summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Friday, January 23, 2009

just another day....

Lunch time baby...Camille likes to feed herself...
Jonathan and Charlotte Claire. Charlotte Claire did not want leftover sloppy joe, just bread and butter, and apples and oranges....




Camille at breakfast....she had just dumped all the bottle and sippycup tops out of the drawer, and was trying to get crushed ice from the front of the freezer in a bottle top cover...so I popped her in here again, gave her a cracker, and continued my cleaning up.....it is like it barely balances out sometimes - the messes they make, and me cleaning them up....how can a mom get ahead? And she looks so innocent. Can she be the same child who got into the oatmeal, and came into the living room with a Kool-aid cooler and a straw, sat down, and almost got it going before she was caught? The same girl who knows that markers have tops that come off? Who knows how to call 911, and tries to everytime she gets a chance?







And this little girl, she takes good care of her dollies. Here she is using like 5 wipes.










We are now at the part of the day where it is almost naptime....they are getting tired, but I have been tired for a long time now. I get a bit weary of trying to stay ahead of them, and all the fanangeling (is that a word?) that goes on to accomplish anything....I put some clothes in the washer, Camille takes some clothes out of the hamper. I stop what I am doing, and pick up the clothes.... I put some dishes in the dishwasher, Camille takes some snacks from the garbage can. I stop what I'm doing, and take it from her. Now, I am breaking my own rules and letting them eat Pringles in the living room. Oh well. It is buying me a break.
We have the hot tub turned up, so we will be able to use it this afternoon. It is wonderfully warm outside, at least 39 degrees. It is nice to get over the freezing mark. I am still leary of letting Charlotte Claire go in the hot tub, I think she will go under water just like she did in the summer time. Even 39 is cold for a wet head outside......so she needs to take a nice long nap today.....but she is smart, she knows we turned it up, and she keeps talking about her bathing suit. Maybe I will put a hat on her, and tell her not to get the hat wet.....
We have recieved some sad news. A friend of ours from Canada has passed away. She was only around my age, had seven children.....she had cancer. She had been suffering for a long time, and it has been tough on the kids. She was one of 17 children, and grew up in Germany. She was a lovely girl. The kind of mom who sewed matching dresses for her girls and herself, and drove all the way down here from Canada with a van full of kids when her husband had to work. She was a good and faithful sister in the Lord, and she is in a better place, where there is no suffering....



2 comments:

Janis said...

I love your description of "balancing" the damage done versus you fixing it! I feel the same way with only three children! I wish there was an easy way to log and account for every minute of the day. Sometimes I think that 90% of my day is cleaning or fixing things. Probably not, but it seems like it! Hope nap time goes well!

cheryl said...

That is so sad, esp. for her husband and children.. her suffering is over. But she has been a wonderful example to anyone who has had the privilege to know her, working on her salvation and being a blessing to her family.