our weekend "alone"

With just Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille. Oh, and Benjamin. But he sleeps late, and will go to work at the pizza place....and I don't really have to take care of him, except that he never rinses his dishes...rrr.

I made French Toast and sausage and orange juice this morning, forgetting that there are not over a dozen of us here, we actually had leftovers. Evelyn and I cleaned up the kitchen, Suze swept the living room, I took Rosie out with me while I turned on the pool filter and backwashed it....tied Rosie under the tree in the front yard, and came in...noon, and I am ready for a nap. It is SO hot out there. It is supposed to be 89 today, and it is humid. When people say, "it's not the heat, it's the humidity.", today is a perfect example of that. Yesterday was quite warm, but aside from being directly in the sun, it was very pleasant and comfortable. Today...I am dripping.

But, I am not complaining. I plan on having a real day of fun with the kids today. Right now they are playing dollhouse. We seriously have tons of dollhouse stuff, because I am addicted to toys and have a special fondness for all things dollhouse, and therefore have added to the collection by leaps and bounds through the years....we have a baby grand piano, two barbecue grills, a picnic table, three swimming pools, two pop-up campers, a driving camper, at least a dozen different vehicles, a two boats, at least four houses, bunk beds and tables and chairs, several strollers and babies and a lawn tractor, recliners and lamps and tents and lawn chairs and dressers and...lots and lots of people. And lots of other stuff. Every year I bring bins of it out to our summer conference at church to set up a dollhouse village....

And I plan to take them swimming today, and also on a little adventure. The local Byrne Dairy stores are giving out free 8 ounce bottles of chocolate milk, and serving soft serve or regular ice cream cones for 99 cents today. I figure it is a cheap enough treat. (Recently I had ten children, with me, and one of them suggested we go out for ice cream. The cheapest cone, besides the baby cone, which is around $1.20, is $1.60. Times ten.....too much for me.....) So six kids, Paul and I, 99 cents each, sounds good.

Camille is walking around in one warm pink winter boot, and her cast. Nothing else.

Suze has her dollhouse stuff set up on the kitchen table, with a towel under it and a pitcher of water: she is playing Swimming Pool. Camille is very interested in this....she is joining Suze, whether Suze likes it or not. Jonathan is lying on the floor on the little rug playing with one dollhouse guy on the lawn tractor, steering it around the rug....Evelyn is not doing enough, apparently, because she is harping on Suze about things.....putting different objects into her swimming pool, telling on her for WASTING TOWELS.....

Paul is working on his computer, he does all the paperwork/taxes/bills for our church, and it takes up lots of time.

And here I sit. But today I feel like it's okay, because I have done so much already today....and the kids are fine, they are not wanting more attention. I have settled into a pattern of not doing laundry on weekends, which kicks me on Mondays, but it is so restful. I got the whole couch monster put away yesterday, and while most people see an empty couch as just an empty couch, I look at ours with joy and appreciation.

There are Tiger Lillies in a vase on the counter. I love them. They grow wild along the roadsides, and the kids bring them home to me. I would like to go strawberry picking with them, too, but today is too hot. Tomorrrow will be a bit cooler, maybe then. I have never lived anywhere but central New York state, but it seems to me that we appreciate the nice weather so much because of the contrast with the bitter cold and excessive snow we experience in the winters. This is probably true of all places with such extreme seasonal weather changes. The clouds are rolling in now, I think a thunderstorm is coming in....I love thunderstorms....when I am safe in the house, anyway.

Yesterday while we were in the front yard enjoying the little pool, my sister stopped over on the way home from the small city, with her daughter Ellen and her grand daughter Grace. Ellen is 18, just graduated from high school, and is going to Norway for a year. She wanted to say goodbye....wah. It is all fun and exciting for her, but a year is a long time. With facebook though, it is easy to stay in touch these days. Anyway, my sister stayed for a nice little visit. Her youngest child is 17, so it has been years since she came over for the day for the kids to play together......

I am going to take them for a swim before the storm comes in....