim with baby things. Paul said last night that getting rid of it all would be the surest way of having a new baby. hmm. Sounds win-win, I could have a new baby AND get all new stuff......

Last night I assembled my lavender Emmaljunga Viking stroller. Charlotte Claire and Camille were taking turns being the baby. Oh MY Goodness - I don't think I have ever watched anything so hilarious as Camille, fresh from a little splash in the hot tub with Kathryn, dressed in just her diaper, in all her chubbiness, being the mommy. Charlotte Claire was the baby, and she was crying like a newborn, and throwing all the baby toys that Camille had gotten out for her, over the side of the stroller, then fussing for them. Camille would pick them back up, and say, "Here, baby. Are you okay baby?"....oh, it was funny, and so adorable. I need to get some pictures of them today.

Well, Miss Charlotte Claire is up now. Her sister is still sleeping, which is nice, but I should be getting things done while she sleeps. Like putting in another load of laundry, washing the pans they somehow didn't see last night, and washing my long tangly hair. I have had trouble washing it in my nightly shower because going to bed with wet hair when it is chilly doesn't sound fun. I know, I know, there is such a thing as a hair dryer. I really haven't used one since I was a teenager though.

Well, I can tell when I start to blah-blah blah.....Oh, this is funny....Charlotte Claire is in the stroller, and Jon is the dad.....the mom died, Jon says....no, he says, he never met the mom and he adpopted Charlotte Claire. And he bought the stroller when he knew he was going to adopt her. Okay. He says it pushes very nice.

my day....

Charlotte Claire thought this was great fun, to snap lots of pictures of ourselves. Unfortunately she had her finger in her nose for most of them which was pretty funny.

She is sleeping on the couch right now. Margaret and Kathryn went out side with her and Camille and played on the trampoline in the leaves. They must've used up alot of energy. Camille is napping now, too. Abigail was helping me do a very sad thing: pack up the baby clothes. My lavender Simo pram is still in there, I don't have anyplace to move it to anyway. There are still some things I didn't pack away....babies have been such a part of my life for so many years, but I am 44 years old. I left the booties that my mom made, and lots of little shoes and bonnets in the drawers. As I sorted through the little things, I had to decide whether to save or toss each thing. Save for what I don't know. But I saved lots of things.

The five little girls (Margaret, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, and Sonja) just got a package in the mail from Gramma, who is in Florida for the winter. They got Christmas watches! Snowmen for the youngest two, and Christmas trees for the other girls. How exciting. If I had gotten a watch in the mail when I was a little girl.....watches were expensive then. I got my first one in fifth grade, and before Christmas vacation was over, it fell off my wrist and broke. It was a regular watch (not digital) with a clear plastic strap. I just remember how devastated I was about that. I don't remember getting another one until 7th grade. It was a Texas Instruments digital watch with a calculator and alarm clock, just the latest technology.

Kathryn traded with Evelyn, and then changed her mind, now they traded back, and are wishing they got the one that Margaret got. I am trying to get them to go out and clean out the van. On Friday night for activity club, a few of the groups are going to a fun fun place, an enchanted walk. It is at a nearby nature preserve, and it features hundreds of carved jack-o-lanterns, games, ect. I had told the leaders (my nieces) that I would drive the 15 passenger van if they wanted to go, so they talked about it and decided to take the girls there this Friday night. And I get to go, and bring the two little ones if I want to. I am glad they asked me, because that means I must have behaved myself last Friday night, if they asked me to be along again. Believe me, I had to work at it. I had to bite my tongue and remember that those young girls, whom I remember being born, and are now in their twenties, are the leaders of their groups. I am just the guest.

Charlotte Claire is sleeping away on the couch, all the kids are home from school having snacks and taking turns going out to clean the van. It is not quiet in here. Mali just came along and said, "I have to check to see if she's dead.", and she touched Charlotte Claire's nose. She moved. "Nope.", said. Then she turned to me and said, "Wouldn't that be awful?".....and off she went. Of course that would be awful. I hadn't even thought of the possibility, thank you Mali.

I am being the mean mommy and not letting them turn the t.v. on for even just one minute today. I was not born yesterday, and I happen to know that kids do not watch tv for just one minute. And yes, I am mean.

