my camera.....well, not MY camera...

Abigail's camera. I was using it last night. I took pictures of the neat snowman cake Margaret and I made. Then, last night I asked Mali it put it in my purse for me....she put it in Aunt Cheryl's purse. I figured that out today when I couldn't find it....and I remembered my sister has a purse similar to mine. I called her and had her check, sure enough, a Kodak camera in her purse. So, no pictures to put up.



We had a special New Year's dinner today. Steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Mirielle cooked out on the grill, in the balmy 15 degree weather, complete with a nice strong wind. We served out the food, said grace, started to eat. Suzanne, who hasn't been feeling well, came into the kitchen and announced she had thrown up in the hall. I am nice, so I jumped up. Oh, and because I am the mom. She needed a little cleaning up, so I turned the shower water on nice and warm, and gave the hand-held sprayer ( a MUST have for showering children), and let her stand in there while I cleaned up the fun and exciting mess in the hall. Oh, it couldn't just go on the carpet, that would be boring. It had to go on a few odd clothing items, a Barbie toy laptop computer, and a Where in the World is Carmen Santiago game.....why that game was in the hall is something no one seems to know. But anyway, I got it all cleaned up, Suzanne set up on the couch with nice clean pajamas, and my own electric blanket over her, and went back in and ate dinner. Somehow it lost some of its appeal.



The dinner table conversation was something I have read on different large family sites, and other blogs with lots of kids, but my kids were coming up with these things: You know you have lots of kids in the family when:



There are ten kids in the room, and someones says, "Where is everyone?"



When everyone is going to the Sunday service, and you have to bring an additional vehicle because you don't all fit into the 15 passenger van.



There are only 6 or seven of us left at the table, and it seems quiet.



When we are at the checkout at the grocery store, and the cashier asks if we're having a party.


When I bring 4 or 5 kids to the store, and the cashier asks where all my kids are.


When I buy enough icecream sandwiches for everyone, and the cashier says she wants to live at our house.


I got 2 sets of silverware for Christmas, and Camille will have to use the old stuff. We have enough for everyone else, because Emily isn't here.


Yeah, there were more but I can't remember. I had to pause a few times, to get Camille to bed. She is doing this screaming-when-I-put-her-into-her-little-pink-bed thing. So I let her go for a bit, then go in and nurse her. This happened 3 times before she finally settled in to sleep.

Now, we are watching "The Office", season 2..... Abigail, Ben and Grace (his girlfriend), Mirielle, Joseph, Aaron, Mali, Samuel, Margaret, Kathryn, Paul and I.

It is sort of a let down to have the holiday season be almost over with. The kids have all been around so much, and they have to go back to school on Monday. Rats. I really like vacation. It goes against all that is sane and reasonable to wake up young children on winter mornings, dress them, feed them, and shuffle them out into the cold. Well, I don't have to worry about that for a few more days, so I won't think about it tonight. I am going to go, and laugh at this show with the kids....