monday monday...

Monday morning. Just that combination of words conjures up quite an unhappy image. But this is the day that the Lord has made. I am saying that by faith. Camille is coming down with a cold. She woke up no less than 20 times last night. Each and every time I got up out of my cozy bed and picked her up and hugged her and put her back in. I told her to go to sleep, not to keep getting up. She would lie down happily...only to wake again in a little while. Ouch. It felt like torture. So, I got up this morning, got the puppy-doggy out of her cage and out the door, cleaned up the inevitable dribbling of pee, as Rosie is so excited to see me in the morning, and started to make some coffee.....as I looked around the house, I second guessed my brilliant plan: to have the older kids spackle and paint the living room and kitchen, and stairway and hall. What was I thinking? Since they operate on a different schedule than the younger kids and I, they did most of it after I was in bed last night....all the furniture is moved from the walls, there are spackle spots all over the walls...and the floors where the furniture was moved.....pennies, dust, hair ponies....the desk in the kitchen has not been moved in - hmm - years? Two years? Anyway, it looks awful in here....all the curtains down and pictures off the walls, piled on a couch and on the kitchen tables....the thing is, just yesterday I decided I need to do more around here, I am the mom, I am NOT on vacation, I need to just plain do more. But today that doesn't show at all.......

We did have a good day yesterday.....Mirielle picked blueberries with four of the little girls. Then we had a rainy afternoon Starbucks party. Suze took orders, we could choose from two different iced coffees, or two hot drinks. I chose the hot chocolate. Because Mirielle was the "barrista" and she makes a wicked hot chocolate. Aaron was running the espresso machine, steaming milk....we had real whipped cream....it was very nice....we also went around the table and said what we were thankful for....here is Mirielle (she might kill me for this, so if you never hear from me again, that is what happened).... Aaron, (standing), and Evelyn, Kathryn, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, Sonja, and Suzanne on the other side of the table near Aaron....

I did not take this picture...I am guessing that Evelyn did....it is her, and Suzanne in the background...

This picture is for my Joseph, who is far far away in Norway. Isn't Rosie getting huge? She is chewing on a monkey toy....

My baby, Camille, with Suzanne. Camille is 21 months already. I love her to pieces....

She also loves me. She loves me way too much sometimes. The others try to do something for her like, say, change her diaper, and she says, "No, Mommy do it!"....I am flattered, but I am a bit busy right now, do I HAVE to do it? I had to sneak out the door to go for my walk yesterday...Yay for me, two days in a row. It is a pathetic walk, one mile, but in my defense, one hilly mile! I seriously felt like I had run the marathon when I got back....Sam went with me, and we had a plan...he went in the front door and got my bathing suit, I met him around back and changed downstairs...and sneaked into the pool. Without Camille finding out. After I skimmed the bugs and cooled down, some of the kids started finding me, and soon the pool was full of kids. Including Camille and Charlotte Claire....the water was chilly, so we wimpily warmed up in the hot tub, which almost put me to sleep, then it was in the house to make dinner.....I did a different kinds of dinner. I took out some leftover hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, rice, meatballs, and had the kids get a plate, choose their food, and I microwaved it for them and brought it to the table......I also served green beans.....just to be healthy.

Well, I need to move it move it. The puppy is in here again. She seems like a herd of elephants sometimes. She is tired though, and is resting comfortably on the floor with her head on ONE OF MY COUCH PILLOWS! She is a brat.

I need to move, really. I am supposed to go apply for a passport today...yes, I might be going on a trip!!! And Mirielle is applying for a visa...she has big plans, too.....but it is going to be 90 degrees.....it is already oppressively warm in here......my poor body does not want to comply today.....should I take all of the kids in the big white non-air-conditioned van and maybe make a stop at a park with a swimming area? hmm. I love unplanned adventures....I just have to wake up the older kids and see what the consensus is.....