i do i do i do love my kids...

But sometimes....oh sometimes....I get tired. And I want to get them to bed. Their bedtimes have been too late, summer hours...and when I start to get focused on getting them to bed and they are full of nonsense and have to have certain pajamas, and all of the four youngest want ONLY MOMMY to tuck them in.....then my adoration for them blurs, gets overrun by my longing for PEACE and QUIET....well, tonight I realized how my thoughts were going, and after I sang Camille her night-night songs, I said prayers with her, and really asked God for more patience and more kindness and much more love for my kids when they are being challenging....for wisdom to discipline them without just being all stompy.....

So tomorrow I will be a better Mommy....

Here are the things I love about my kids...

1. Emily is so good with her younger siblings.

2. Abigail loves to go on adventures with us...

3. Benjamin doesn't always do as I would like, but he totally respects my wishes with the younger ones and backs me up.

4. Mirielle...what can I say, she has been gone for a while, and I cannot wait to have her home.

5. Joseph is learning to play the drums, in addition to the piano, and of course the guitar....I deserve a million bucks for not telling him to knock it off already...

6. Aaron bought some Golden Grahams and put them up on top of the cupboard. I don't have the heart to tell him he should share.

7. Mali ....Mali is sad because one of her best friends is leaving for college....she is doing okay though...

8. Samuel...he loves summertime. He helps me whenever I ask, and is really working on being peaceful...

9. Margaret likes to stay up late and watch movies...she made two pans of brownies tonight.

10. Kathryn likes to wear a Yankees hat backwards. She is into gymnastics, and can now do splits.

11. Evelyn is still up. She is my little helper, and has a wicked sense of humor. She really should be in bed....

12. Suzanne is very mature for nine years old. She loves to help with the little girls.

13. Sonja is sleeping in my bed tonight, on Daddy's side.

14. Jonathan...is a handful....a nice sweet intelligent energetic handful...he absolutely loves playing Wii..

15. Charlotte Claire wore her size 12 princess dress over to Emily's apartment today. Emily said she was fine. okay.

16. Camille is so grown up. She told me she got cotton candy ice cream with Emily, and that she fell and hurt her knee and that she cried. I asked Emily, and it was all true.

And I am tired and rambling.....

tuesday.....

Jonathan is Wii bowling. I do not play video games, but I have played Wii, it is great fun. I have pitched baseballs and gone bowling. We only have a few games, but I am thinking of getting a few more for Christmas this year.

Charlotte Claire is pouring her own FruitLoops this morning. She wants to. I am letting her. It is because I am lazy, and want to sit here and write, or is it because I am a nice mommy? hmm.

Benjamin got hired at THE SAME MCDONALD'S as Aaron and Mali. I have to find a way to snap a picture of the three of them. Ben only has 14 weeks until he is the property of the U.S Army, officially. Well, he sort of is now, all signed up. But he ships to basic in November. This particular McD's has been very generous in giving my kids lots of hours and long shifts, they are promising Ben 40hrs a week. Do not tell them he is leaving for the Army, please. He left that little detail out of his job interview.

Mirielle is coming home on Saturday!! She is taking the bus. I was going to go pick her up, but buying a $68 bus ticket is worth it, better than 6+ hours there, then 6+ hours back.

I had a bad dream last night that Paul got an apartment. It was awful. I was over there visiting him, and I noticed the little girls' bathing suits in some boxes. The apartment complex had a nice pool. At first I thought he had a brilliant idea to have a place where we could have some time alone, then I realized that he had left me, and that he planned to have the kids visit him. I was totally and completely crushed, and I said to him, "You LEFT me? How could you?" All I could think of was how the kids love to go visit Emily and Abigail's apartment, and how exciting it would be to go visit Daddy...I was furious....then I woke up.....I know he wouldn't reallly do this, I think I am subconsciously feeling abandoned. wah, poor me.

Today is sunny and fall-like. It was what my mother would call "good sleeping weather" last night. Cool and comfy. I need to got to a store, we are running out of milk, we have no bananas, are low on fresh fruit, bread, could use some yogurt, have no butter and just one tub of margarine. Hmm, will I take everyone in the big van and make a day out of it? Will I take just a few kids and leave some home? Will I sneak out the door all by myself? Well, we KNOW I won't do that one....I think it will be the first option....

bowling fun

Kathryn and Suzanne My sister and five of her seven daughters met us there...and her grand daughter, Grace.

Abigail and Grace, Evelyn in the back and Claire, Audrey, Janet, Margaret, Becky...Suze in front of Evelyn, Sonja being hugged by Claire, Jon in front of Janet (Jon, the only boy present), with Charlotte Claire next to her, then Kathryn in the chair with Camille in front of her....

