home at last

I went grocery shopping with Mariel, Molly, Abigail, and Camille....and of course we went to
Target...I bought Camille a new bed...actually it is a Graco travel-bed...it is cute, and pink gingham with floral trim...she has to move out of that carriage, and our crib is occupied by one Charlotte Claire, who is not more than 2, and who needs to be kept in a crib....my old Graco bed is 11 years old, and very well used....it's hard to use it for the beach, and outside when the baby uses it for a bed to sleep in....and the real reason: this one is so cute! I just love baby stuff. It has a little canopy on it, and I thought she might like to snuggle in under it like the carriage....I guess I am more than a little afraid to move Miss Dream Sleeper herself into something different, as if it will break the spell or something...

I am very tired, and Camille is in bed...we are going to the beach tomorrow....we made some hamburgers and put them in the freezer....and got the plates, cups, and chips packed.....and the blanket is already in the van.....we need to remember my chair, and the beach toys, as if they would forget those....and a huge stack of towels..we will have all 15 seats of the van occupied, as Paul has to work, Ben has to work, and Emily the nurse has to work....so only one vehicle.....and no double buckling......this beach is on Lake Ontario, and there is one nice shady spot, with grass....I like to set up our stuff there.....then go down to the beach....now that some of the kids are older, it is much easier, one or more of them can watch the little ones if I need to get the baby out of the sun, or change a diaper....I honestly don't know how I used to do it when they were little....and I did take them alot of places by myself....I am not a sit at home person, I like to go places and have adventures....so, if you have 2 or 3 or 4 kids, and you see me with all mine, and you wonder how I manage: it is easier now, in many ways....except most people don't need 14 towels for a day at the beach.....and 21 hamburgers, 20 hotdogs, 2 bags of Doritos......

The older kids were working everyday picking strawberries, but the owner called and told them it was such a lousy year here, weather wise, it wasn't worth them coming anymore....so that's why most everyone is free to go to the beach....

first day of vacation!!!!

I was finishing up the second coat of polyurethane on the tables, and Abigail, Mariel, and Molly were kind enough to have an ice-cream sundae party for the kids....to celebrate the first day of summer vacation....Charlotte Claire dressed up for the occasion...actually, she had on a pretty dress, but they took it off so she wouldn't ruin it....when Molly went out to take pictures, Abigail and Mariel ran..... The table looks better in the picture than it really does.....one website I looked at to find out how to finish this furniture said the most important part of the process is to have patience....and with all that goes on around here, wow....so, the poly-coating is not done as well as it could be....today we sanded off the stuff we put on yesterday, vacuumed the kitchen, wiped everything down, and did another coat....it is hard to do....when you go to fix the glops, it looks worse....

Joseph, 17, helped alot today....his opinion: we are just wasting our time trying to make the tables look nice...what's wrong with functional???? I say he's just lazy....

Here is the lonely "last one" chair....it will go nicely with our mismatched chair collection....too bad the nice benches will be on the other side of the table....I am too cheap to buy all new chairs....this one I couldn't pass up, it was cute and all alone...no, really it was cheap.....

Abigail just took some of the little kids on a walk, Charlotte Claire and Camille are in for their naps, and here I sit....I have been busy today....my mother-in-law just stopped in with dinner....she is home from Florida for the summer, and lives two towns away....only 15 minutes...she brought two pans of barbecued ribs, and a pan of homemade baked beans.....she brings over dinner about once a week during the summer. It is so nice of her. And so nice for me, not to have the what's-for-dinner-tonight dilemma....because I usually have a vague idea, but......I am not such a planner. Mariel and I need to grocery shopping....maybe after dinner. She hates to miss one bit of sunshine.......at least she gets plenty of vitamin D....

Evelyn didn't go on the walk, and she is asking every 24 seconds if I'll please please take her in the pool....good idea, but leave mommy alone for just a few minutes. So now, of course, I feel guilty....and I still have some phone calls to make today...whatever I am doing, I have that niggling feeling that I should be doing something else.....

the last day of school!!!!!

Margaret has completed 5th grade...she came home with several awards...and this is the face she made when I asked her to hold up the plaque for high honor roll all year....exasperated with mom? It smells so good in our house, if you like polyurethane fumes....the first coat is now on. Tomorrow we shall sand....then apply a second coat....I don't know how many times we will do this, as it gets a bit tiring, and the kids are so busy...keeping them away from the wet tables is challenging, to say the least.....and we can't eat in there, so it's good it's been nice out.....

