rainy saturday with no plans....

and I am a lucky girl....when I came out here this morning with Camille, the little girls (and Jon) were already up. Suzanne, who's only 7, had changed Charlotte Claire's diaper, and Evelyn had gotten her a bottle of chocolate milk. And sippy cups of chocolate milke for Jon, Sonja, Suzanne, and her....I am almost obsolete.

Samuel has made scrambled eggs and toast for a bunch of the kids....all I have done so far: make the coffee, drink some coffee with a piece of Mariel and Aarons' wonderful homemade apple pie.....which I shared with Camille, changed and fed Camille, changed Charlotte Claire and read her two books....and read the morning paper. A wonderful day, so far.

But I feel the promptings of home improvement stirring in me. I want to buy paint for the little girls' room....I want to go buy an unfinished cabinet for the dvds...to put under the tv....we are using our coffee table for the tv.....we should hang it on the wall, I guess.....anyway, I want to do all these things.....but the kids have these colds. Joseph has been very sick with it this week. Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille have runny noses and coughs.....

Yesterday when I got home from Walmart, I got a scare. Emily the nurse was home from work already. And when I got in the door, Jon greeted me by telling me Emily was sleeping, and someone had died at work. So, calm and collected mom that I am, I assumed the worst. Maybe that Emily had made a HUGE mistake.....and she was so upset, she was in bed......but, thankfully, I was just plain over-assuming again....an old person had died of old age. And Emily, who never takes a nap, was just plain tired. So that was good. But Emily said a funny thing. She said the morgue cart, just white and somber, should be festooned with balloons, ribbons, and bright colors, to celebrate that a person has finished their course on earth.

I am aware that most people are happy and excited when thier child starts to crawl, then to walk. I am glad Camille is strong and healthy. But.....my goodness. With all these people here, especially evident here on a Saturday morning....as I type this, there are at least 11 of us in these two rooms....it is almost impossible to have it completely childproof. We do all right keeping the pennies picked up, and most markers and crayons.....she likes to rip things. She tastes everything. Computer cords, dvds.....purses, mp3players....good baby snacks, ha.

But she is loved. She has been carried around by probably 6 or seven different people this morning.