Mali just broke a glass. I asked her, from the living room, why she did it. "Do you think I did it on purpose?" Okay, good, just checking. 'Cause the day they throw a glass on the floor on purpose is the day I start thinking about some disipline. And I am glad it wasn't my favorite coffee mug. This reminds me of a long time ago, when I was visiting a family that had 14 kids (at the time, they had one more later), and I was sitting with the mom, chatting. I had only one child at the time. Several of the kids were in the kitchen cleaning up and doing the dishwasher. Then we heard the crash of a breaking glass. One of the little girls came in, all serious, and said, "Mommy, we are sorry, that was one of our really good glasses. From the gas station." " Oh dear', said the mom," just clean it up." Oh my, a gas station glass. And the mom did not even get up. She kept talking to me, as the kids vacuumed and swept up the glass. I was totally surprised. But, NOW I understand. Although Mali is fifteen, plenty old enough to clean up a broken glass....I think. I think I will double check. In a minute.

Yes, I am mean. I made the kid go outside and play in the leaves. Not because I wanted peace and quiet but, hey, it is nice. Only Aaron, Margaret, and Sam are in here right now. Abigail is in the shower....we have strict orders not to run any water so I can't start dinner yet. Benjamin just came in and looked at a notebook I had been writing in the other day. The day I tried to do some meal planning. "Oh good, it says we are having homemade macaroni and cheese and pork chops tonight", he said. Oh. I never made that. Sorry. He was laughing. He knows me. I have some boxed macaroni and cheese, and it probably isn't real food, but they like it.

I went into my nice almost-finished laundry room before I sat down here, and there were puddles of water all over the floor. What the ??? Aaron went in there and checked behind the washer, and a hose was undone. Great, the downstairs is pretty wet. I think my new linoleum is very wet underneath. eeks.

Well, my room is all clean and vacuumed. All the rooms in the upstairs were pretty decent, which makes me happy, because I want the whole house to be clean at the same time one of these days. I cleaned the hall, which tends to get things piled in all the time. Then: Evelyn Joy decided to clean her closet. Her closet is not that big, thankfully, because it was like four feet high of stuff, mostly clothes. And one of my carriages, a Silver Cross seat, and an Emmaljunga frame, stored in there. Taking up room in their little closet. It is now in my previously clean hall. Rats. Anyway, instead of making dinner, I am going to go help Evelyn clean up her room. The stuff that was packed into her closet is filling up all the room in the already cramped room. I have to pick someone to make dinner. hmm.....

okay, now it is wednesday..

I lived another day. Is that something to be thankful for or what? I take SO much for granted. The water SHOULD run when I turn on the tap. And Paul says that soon it will, when he replaces the pressure switch. It will get better anyway. He is hesitant to get into digging up the well pump. For now, it is quite frustrating. If someone just flushed, I can turn on the faucet, and nothing. la-de-dah, nothing. Sometimes I stand there for literally 10 minutes, and no water. Showers are the worst. We have three, but if someone else is taking one, you are only going to get a cold drip. Or nothing. We have kids coming out of bathrooms with towels wrapped around them, with shampoo in their hair, demanding, "Where is the water? Does someone have the dishwasher on? Or the washing-machine?" (as if it is a crime). We are going to try to fix it again, our water softening system didn't do the trick, but for the time being....I am determined to really use the opportunites to be faithful. After all, there are no loopholes in God's word.

Camille wants me to read her a story. She is too cute. She also wants to see pictures of her. So I will try to write about my wonderful and exciting life after I read ,"Just Me And My Dad", and "Report Card Trouble"......

they are a blessing....