Mariel and I were thinking of doing some grocery shopping tomorrow....but it is the first day of vacation. Not that the kids would care, sometimes they like it when I'm gone, so they can eat all the freezepops, and watch tv....

no more pencils, no more books

no more teachers' dirty looks....do kids still say this on the last day of school? My kids tease me so much about my lack of technological knowledge...but hey, when I was a kid a computer was something in a Saturday afternoon sci-fi matinee, on regular tv....and the tv WAS colored, not black and white like they laugh about....my favorite movie, "The Wizard Of Oz", was on once a year, and all the kids in the neighborhood would look forward to watching it....and I was so scared during it, I would look down at the gold and orange plaid furniture to make myself remember that I was home, and the movie wasn't real....and phones were just the black rotary dial ones with the three foot cords.....it cost extra to Ma Bell to have more than one line, but when my brother was a teenager, he built himself a bedroom in the basement, and hooked up a telephone down there....oh, the boys we called, the prank calls we made....no such thing as caller ID to ruin our fun...things were more expensive then, relatively. When I was in third grade, I got a new bike, hot pink and sparkly, with a banana seat, and long shiny tassles on the handgrips....it cost $27.99......not too much different from a Wal-mart bike now. Things were made in the usa, and cost more....before watches were a dime a dozen, I had a digital one, I was in fifth grade.....then I got a Texas Instruments digital, with all the bells and whistles of the time, and alarm, ect....it was huge....I really wish I had a picture of it.....the kids would really like that...I grew up during the "energy crisis" and "double digit inflation", so these days are like deja vous to me....only instead of hybrids, we had Ford Pintos.....my family bought one in 1975, brand new, less that $3000.......

Anyway, I do go on and on.....I got up this morning, and sent Evelyn off to school...Kathryn, Suzanne and Sonja decided not to go....Molly went, 8th grade, for her French Proficiency test....then I decided to put stain on the lonely "last one" chair I bought on Saturday.....then I considered starting the polyurethane on the tables and benches, but I am tired, and lazy, and so reasoned it out that I shouldn't start until Aaron gets up and helps me....because it will go twice as fast....so here I sit.

Sonja has a little bug-house, that swings from a little handle as she skips around with it hanging from her little arm.....she captures moths, and baby butterflies.....which I don't like, because they usually don't survive.....but Sonja and Suzanne try to be really careful, because they want to keep these creatures forever.....as nice little pets....I just say to please get that thing out of the house right now...

Well, Aaron is going to be mad at me, but I think I'll wake him up anyways, to get these tables finished.....

working on the furniture....

Well, Evelyn Joy is tired from all the sanding of the tables and benches...she went with me to Lowe's to buy some stain and polyurethane....and we went to Domino's and got two large bacon pizzas (they were excellent)(we had a buy 1 get 1 free coupon, of course), then I called the pizza place Ben works at and ordered a sheet pizza and 60 wings....with a coupon, of course...with the new tables being worked on in the kitchen, this was an easy and fun dinner....we don't do it very often, and the kids liked it.... Suzanne is finishing first grade, and she can read wonderfully well....Jon is entranced with this story....

Sonja Kathleen is reading, too.

I always put the pictures in the wrong order....anyway, here is one of the tables, sanded and stained....we still have to do the monotonous part: putting on the polyurethane, sanding, polyurethane, sanding....I don't know how many times we'll do it...

Here is one of the benches....

Oh joy, the tables are being assembled!!!

Kathryn Grace and Margaret Cheryl, work on sanding the pieces...

Aaron deserves a million dollars for being my helper...he sanded, and helped me stain...it took hours...

This is Suzanne Eleanor...she is so cute, even with her pool-messy hair.

Well, if you can imagine how busy and crazy today has been....first sanding all the table and bench pieces, and the lonely chair (how could I resist it? It was only $31...)......then putting them together, then staining them....with all the kids all around....and our original two tables in there...when I left to go to Lowes, Aaron kept at it, and had everything but one table top sanded when I got back...we took a break to eat and take care of Camille, then wiped it all down and stained it....it is actually fun....but it will be a miracle if we get it all finished without some major handprints....

Tomorrow is the last day of school....on a Monday? What are they thinking? The last day of school is so stupid anyway, but if they cancel it, then the day before it becomes the last day...so there has to be a last day of school....I tried to explain this to the kids....but I'm not making them go....so, a few are and a few aren't....and Aaron still has a test to take on Tuesday.

