this day just flew by.....

Mirielle just came home from taking Joseph to his driving course. Aaron went along too, to buy some socks for Norway, and a gift for the boy they are staying with. She is paying the parking ticket she got in Delaware, but not too joyfully. It was $1.50 an hour to park, and when she put her ticket on the dash, it blew over, so she got a ticket for an "invisible dashboard stub". Her cousin was in the process of putting money in the meter when the meter guy came along and tried to give her a ticket because she hadn't put the money in yet...she protested, very nicely of course, and they meter guy actually yelled at her and used the BADDEST words. So Mirielle is paying the ticket, but she is also writing some letters.

Anyway, today was a good day, but not without it's trials. (Camille broke a mug, and spilled water in the living room) (and had at least three crying fits, after which she said, "I am not going to cry ANYmore.") I kept my promise about the pool this afternoon, sort of....Mirielle, Joseph, and Aaron, who is done with school except for a few exams, went over to the local strawberry patch and picked 16 pounds of strawberries....so I found myself cutting and bagging....I left lots in a bowl, they ate most of it. Yum. Anyway, I was pretty tired today so I stretched out on the couch 15 minutes before the bus came, and asked them to just give me a few minutes please....well, I gave up pretty quickly. Because apparently, each child has to ask me a question, I have to fall back to sleep after each question, until I give up and just take them swimming. I KNEW I shouldn't have tried to take a nap, but I thought just a little tiny rest....after being outside with the little girls, and vacuuming the whole upstairs, keeping track of Rosie-the-neighbor-visiting-dog, and dealing with Ben things....oh well. The pool is almost all the way clear, which is pretty good considering we don't vacuum it, just use the skimmer to clean things out, and we have a nice strong filter. This is Jon's first year swimming without a floatie, which makes me nervous, but he does well and is the pool's #1 fan. While we were drying off in the sun (my favorite part), Evelyn came screaming into the back yard...she had gone to the neighbors to get Rosie, who escaped from the deck, and she fell in their driveway. Just a skinned knee, but very tramatic to a ten year old. Then after dinner, when we were out front while the kids rode their bikes around the sidewalk and driveway, Charlotte Claire got hit in the head with the handlebars of Sonja's bike as she rode by. These are the things I forgot about summertime...all the injuries. We retired to the house for stories and some ice for her head.....

After dinner we had rainbow sherbet with fresh strawberries....and the older girls left for girls' fellowship, Sam magically remembered he had homework, and I was left with dinner clean up with Evelyn and Suzanne. (Paul worked late) I survived...and now they are all in bed, the little ones, another day is gone....I hope I used the opportunities rightly, and that I got some treasures in heaven.