I had a revelation this past weekend about the children and the craziness and the pressure. We had an excellent conference at church. A conference is where the people from the other churches in our church come together for meetings and fun. Our conference center happens to be where we have our regular meetings, we rent it and do the cleaning. Anyway, our meetings consist of the first few brothers bringing God's word, speaking, teaching, exhorting - then testimonies from those who were encouraged. One sister got up and spoke about back when the kids were all younger (she has twelve), and there was always pressure. And it was like a lightbulb went off for me, what a blessing that pressure is. That pressure, that craziness, that does NOT create sin in me. It does not create irritation. No, it just helps bring out the way I am. That is a blessing! No one can be cleansed of sin they don't acknowledge. I need to see myself! Rev. 3 v.17, "Because you say 'I am rich, having become wealthy, and have need of nothing' -and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-" (I suggest that you look up this verse, and read the whole chapter. It is so very helpful)....So the craziness and busyness and chaos are such a blessing! Because when I see my wretchedness, then God can help me. He gives grace to the humble.

Evelyn Joy is home today. She doesn't feel well. Kathryn Grace is home today. She has a fever of 101. She really didn't feel well yesterday, and I thought she was dramatizing. It can be hard to tell around here. They like being home, which is a not the greatest thing when they are supposed to be in school. Charlotte Claire just woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed. I guess the antibiotics are doing their job. I remembered this morning what she was saying yesterday in the store. "I like gickles." The doctor had suggested for her to eat pickles, hot sauce, or other salty things to help kill the germs in her throat. I thought, "ouch", but she must have thought they sounded good. So she said that in the store like 20 times. I like gickles.

I am going to try to start staying home more. I spend too much money, even though I buy things on sale, it all adds up. And I really want to take the kids on our third annual two day getaway in February or March. So we need to save up. It gives us something to talk about during the winter, and look forward to. The first year we went to a nice small city a few hours south of here, and there was a mall with a Target at the end! To me, it was like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That hotel had dinner included (well,they called it the businessmen's reception meal, we called it dinner), and had a nice pool and hot tub. It was the first hotel stay for the kids, except for a few of the older ones. Then last year we went up to Canada, and stayed in a hotel right across the street from McDonalds. But it was a CANADIAN McDonalds. Apparently that is important. According to the kids. Anyway, it was an adventure, and we want to try to do something like that again this year. (I remember when we went last year, I was pregnant, and just having the first inkling that something might be wrong..wah. I am so conscious that I would be having a baby soon. My brother has two brand new grand daughters this past week, with a grandson due any day, and it is hard for me. I thought I would be having a baby with them. I know I have to get over it already, but still. I have had my share of babies, that is for sure. But still. It is there, that feeling of loss. It doesn't overwhelm me, it is just there. I don't want to feel sorry for myself, but it is still there. It doesn't help that I thought when I found out I was pregnant, my brother had just died, so I latched on to the pregnancy for comfort. I know I did. The loss of it was harder than any other previous miscarriage. Wow, I can go on and on. oops.)

Since the kids aren't feeling well, I am going to let them watch a movie during the day, as in right now. I let them watch some shows on channel 24 (public television) during the day sometimes, because they are half-hour shows, and they don't just leave it on and watch them all. Jon like Calliou, but he is in school now. Sometimes the little girls will watch it. They don't really love Sesame Street. We usually reserve movies for the weekend, or occasionally during the afternoon. But when they are sick, it is different.

Today is a dark and dreary day, my favorite kind of day. Except for the bright sunny ones, of course. All I have is today. That is all any of us has. So use it well. "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."(psalm 118)

to the dr. with Charlotte Claire...

I never know when to take them to the dr. I once neglected to take Benjamin for a finger injured in basketball, and the dr. was not very pleased that I waited so long, and I felt like an idiot. Or rather an uncaring mother. In truth, when Ben was 16, he had eleven younger brothers and sisters, and a hurt finger seemed like, well - a hurt finger. Apparently if it had been splinted immediately, it would have healed properly, now he has permanent trigger finger. Oops. So shortly after that, one of the little girls jumped off her dresser and was limping so I took her in right away, and she walked fine for the dr. He was a different dr, and he thought I was an idiot too. Good thing I don't care what people think of me. In theory anyway, if I am honest, I find that I do I do I do care.



Anyway, Charlotte Claire has had a cough for a while, and a runny nose on and off. Today she is complaining that her ear hurts. Her temperature is 99.4, which is not really high, but I decided to call and make her an appointment. She is so little. So that has determined what I am doing today.



Apparently my friend Gwen isn't up for company today. I will have to try again another day.