We just made up our list of things to do this summer: a trip to Fairhaven Beach on Lake Ontario, a trip to Southwick Beach on the east shore of Ontario, a visit to Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, for the Symphony on 4th of July...., a trip to the Chinese Buffet, go to the drive-in, some camping in the Adirondack mountains, summer conference at our church, and Aaron's surgery, in August...(I'll probably know exact dates tomorrow....)

I have a houseful of kids, but the wild card is Miss Charlotte Claire. She is so sweet and nice, but I have to know where she is at all times...I can never assume she is with someone, I have to know for certain...this becomes more difficult when the kids are home from school......I tend to have her with me when the older ones aren't here....pretty soon, though, Camille will be rivaling Charlotte for the most hard-to-keep-track-of child....she moves around the floor...when she starts crawling, life changes again for all of us, temporarily, until she starts walking, then gradually assimilates into a toddler.....the crawling stage is tedious for a mom, keeping all pennies and legos off the floor, and keeping the floors spotless......and the cereal cupboard! Every single child finds this at some point, hurrah for them and boo-hoo for mommy....and with each child I decide, yes, I will install a child latch on this cupboard....then, before I get around to it, they grow out of cereal dumping........

I need to go grocery shopping again....I wish my favorite store was closer than 26 miles away....

nice day.....

As you can probably tell from this photo, I caved and let Jon take some pictures....(he broke it a few months ago)....this is his Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, aka the Raincar....or as Jon calls it, his gold Dodge.... Okay, these two did not get this from me. I have a strong hatred for cell phones...in my humble opinion, they are only good for notifying someone of lateness, checking in, or telling the kids if I'm bringing home dinner.....I was in a waiting room the other day, and all the people were looking at their phones as if the answers to life's greatest mysteries were displayed on those little screens....isolated from the humans next to them, but connected to someone somewhere....but Jon and Charlotte Claire are pretty observant.....

Sonja Kathleen is so cute wth her red hair and freckles....I wish my mother could see what a sweetie she's growing into...she dumped some crayons in the living room, and when she picked them up, left behind some wrappers....so she did a little vacuuming....

I did end up going to the furniture store today.....it is a magnificent place, filled with unfinished tables, chairs, end tables, television cabinets, benches, dressers, hutches, desks, cabinets, bookcases....so I did pretty well. I only bought 2 tables, two benches, and one "last one" chair....the tables are trestle tables, so benches will fit under, and there are no legs getting in the way of seating lots of people...hopefully the benches will help us fit extra kids in....the two tables together will be about a foot longer than what we have now. It will be a tight fit in the dining area, though. The problem: they are all unfinished....I have to go buy stain and polyurethane coating, and get busy.....so, we have lots of boxes around here....the two table tops are behind one of the couches against the walls....oh well....life itself is a work in progress. I actually like sanding and staining furniture, but life doesn't slow down for these things....I'll put up some pictures up when I get them assembled, and stained....

Does anyone really care about these boring details? We had a fun dinner, spaghetti and meatballs.....and Camille took a dinner time nap...so it was really pleasant and quiet. Only Paul and I and 7 kids.....seriously, it was quiet. The younger ones just blossom, having daddy and mommy all to themselves......

the promise of a new day

When I woke up and realized it was Saturday, I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. (so I guess I am still a little young at heart). Why am I so happy? Because we have no plans. It is an empty slate, this day. I got up and took a shower and washed my long tangly hair. Now I am ready for this day. What will we do? Where will we go?

All the older kids (except Ben):Emily, Abigail, Mariel, Joseph, Aaron, Molly, and Samuel are at the youth weekend. So Paul and I are here with Margaret, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Jon, Charlotte Claire, and Camille. It seems so quiet and empty. Just think: dinner with only 9 at the table (and one on my lap)....

There is an unfinished furniture store in a nearby town. We bought our oak coffee table there 15 years ago, and it is still standing. I would like to go there and see if we can get a dining room table.....we have two tables put together, which isn't too bad except one is oval and one is rectangular, and one is kind of broken and the leaf rests on the other table, which makes for some possible calamities....and it looks rather sloppy....but it does match the chair collection: 2 painted yellow, some metal folding, some pine regular chairs, two nice swivel chairs (for mama and papa bear).....I would like to get some benches, and keep our wooden chairs (and mama and papa's chairs).....so maybe I will go here today.

Well, the kids want my help: I promised them cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs....now why did I do that?