Jonathan and Camille...they didn't put any quarters in, don't worry.

Is this cute, or what?

I have no idea who this lady is, but I am certain that she had no idea how ridiculous she looked while she was bowling....


Jon with Camille and Charlotte Claire

Suze and Kap....Suzanne sat with me last night and I braided her hair. The plan was to take it out today and have crimpy hair, but I think she liked the braids...so crimpy hair tomorrow.

Sonja K. and Kathryn

Charlotte Claire

Sonja K and her cousin Grace

Camille thought the best part was wearing those nice bowling shoes....

I came home with a smile on my face, despite the fact that it was almost 10:30 and the kids were pretty tired and I was too and I still had to put them to bed.....my smile was because the bowling place we went to was so welcoming. Even though we had 15 bowlers, and had to exchange shoes several times to get the sizes right, the people there made us feel so at home. It was only one dollar a game, with free shoe rental...and we had some $1 fries, a few $1 hot dogs to split, a few of the girls had $1 pizza.....they even brought out a pitcher of ice water and cups with our food. I can't describe it, but the people there seemed happy, like they enjoyed their jobs and wanted to please us. I appreciated it very much, and we thanked them profusely. They are running the $1 special in the evenings for the next few weeks, and I would really like to go back some night. There are very few places one can take a whole group of children and spend so little, and not feel like a burden. It could be that the workers had some entertainment watching us, as we are quite un-talented. My nieces DID do some nice little victory dance thingies when they knocked down some pins. And we all applauded when someone rolled a gutter ball. Oh, fun and more fun....my kids all thanked me and said they had a nice time tonight, so it was worth it....

monday morning....but it is STILL summer!

Since we have lost the school supply lists anyway, and we don't want to ruin the rest of our summer preparing too much in advance for the exodus of the dear children from home to ...to...ugh, school....we are enjoying the rest of vacation as much as possible. They have re-discovered the Wii, and if you want to see FUNNY, you should see Miss Charlotte Claire swing that controller like a baseball bat. She doesn't care if she hits the ball or not, she has a smile on her face. Camille has the new Police Whistle. I forgot to confiscate and "lose" that last night. I guess I will try to give them one more day with it.

I did a very stupid thing this morning. I casually walked into the laundry room and put in a load of bedding, never realizing that Aaron and Mali's McD uniforms were in there....they rushed in there to put them in the dryer this morning , and they were in the middle of the cycle, mixed in with the bedding. They pulled them out dripping wet and realized they would never make it to work on time. I apologized. They put them in the dryer, soaking and dripping. Um, they probably should have just let them spin out in the washer first...? Mali had to call their boss and inform him they would be late....oops. I personally think they should get more than one uniform (they actually only give them the shirt, they have to buy their own pants).....and they wash them every single time they work. (it DID cross my mind that they have done their share of taking loads out and just dropping them on the couch and intercepting the dryer, to get their uniforms washed...but I didn't mention that...

I have remembered something very important: today is Paul's mother's birthday!!! He is not here, and I would have been the one to remind him anyway...so I think we will go buy her a card and some flowers and drop in for a visit. I don't want to be gone all day, because tonight, we are going bowling! I found a place that has pre-league bowling for $1 per game, with free shoe rental. Abigail is free tonight, and she invited Emily, who is free tonight...yay! A few of the kids are going to soccer practice, but I think we will still have too many for the minivan.

It is peaceful here today. A few little squabbles, but really peaceful otherwise. I have been really working with these guys about being nice and not hitting each other and sharing and being patient. Perhaps they are hearing me!

Kathryn Grace just did the dishwasher without even being asked. Very nice indeed. Uh-oh, Jonathan cannot find his handcuffs. Poor guy...I think I will go help him...

out for pizza

Camille and Charlotte Claire were all ready to go bye-bye...so Samuel read them a story to keep them happy and out of trouble... Twelve of us went to Pizza Hut. Kathryn and Sonja

Margaret and Sam...(and Kap)

Joseph....drawing on the placemats

Charlotte Claire

And Evelyn....

Oh, and Camille

And Suzanne

And Abigail and Jonathan....

We had lots of pizza, because they are $10 each for large with up to three toppings...plus we splurged and got a Buffalo Chicken pizza....the waiter was soooo slooow. He forgot the straws, the silverware, and gave the little girls giant cups....I asked him very nicely for some small ones, he got them...then I asked for the straws....(only because the small cups have tops...) then we realized only three of us had forks or knives...so I sent Evelyn up to ask for some....then we waited and waited and waited.....for the check. We finally just went up to the register, and the poor guy brought our check over and apologized, and thanked us for being so patient, and offered us 20% off the bill for being so patient. I think it was his first day, or perhaps his second. I know when Miss Mali had her first day at McD's, people were SO rude to her. So I was extra careful to be kind to this young man....and we left him a ten dollar tip. (it was the one I taped together this afternoon after two naughty little girls ripped it into three pieces.)

