they all went to school....

This is the face of tired. And this was last night, when I wasn't actually that tired yet, compared to today....

Camille's braids, courtesy of one of her sisters... digital cameras have been very useful. If we want to know what our hair looks like from the back, we can just have someone take a picture. No need to do that hold-a-mirror-behind-the-head trick.....sometimes when I do different styles on the girls, I will snap a picture so they can see...

The new teaset was for either a birthday or a rainy day. Last night was my rainy day. With Charlotte Claire feverish and wanting me, it was nice to have Miss Camille totally involved with something....they played with this for hours. This is proof that Jon used my camera....

Stine with Camille and Charlotte Claire...I miss her already.

Well, almost all of the kids went to school. Sam stayed home because his class is in Washington DC. Margaret elected not to go on the bowling field trip. But all the little ones went. Sonja and Jonathan needed showers, Jon wanted to pack his lunch, Sonja didn't like the skirt I got out for her, she said it was too small (it was), so I got a different one, (I try to remember how I feel when I wear something I am not comfortable in, but sometimes I feel like I spoil them rotten). Suze didn't want her shirt because it too was too small....and everyone wanted different things for breakfast....so I just put my foot down and said either yogurt or cereal or both...not toast or bagels today. Time was ticking. I am thinking I need some new clothes for Suzanne and Sonja. One would think they have plenty of hand-me-downs, and they do...but shirts especially don't look very nice passed down. And they are growing so fast, they are out of all the 6x and even a lot of 7/8 s and into 10/12..... my kids don't actually "go without", they get things when I can get them cheap. Sonja wore her adorable brown suede boots this morning. It is almost spring and they are brand new. Like Laura Ingalls Wilder said in the book, "The Long Winter", "The rich get their ice in the summer and the poor get theirs in the winter.." (We get our boots in the spring and our new bathing suits in the fall)

After they went out the door, since the little girls are still sleeping, I gathered my things. My computer, my cereal (frosted MiniWheats with just a few Lucky Charms on top), my coffee, the morning paper, my cell phone, the regular phone...and a warm blanket, it is chilly in here. And here I am. Rosie is in her cage, I put her in there every morning before the bus comes so she doesn't escape the house and try to herd the poor bus. The washer is running, the dryer is running, and I am not running.

Benjamin has a lot of energy sometimes and last night he swept and did the dishwasher and washed some dinner pans...yay! It makes the morning so much brighter with things like that done.

Anyway, here I am, tired and happy. Tired because I am stupid. Yes, I am stupid. I stayed up last night watching basketball, and until Paul and the kids got home from their fundraising....they got home I think at almost one o'clock. They told me a little bit about how their night was, then said goodnight. But did I get my rear end out of this chair and go to bed? Well.....I was half-way through a book I had started when the basketball was on. I don't like to do just one thing, so I always have the computer or a book or the newspaper when I watch something on tv. So...I thought I would just read another chapter or two in the delicious quiet....but I am stupid, and I haven't learned yet about consequences, like when you stay up 'til 4:00 am finishing a book, you will be tired in the morning. And the frustrating part is that the book is lousy and stupid. I told Aaron this morning how late I had stayed up, and he said, "Oh, I read that book last summer....it was stupid." Yeah, I could write better myself. It is almost like the guy hatched a plot, and just vomited out the story. But who stayed up and had to find out how it ended? Stupid me.

If I had gotten in bed at four and slept until seven, it wouldn't be to awfully bad, but Little Miss Sunshine, Camille-who-really-needs-to-move-out-of-our-room, woke up three times. Three times between 4 and 7. rrr. I tried to call out from my comfy bed that it was all right, just go back to sleep. But she wouldn't go for it...and since Paul was probably pretty tired too, I didn't want her to really start crying.....so up I got up.

And the moral of this story? Some people never learn.