thursday morning, where did everyone go???

Joseph and Samuel went on an adventure to the New York State Fair. They brought some of the boys from church. They had some free tickets, and ten dollars, so they packed their lunches and off they went. I was nice and gave them some more money, just in case. Joe is such a good boy, he didn't want to take the money, thought they didn't need it. I told them they had to pay to park, and with only $10, they couldn't even buy an ice cream cone in the dairy building. So they took it, joking that they would instead go to the video game store.

Aaron, Mali, and Margaret went to the mall. Just up and left me. I am here with Kathryn and Evelyn and Suzanne and Sonja and Jonathan and Charlotte Claire and Camille. We are rattling around like peas in a pod.

I bought a fun-pack of assorted Crayola markers yesterday on clearance. There are scented markers and tri-color markers and two-tone markers. We sat at the table and had milk and cookies, then colored on our paper plates. I made some masks for the kids, which Rosie is scared of....change your voice a bit, put on a mask, and Rosie thinks you are a STRANGER. It is too much fun, but I told the kids we really shouldn't do that to her.

Suze got to sleep in my bed with me last night. I had been holding out, telling them no, enjoying having the whole bed to myself....I would RATHER have Paul home, but since he's not...it IS nice to stretch out and hog all the room. Anyways, Sonja slept the night before, last night Suze, tonight Jonathan, then Charlotte Claire....part of me wonders why I started allowing it, but they enjoy it so much. We DO have a super-comfy bed, it is a Sleep-Number bed, with a soft mattress topper on top. Suze thought it was the best sleep....

I think we shall stay home today and clean up, again, Benjamin is bringing his girlfriend over for dinner tonight, along with one of his friends who is leaving soon for college. This friend doesn't have much of a family life, and fits in well here. Our kids just love him. And her.

We have had so much trouble this year with ants.....teeny tiny baby ants. I have ten ant traps hidden on the counter tops, and two hidden on the floor. I think they come from outside and find a place between the backsplash and the counter and I will find a small gathering of them underneath something...so I spray and clean them up....and I spray along the crevice with kitchen-friendly ant spray, which I suspect is also ant-friendly. I hadn't found any in the cupboards since about a month ago...then yesterday, the chocolate donuts...ugh. Covered in ants. So I cleaned out the cupboard thouroughly, plus the one next to it...I didn't see ants in very many things, just a few, but I threw away everything open, just in case. They are dumb ants, and slow moving, thankfully....they didn't get into the cupboard where the sugar is, thankfully....but I cleaned that one out anyway, just in case. I sprayed along the baseboards again, too....like I have nothing else to do.....rr, I really didn't want to do that yesterday before we went for the passports and everything...but then I thought, perhaps God wants to help me clean out the old boxes of baby cereal, now that Camille is almost three....

Yes, life has it's trials. Today's #1 trial is keeping Rosie in the house so she doesn't attack the garbage man. Since he told me he WILL NOT pick up our garbage if THAT DOG is loose, I have been paranoid she will get out and bark at him. And since we still have no dog leash, when I took her out this morning, I kept thinking I heard the truck coming....anyways, when Mali and Aaron left, they left the deck gate open and just the screen door closed in the kitchen...so she escaped. rrr. She went to the neighbors, and I had to go pretend we were going bye-bye, by opening the van doors and calling, "Let's go, Rosie, come on, let's go!" It still fools her, but one of these days she is going to realize that I let her jump in the van, eat a few pretzels from the floor, and drag her into the house. She is sleeping under my chair footrest right now....but I won't relax until that garbage man comes and goes....phew. He just picked up the garbage. Phew.

So now that my #1 trial is over, I can go on my merry way and do the dishwasher and wash some bedding and sweep the floors....Sam mopped the kitchen yesterday, too bad it doesn't last. The kids are getting waffletown out again, and playing Wii. It is nice and peaceful here, there is a good spirit.

I mentioned the other day that Aaron put his Golden Grahams on top of the cupboard to keep them "safe", as in all for him...then he came home with a bag of LittleDebbie Cakes and put them up there. Last night while the kids were coloring, he got them out and passed them out. I was impressed. Yesterday, Suze couldn't finish her Chinese food, so she put a note on it, "Do Not Eat", Suzanne...I cannot blame them, it seems like all I hear sometimes is, "Who ate my...?, Where is my.......? Who took my....?" The bigger picture is that all these things are lessons on learning to live peacefully together, forgiving, sharing, giving, and learning it is NOT the end of the world if someone drinks my last Diet Coke. (yeah, I am learning lessons too...)

Seems I could just go on and on today....but I won't.