I parked near the front of the dollar store....as we all filed out (eleven of us filed out, Joseph stayed in there and listened to music), a guy on the sidewalk said, "Wow, what a van!"...I just nodded in agreement, and he said, "Wow, it is NICE!"....hmm, pick-up line? ha. I mean, our van?

Goldilocks, I mean Camille, broke this nice one dollar chair to bits in Real Deals. It was SO funny.

I spoiled them in the RealDeals..it is a dollar store...I let Jon get a police set with handcuffs and a badge and a really loud whistle...hmm, maybe I have GONE around THE BEND....anyways, he has already arrested Kathryn.....and the whistle....I may have to "lose" it. Kathryn got a nice notebook, Sonja got a notebook too, Margaret and Evelyn got some pretty scarves to decorate their room, Suze got a plastic recorder/flute, Charlotte Claire got a gun that makes too much noise to play cops with Jon, Camille got a nice little backpack. I got After8 mints, and a few of those Chocolate Oranges, and some Hershey Kisses, and some frozen big pretzels, and some lemon Italian Ices. And a rug for over near the door. Basically like $50 worth of snacks and treats and junk....oops. But it was so much fun!

Home.....we had pizza left for Aaron......as soon as we got in the door, Camille wanted cereal....Sonja needed a bandaid for a moquito bite she itched and climbed up on the counter, knocking to the tile floor a glass Pyrex mixing bowl....CRASH...one of my least favorite sounds. Well, next to the shrill whistle of Jon's new Police Whistle. What WAS I thinking...? Now Sonja is getting arrested.....

playing dollhouse...

This reminds me of the stupid movie, "Honey, I Blew Up The Kid"....she certainly got the King Kong award of the day... This is Jonathan's house...with a tractor on the roof.

Suzanne's yard

Jonathan resting in the middle of the road.

My house...lots of babies!

The playground

The dollhouse people don't have bathing suits.

Charlotte Claire

Camille with her bunk beds

Suze's house

Camille with her house, which they refer to as "The broken-down house"...she doesn't seem to notice...I mean, she has sippy-cup and a horse in her living room....

As with all good things, dollhouse play came to an end...just fizzled out, didn't go out with a bang, which is good. Sonja is nicely picking things up now, but the two little girls have decided to resume playing. Only thing is that Camille has claimed Charlotte Claire's residence....rrr.

And on goes our day...

Here are some things that have happened:

1. Joseph did the dishwasher for me.

2. Jonathan and Sonja served the ice cream but never put it back in the freezer...luckily there wasn't much left to liquify and run all over the table.

3. I washed Camille's bedding, which she peed in...I guess I bragged too soon about her staying dry at night. I felt like a bad mommy because when I covered her up in the night, I noticed she was wet. I did NOT get her up and change her....

4. I threw out a pair of Camille's undies because....... well, she only did a tiny bit of poop in them....I think she thought she was just passing a bit of gas, and she seemed surprised....I told her not to worry, it happens to the best of us....

5. Jonathan took Rosie out front and they both came in soaked....oh, the joy of a wet dog...make that a wet HAPPY dog, wagging herself all over us....

And seriously, I consider this a good day because, seriously...not much has happened here.....

rainy day, no plans...

And no church today...there is a band weekend going on. The rain makes it so cozy in here. I took Miss Rosie-the-bad-dog out this morning, we only went as far as the paper box (I love the Sunday paper, all the ads...and coupons...) She doesn't mind the rain, but was agreeable enough to coming back in. I usually take her out without her leash, since we have lost every single one of them....the kids like to play "doggy" with their stuffed animals. I praise her to the skies when she listens to me, I love how she wags her whole body with joy when I pat her and tell her how good she is.



Sonja, Jon, Charlotte Claire, and Camille had ice cream for breakfast. See, the older kids are the main ice-cream eaters. They will come out with an overflowing mug or a cereal bowl full in the evening, then there isn't enough to serve to the younger kids.....so when one of the little girls asked this morning for ice cream, full well knowing that she wasn't getting it, I decided WHAT THE HECK. So they had ice cream. Now they are setting up a whole dollhouse village. I might just get down on that floor, it looks like so much fun. I told them if they set up a nice one, I will take pictures for Daddy.



Heck, I think I am going to help them set up...not PLAY, exactly, just help them...ha.