Our furnace is fixed! Just in time, too, it is going up into the high fifties today. It was nice last night, though, it was 28 in the early morning hours. I still need to get some new slippers. My slippers seem to disapear during the summertime.



Well, Miss Charlotte Claire just scared the heck out of me....she said again that her ear hurts really bad. I asked her if there is anything in there (we had to take Mirielle to the emergency room once when she stuffed a peanut butter cup wrapper in her ear. She said she didn't know where else to put it. (ha ha Mirielle, I got you back for that video))anyway, Charlotte Claire, said, "Yes, there is a nail in there." "What? In your ear? There is a nail?" "Yes, Mommy, I put my nail in there and it hurt"....and then I realized she meant fingernail. Okay. 'Cause for a minute there I thought we were heading out the door lickety-split. And my long tangly hair IS clean today, I just washed it. But it is not brushed out yet. I have written about this before, but one time I seriously made Samuel wait to go to the E.R. because my hair was dirty. In my defense, Paul WAS due to come in the door at any minute from work, how was I supposed to know he was going to be so late? That was before cell phones. Back when you didn't know exactly what road a person was on at any given moment. Back when if you called Daddy at work, and he didn't pick up his phone, you thought he had probably left for home, but he might just be away from his desk. If I had known he was going to be so late getting home, I would have just swallowed my pride and taken Sam myself. Poor kid, just remembering him sitting there holding a wash cloth over his eye....his sister (hmm, was it Mirielle?) (or Mali?) pitched a baseball to him, pretty hard, right into his eyebrow. Eyebrows DO bleed alot. In my defense.



So I don't always know when they need to go to the dr. These days they don't dispense antibiotics withoutthroat cultures, which is a pain for me because we have to pay for the culture, and wait for the culture, and then take another trip out for the medicine. Overuse of antibiotics....is that like global warming?



Margaret is also sick. She has a cold, and is coughing. Kathryn is home...I do not think she is sick. I think she was in the bathroom when the bus came, and was too scared to run out and get on after she realized the bus was waiting for her. She stood still and wouldn't move, even when I yelled at her to just run out! She said, "But I don't FEEL good!" I actually tried to push her toward the door, and she must have dug her heels right into the tiles. I have been trying to talk to her about it today. She is so self-conscious, and to walk in late to school to her is unthinkable.

Well, I wrote this post this morning, and our internet didn't work, so I am taking a little pre-dinner-rush-break, and the internet is working again. Margaret said today, "Our water and our internet never work." I guess that goes with living out in the country.

I am so glad that I brought Charlotte Claire in to the doctor today. She has a bad ear infection. She had a slight fever, red throat, but her lungs were clear, which means the cough is more of a bronchial thing. There is a little privately owned pharmacy next to the dr office, in the same building. They fill prescriptions there in under five minutes, plus they sell all kinds of candy and treats for very reasonable prices. I let Charlotte Claire get a bottle of orange juice, and some chewy Sprees. She was a happy camper. And I felt sorry for her. She felt lousy, but was happy to go and be just with Mommy and Abigail. She was just totally sweet and cute. We took her into Wegmans, one of my favorite places, because we were out of milk and bread. I was thinking of taking her home first, but she really wanted to go there. She rode in the cart, chattering away. She had to go "kee-pee", and Abigail took her for me. She said next time we have to bring Gamille. She had one dose of amoxocillin, and two ear drops in her ear, and she is literally jumping from the red chair to the red couch, which is NOT allowed. The weather has warmed up considerably, so most of the kids are outside. Camille has her froggy boots on, and Kathryn is taking her outside.

The cashier in the grocery store was making converstation about how much stuff I was buying. She asked me if I was going to do some baking. Huh? Oh, no, I am just buying all that stuff because it is on sale. 99 cents for two pounds of brown sugar, or confectioners' sugar. And cake mix for 88 cents, which is great to have on hand. And marshmallows because Jon's snack day is coming up and we have Rice Krispies. So, just to let her know that I am not going to go home and eat it all by myself, I told her how many kids I have. I told her that we just plain go through alot of stuff, and I stock up when the prices are good. She totally couldn't believe that I was serious.

My afternoon break is over....