we are just cookin'

It is going into the nineties today again, and tomorrow too...possibly Friday...and the humidity is oppressive...but Mali had enough yesterday afternoon...she got Benjamin and Joseph to bring up the two window air conditioners and put them in the kitchen and living room windows. We hung a sheet up across the hallway, and cranked them up. It is now in the seventies in here, which is fine and dandy. Going behind the sheet is like stepping into another world,a sticky muggy world, a world we all slept in last night....I am thinking of letting the kids camp out in the living room tonight. With all the fooling around they will do, I don't know if they will actually get better sleep, but it will feel better, and be fun.

It feels like we are stranded here. I recognize that I like to GO places, in this heat I cannot put the kids in the van...

Last night, as I was sitting here finishing another book, hair down and feet up, Abigail brought the girls home from girls' fellowship...Emily and her have two Norwegian girls staying with her, so they stopped in too. Now, I really enjoyed meeting Cecelia and Henriette, they are lovely and very sweet. Their English is excellent, too. But....SHE COULD HAVE TEXTED ME!!! A five minute warning could have accomplished wonders in here....it was hot, we were relaxed, it was too messy....they just stood there looking around.....oh dear, my house is my home and I love it, but when I look around from that different point of view, rats!!! The diaper bag and the guitar case on top of the dog cage....the waffle blocks all over the floor....the couch covers all askew, and a huge pile of towels on one couch...folded, at least....the clothes pile on the couch is very small, but it is there. There are towels hanging around from chair backs, we DID go swimming three times yesterday. A pile of bathing suits graces the kitchen table, they dried on the deck and didn't make it back into the bathing suit basket. And Benjamin had just come home with pizza....anyway, FIVE minutes would have been nice. I didn't say anything to Ab, I think I know why she didn't give me any notice. In her mind, she saved me from fussing. In my mind, I am embarassed. Oh well. Now that they have been here at our worst, they can come back anytime!

Yesterday we all suffered for a while and cleaned the house all up in spite of the heat. I even vacuumed the edges and the stairs and the hallway.....we were so hot when we finished up, I was literally dripping....we spent some time in the pool after that.....then came in for grilled cheese and ice cream cones...today it won't be so challenging to clean up, with the a.c. on....but I still don't feel like it.

I love my kids....last night we sat at the table and colored pictures with some of the 30 cent crayons. Camille can make circles and faces already. She knows all of her colors, and she has a basic concept of numbers, she can count to ten. (I can brag on my own blog, right?) But the best thing about her is that she looks right into my eyes, and says in all sincerity, "I LIKE you, Mommy!" She is still squishy and huggy and her cheeks are chubby and she is our little sweetie. She is growing up so fast and we, especially me, are feeling her babyness slip away....

My goodness, could someone just GIVE me a baby?

One of our friends was looking after her little granddaughter the other day. She was loving it, and as I admired that baby's sweet little bare piggy toes, I wondered out loud if we realized just how blessed we were, back when ours were babies....

I have been enjoying my summer. I like being the "recreation director". Cooking and serving and washing clothes aren't my favorites, and I simply don't love cleaning the house (I don't hate it, but it is so repetitive, it doesn't STAY clean long enough to ever feel like I accomplished anything)....but being the R.D. is fun. We want to go see a movie one of these days at the cheap theater, and going to the drive-in is also on our minds. Emily is taking the Norskies to a big mall in the big city on Friday, I thought maybe I could take these guys there....we want to go back out to the camper, too, when it cools down a bit. And I have to go shopping and buy TONS of candy for the candy store at our church summer conference. Plus lots of drinks. Plus the stuff for Children's Day, I do the cookie decorating table.

I miss Mirielle and Aaron and Samuel....three kids in other countries....wah. Mirielle is coming home for a week near the end of July though...I cannot wait. Aaron and Sam will home a week or so after that. In August we are going camping for nine days, hopefully there will be a time that everyone is there at the same time.