global warming?

Not here in Central New York. Nah. It is in the seventies, sunny, breezy, and delicious. Absolutely beautiful. And I am fully enjoying it. We stayed home today, my kids and I. We played with the hose, we had waffles, we played with Rosie, the kids played Life, read library books, we went in the hot tub....which, for the record, is wonderful when the water temp is 100, and the hose is in there with cold water. You can get drinks from the hose, and cool down a bit as you sit in the warm water. I did scream a few times as I got ice cold water in the face.....that is one nice thing about living out in the country...we have a deep drilled well, and the water is ice cold.

I made chocolate chip cookies today. Only a double batch. 'Cause I don't want to eat too many cookies. I am making pasta bow ties, corn, and leftover chops, cut and sauteed with red peppers and onions for dinner. Paul is stopping to visit his mom after work, so I decided to take a little break and write a post....who am kidding, my whole day has been a series of breaks. I read my book for a while this afternoon, after the hot tub, while Camille napped, and Charlotte Claire conked out on the couch. Jon and Sonja played Life, which was pretty funny background noise. I got pretty sleepy, probably from the warm water, so I stretched out on the couch and fell asleep aproximately 150 times. Do Jon and Sonja know how to whisper? Did someone HAVE to call Margaret? (she got home this afternoon, but Abigail is still gone...)

See, I have it made. I get to stay home with the kids. Equality, women's lib, whatever, I like being able to stay home and be a mommy. Sometimes I feel guilty because Paul is SUCH a nice guy. He is so responsible and hard-working. He gets up and goes into work day in and day out, to provide for us. And all I do is get as much sleep as I possibly can, and spend all the money. Oh, and take care of the kids. Oh, and once in a while I clean up the house. Nah, I do some cleaning every day....just not enough. And I suppose I do manage to get a meal on the table, and all the money I spend is on food, and on the kids. I do get a shirt once in a while, but mostly I don't buy anything for me except strollers...and I don't buy those anymore. And I always used my own money. Mostly.

But, I do have it made. I am fully aware of that, and I don't take my life for granted. I may not be young and beautiful, or thin and rich, but I am happy. I love Paul, he loves me, we have lots of fun, our lives are busy and crazy, and good. And, of course, the reason for all this is God. He has called us, chosen us, and blessed us. He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Jesus was annointed with the oil of gladness because "He loved righteousness and hated iniquity"....oh, I won't get preachy here, but God has been good to us......

So, the playground has been put off until tomorrow. Or should we go to the beach? hmm. See, I am a spontaneous person. I absolutely love it when the slate is blank, and we can just say, Hey, what should we do? This summer has been particularly fun because we don't have the dissenting voices of the older kids. Don't get me wrong, I love them and miss them, but I do not miss their opinions. I feel like the grand queen of the kids again. The younger kids are so much fun, they are game for all my ideas.....they don't ask me questions like, "How long are we going to stay?", or "Do I HAVE to go?"......

So, I am going to call my sister-in-law and see what adventure we can cook up. She has 12 kids, and I have 8 home (besides Ben), so that makes 9 including me, so she can bring up to 5 kids and we will fit in the big van. But if she has 6 she wants to bring, we can always squish in an extra....hopefully she can get out of her chauffer duties for the day....