crazy evening

Here are the kids that were home tonight, except for miss Charlotte Claire, who had no nap and went to bed early....Camille is in the car, with Evelyn behind her, Kathryn on the floor with Sonja and Jonathan, and Suzanne on the couch....the bigger kids were all at a youth meeting, and Paul was trying to fix the furnace. Didn't work....my brother is coming over tomorrow to see if he can fix it....
Soccer ball in the house?

Oh, so innocent...

Evelyn Joy with some fishy crackers...
Camille likes the crackers.

Sonja doing some cracker catching.

Sonja with Camille...

Miss Charlotte Claire going to bed a bit earlier than the others. I know it's hard to believe, but she was being BAD!!! She pushed Camille down 3 times....

Suzanne Eleanor.....what was she doing?







Kitty with kitty.

busy,busy, busy......so much to iron out. Mali is going to Connecticut for the weekend with my nieces, and staying with some friends. So she needed some money. And, she is going on a field trip tomorrow, to see the symphony and eat at the mall. She needed some money for that. Actually, Aaron needed money for that, as he is going on the field trip too. And, Paul and I are going away for the weekend! We are going up to Ottowa. We had to arrange for Ben to take one of the cars to work, so we could take the truck, so the minivan will be here for the kids to use tomorrow night, as they are all going to their Valentines parties at activity club...with the van and Abigail's car, they will still have to get a ride for 2 of them, as they can only fit eleven.....and neither Abigail or Mirielle can drive the 15 passenger van. They don't really want to learn, either.

The oven still isn't fixed, the guy Paul called for the part hasn't called back yet....so I have two huge roasting chickens in the refridgerator for Mirielle to put in the crockpot on Saturday...since I so stupidly bought everything for pizzas, and forgot the oven didn't work.....tomorrow night, they are having sandwiches for dinner.

Okay, I cannot promise that this is the last time I will post about this, but oh my goodness, the lady with 8 babies, who does have a name now, Miss Nadya I will call her, has had death threats. Horrible. Simply horrible. Free country, ha. Anyway, I read that it supposedly costs between 1.something and 2.7 million dollars to raise 14 kids. We are millionaires and didn't even know it!!! Anyway, Miss Nadya will figure it out. People are so short-sighted, worrying about the taxpayers' money. If even half of those kids have the vision and determination that their mother posesses, they will give back to society ten-fold. I read that she was an excellent patient and took very good care of herself. The dr. said that those babies are doing well, even better than most singleton 31 wk . gestation babies. I maintain that no matter how clever people think they are, God gives life. Those babies have been blessed. And besides, controversial beginnings aside, they are now here and alive. I hope they can have somewhat of normal lives. And like my friend Kim said, everybody uses taxpayers' money, whether they realize it or not. Roads, schools, libraries......should people who use the library be shamed if they read more than a book a week? It costs way more for that.....

See, get me tired, and give me a computer, especially when the kids are all in bed, except the incredible Abigail, who studies into the night.....accounting, blah.

I was going to do the "25 random things about me post", but I don't know if I can think of that many....so, since I am still up and it is quiet, I will give it a shot....

1. When I was eleven, I wanted this stray dog up at our summer camp. My little brother and I fed it every leftover we could scavenge from the 'fridge, and told our parents it wouldn't stop following us....they said we could take it home, but we were bringing it the SPCA as soon as we got home, no if and buts about it! We had that dog for 8 years.....

2. None of my kids would be here if I didn't tell a big lie. See, I lied about my age, I was 16, to get into a bar. The legal age was 18 then. In that bar/nightclub, I saw the cutest guy..........met him, danced with him, gave him my number on a napkin.....and voila, here we all are....

3. I am a very picky eater. When I was younger, if I wasted food, I felt so guilty. I do not eat mayonaise, ketchup, mustard, most seafood, most salad dressings, or cheese, unless it is melted and there isn't too much of it.

4. I love beer. Not alot at a time, but I really like the taste of it.

5. I cannot tell my left from my right, unless I think about it, which makes for some funny moments if you are giving me directions while I drive. I used to just look at the hand with the wedding ring, but now I have my mother's wedding band on my right hand....and I swear she is laughing at me when it confuses me so....

6. I am like a rat in a maze when I go to Wal-mart, and especially Target. I always take the same route.

7. I love prams, carriages, strollers, and most baby things, and toys! We have boxes and bins and roomfuls of toys.....barbies, dolls, doll strollers and prams, dollhouses and accessories, trucks and cars, and polly pockets, duplos, legos, waffleblocks, train stuff.....I just plain like toys. Especially the true-to-life toys, or minitures. The more realistic the better.

8. I am a cheapskate. Recently, I went to a small grocery store and purchased five 99cent containers of oatmeal and used a $3 off of 5 coupon. So I paid $2 for five oatmeals. And that made me happy.

9. I like to talk to people I meet out and about. I care about the cashier's son, who had to drop out for a semester to save up some money.......or the other cashier's $2000 per month mortgage on a house which is worth way less than they are paying for it.

10. I love a clean house, but I have not been able to maintain the order and cleanliness since I had just the first seven kids......it started going downhill somewhere around then, with spikes in spotlessness, then back to the new normal, sinking a bit each time, 'til here we are. I need to do so much organizing. But how? When?

11. I have read alot of books about World War two, and it still makes me just feel so thankful for the place I live, and the peace we have. And also so vulnerable with all the kids, that if it was ever like that again, what would we do? (maybe that's why the Nadya S. bashing makes me nervous, freedom and respect are essential in this country)

12. I love to give. If I were rich, I would of course buy a really nice stroller, and a bigger more uncluttered house, but I would give, give, give.....it makes no sense to me, the movie stars and filthy rich, who don't just go around giving money away. Wouldn't that be so fun? I would dress in disguise, of course, and just wait around in the store, and randomly give people huge chunks of cash. But since i am not rich, I still like to give. It is a good way to get rich, actually, since when you give, you recieve.

Well, I give up....I am tired....