girl's night out....

Five girls in a row in five years.....when Sonja Kathleen was born, Margaret was five, Kathryn was four, Evelyn was three, Suzanne as 14 months.....now they are 13 and 12 and 11 and 9 and 8. And they are FUN! We went to the drive-in last night, my five little girls and I. Here is Evelyn and Margaret and Kathryn, then Sonja and Suze in front....

Snacks and iced-tea and silliness....we parked the minivan backwards, and brought a few lawnchairs....and some blankets. It was 59 degrees when we drove through the city on the way home. brr. No mosquitoes though, so it was worth being chilly. I hadn't been to the drive-in in years and years and years...perhaps thirty years. I have never taken my kids before, although Benjamin took some of them at the beginning of summer.

We took Paul to the airport...he texted me a few times, to tell me he made it to New Jersey, where he was taking a direct 15 hour flight to Mumbai (which I still call Bombay)....once he told me he was sitting near a newborn, another time he saw a family with five young children and they were all cute. I think he is going to miss us...

At the airport, we had a nice kiss good-bye, and the girls in the backseat were hysterical...they were cheering and hooting....it was Evelyn and Suze and Sonja and Charlotte Claire and Camille.....we said bye-bye to Daddy, then went to the Sonic carwash, which was expensive, but worth $12 because the kids have rarely if ever gone through one, it was like an amusement park ride to them...Evelyn did the sound effects, and Camille's face was just priceless....

Then to Target, so Evelyn could spend her birthday money. She got a nice butterfly chair for her room, and I got her a second one....we got some shorts and tops for 87 cents a pair and swim shorts for Jonathan and more school supplies and a pair of sandals for Evelyn. Then to the grocery store for romaine and a red pepper and some bananas and potatoes and cereal and milk and bread....and snacks for the drive-in. The girls got their balloons and their free cookies.

So now I am the "man of the house" for a few weeks. I hope the teenagers behave, especially Benjamin. (wait, he's not a teenager anymore....and I don't know why I am worrying about him...he was the #1 babysitter last night, he made chicken wings for Jonathan....) I hope none of the appliances break down, or the vans. I hope there are no accidents without Paul's calmness and good sense here. But mostly I hope that whatever happens I can entrust myself to God and take it right!