the kids are in bed

and we are having some down time...."we" being Aaron, Molly, Margaret, Mariel, Abigail, and Paul.....Kathryn just went to bed, as did Emily and Joe......the kids were pretty wild tonight...they played outside after school, consisting of going in the hot tub, and then jumping on the trampoline in the rain in their bathingsuits, then back in the hot tub....then some hot chicken soup for dinner.....and too dark and rainy to go back out.....so they picked up all the toys in the living room, and I sneaked in the second vacuum of the day, and they put in the Barbie "Twelve Dancing Princessses" dvd, and danced with it.....and it got crazy in here....I tried to wind them down telling them stories......I thought we'd never get them settled down. But we did....ah, where's my prize? Anyway, here is a pic of my new sneaker....pretty, eh? And very comfortable.....I walked for 25 minutes today, as fast as I could, including some hills....it felt great. Can you believe that 4 days of walking, and I feel better already?




Well, today the kids wanted to jump on the couch, no way...so we got out the little Tikes chair, and a pile of blankets.....wheeeee!

Charlotte Claire is having a turn in the "rain-car".....Emily named the Cozy Coupe the rain car when she was little, because it has a roof....

Camille can go across the room in this. She can also climb up and sit on the steering wheel....

Kathryn Grace doing her homework....

We went out last night to get my sneakers....it was only Molly and I, and the baby....so I was actually able to think. I ran across some nice sandals for the little girls, for 90%off, so I got some for next year. And lots of cute little clothes for 90%off.....what fun.

I had a monumental headache today....this cold that's going around hasn't fully hit me, I have been fighting it off day after day.....I will wake up feeling achy and sinusy and headachy, and then feel better.......If I'm going to get it, I would like to just get it over with.....

I read Christine's blog the other day, and someone had tagged her to take a walk down memory lane. She in turn tagged everyone who reads her blog to do the same. So I was thinking about it.......and since I am very tired, and don't feel like doing all the stuff around here that I could do right now, and the baby is in bed too, I just may do this...I don't know the specific rules, but I don't care for rules anyway..

30 years ago. I was 13 years old. 8th grade. My brother's girlfriend, and a close friend of mine too, died in a car accident this month, 30 years ago. She had dreamed of her death that summer, she had sleptwalked and gathered up flowers from around her camp....and her mother came in and found her sleeping with flowers all around her. It was so very sad.....then, the following spring, my other brother's girlfriend was killed in a car accident. My little brother, 10 years old, actually told my OTHER brother's girlfriend that she better watch out.....but those were hard things to deal with....

28 years ago I was in the 10th grade, and my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She thought she was going to die. She had two radical masectomies, as the lymph nodes were affected, and some heavy duty chemo. But she didn't die. She just took things as they came. I remember going with her a few times to get her chemo. We would walk the 2-3 blocks to the bus stop (my mother never drove), took the bus downtown, then walked up a huge hill to the hospital. I do not remember her feeling to badly, she was cheerful, and everything was fun.....she enjoyed being downtown, and she liked to play the people game, where you guess what people did for a living, ect, as they walked back......I never realized then how much she was suffering, because she simply did not complain. Actually, one of the funniest moments of my life was when we went to Kmart to buy her a wig. Now my mother had bright red curly hair....so the wig she chose was rather Ronald McDonald-y......but we laughed so hard at that wig counter, I thought I would fall over......can you believe they used to sell wigs in Kmart?

26 years ago in January I met Paul.......and this is funny, but that Christmas before I met him I had prayed to meet someone. I was only 16 years old. But I knew he was the one. I fell hard.

25 years ago June I graduated from high school.....by then I had gotten converted......

I started work at an insurance agency, and worked there for a year. It was the only job I have ever had......

25 years ago this coming March, we got married. He had graduated from college, was working, and had lots of college loans. I was working then too. I quit when I was 5 months pregnant for Emily......

20 years ago right now, I was pregnant for Benjamin, ...Emily was almost 4, Abigail almost 2.....I was 23 years old....oh, and I got my driver's license one month before Ben was born.

15 years ago I was 28 years old. I was pregnant for Molly, my 7th child. Emily, my oldest, was 8 1/2.....how did I ever manage?

10 years ago I was 33 years old. I had ten children. Kathryn was my baby.

5 years ago I was 38. It was 2003, and I had had baby Robert, #14, stillborn....and I was pregnant for Jonathan.....

2 years ago I had Charlotte Claire, after 3 miscarriages.....

1 year ago, I was due with Miss Camille Anaya......my 16th (17th) child....

I sort of ran out of details......Camille is in bed crying....