oh, september 11th!

I read the note from Jonathan's teacher to dress the kids in red, white, and blue today to celebrate our country. It seemed random to me. Then this morning I looked at the date, and realized that it is September 11th. I remember how shocking and horrifying that day was, back in 2001. I called my parents after my kids got on the bus for school, as usual. It was my daily ritual, (and I still miss it, but that number is no longer in service...). My mother gave the phone to my father, he told me to turn on the t.v., we were being attacked. I turned it on, and Margaret, who was 4 years old at the time, stood there with me, as I was too shocked to consider sheltering her. As we watched the events unfold, she kept saying over and over again, "What about the kids? Don't they care about the kids? Are there babies? Don't they care about the babies?"....That was an awful time for the people of New York City, and for our country. We heard the stories of the ones who were just at the top of one of the towers the day before, or the one who changed plans at the last minute. Terrorists have had their hearts so hardened, to actually believe they are doing good things by killing innocent people. Unfathomable.

I do not like to discuss politics, so all of that aside, we live in a great country. (a country they should stop ruining....giving away money we don't have, but that is getting into discussing politics).....I do think we should be thankful for our country. When Mirielle flew back from England (I still say they were stupid for rejecting such a wonderful girl), she sat on the plane over the Atlantic next to a doctor from I Taiwan, who couldn't say enough good about medicine and medical research in the U.S. He was visiting for the first time for a medical conference, and he was so excited and full of praise for our country. I think it would be a better place to live if the people who lived here started being more thankful for how good we have it instead of whining about what we don't have. (I don't even want to get into all the horror stories of how far behind some countries are on basic medical treatment...., no I will just change the subject...)

So yesterday we went to lunch with my sister, the birthday girl. It was very relaxing and pleasant and fun. She had two of her lovely daughters with her, Janet who is my Mirielle's age, and Becky, who is my Emily's age. Mirielle and I and Charlotte Claire and Camille went, too. The little girls were good, phew, so that helped make it pleasant. We then went to the dollar store. I got some boxes of granola bars, a few three-packs of socks (I think we should go for the world's record for unmatching socks, it is easier to buy new ones).....then Mirielle and I went to BJ's and bought $259 worth of candy for next week's soccer tournament.


I took the school kids out swimming in the pool, which was pretty chilly, but oh, it feels nice to move and exercise in there....then we went in the hot tub, which was set at 100 degrees. Lovely and relaxing, except I knew I had to get out and start dinner, it was youth meeting night. I put some hot dogs and turkery burgers on the grill, some onion rings in the oven, Mirielle cut up tomatoes and onion and pickles, Margaret prepared some green beans, Evelyn set the table and got a few pitchers of ice water....

After dinner clean up and getting clothes out for today and looking at folders and helping with homework and bedtime stories and a few showers, they were off to bed....except for Camille, who has been taking late naps....she stays up 'til like 10:30, being cute and cuddly and getting into things.

Today, the plan is to stay home. But we might go get some apples at this place that lets you fill a huge paper grocery bag for $7. But we might save that for tomorrow. We DO have to go gets several dozen ears of corn for activity club - they are doing Indian (also known as Native Americans) night at activity club. They are going to soak the corn with the husks on, then roast it in the oven. Mirielle is also making several pumpkin pies today, I told her I want a piece. So after school today, the hunt is on for finding cool Indian costumes. This is their first activity club after summer break ,so they are doing a party with all the age groups together. It is really amazing, this is run all by the youth, (they do run things by the older ones several times a year), but these older teens and younger twenties kids spend their Friday nights making special memories for the children. Abigail, Mirielle, and Aaron do this. All the other ones, down to Jonathan, are in the different groups. So Friday nights belong to Paul and I and Charlotte Claire and Camille....

Yeah, so blah, blah, blah....the house is just as messy this morning as it was yesterday morning, and the only thing I can do about it is get up out of this chair and clean it up, again. It is like the movie, "Groundhog Day", where the same thing happened every single day. I have tried nagging, reminding, scolding, chasing, yipping, yapping, pointing things out, making kids stop what they are doing and pick things up, but there still seems to be a certain messiness that survives here. Benjamin asked me the other day why I bother cleaning it all up everyday if it is just going to get messy again. Good question. Wait, because it would get really really bad if I didn't stay on top of it. So, even though my schedule seems "empty"....I have laundry, and hangers on the couch, and clothes on the couch, and piles of books to put away, and wait: a newspaper to read!