dreary rainy morning...

My favorite kind of morning. I would like to have stayed in bed, all snuggled up, with a good book. Jonathan was in that same mindset this morning, he did not get up until the last minute, then barely made it onto the bus in time. Poor boy.

The weekend is over, and it was a good one. I decided to take the younger kids to the movies on Saturday, to the "cheap" theater where the tickets are $1.75....the movie, "Despicable Me" was playing...anyways, we would have had to really speed to get there on time, I realized once all ten of us were in the van driving down the road. So I suggested we go to the Chinese buffet instead, and they were jumping up and down in their seats. They were especially lively, my dear children. Kathryn, 12, and Evelyn, 11, sometimes get so silly they cannot even look at each other. Sam likes everyone to behave so people don't look at us, and I must say I am with him on that one...but I have learned to relax a bit, he hasn't. He was trying to keep them in line. I tried to explain to him on the way home that they weren't really being bad, it was just because there are so many of them....mostly they were silly, and laughing and talking loudly. Once I told them all to "shh" just for a minute, and the place was silent. That just made them laugh all the more. I'm telling you, once they all get the idea to make ice cream mustaches, I am doomed.

After a fun and exciting trip through the grocery store with them all for just a few things, we headed home.....Paul and Emily and Abigail and Mirielle and Joseph and Aaron were coming home from the dome, and Mali was there, and Ben came over with Ashley. Paul and Ben watched a football game while the kids ran around and showed off for Ashley, and got some attention from Emily and Abigail....then we watched, "The Cat In The Hat", which the older kids think is hilarious. I wonder if Ashley thinks we are all crazy.

Yesterday after church, Emily took lots of the kids apple picking. They came home with 32 pounds of apples, and Em had one thing on her mind: pie. I was in the midst of making four pizzas, and there was already a considerable flour mess, so what the heck....the girls started peeling apples, Mali made the pie crust, while Charlotte Claire and Camille "cheesed" the pizzas for me, which included stuffing their mouths with as much cheese as they could fit. Emily kept tossing them apple slices too. I had to tell myself that the mess could be cleaned up, just to enjoy the kids. It certainly WAS fun. And the mess...well, it got cleaned up....along with two pans from the ten pounds of chicken wings I made the night before, and the stew pot, and the general dishes just from so many people eating....it seemed like I was in that kitchen all day...but it was good.

It was great spending so much time with Emily this weekend. Abigail, too. They are good girls. 1 John 3:1 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we shall be called the children of God..." I have said this before, but it bears repeating: the sufferings and work and challenges and tears of raising the kids cannot compare with the joy it brings when they grow up and are my friends. I haven't always been the best mother, I cut corners and forget about spelling tests and my towels and sheets are shoved into the closet, very un-magazine like.....my clothes monster on the couch is alive and thriving, and I am behind on just about everything this Monday morning. I don't have a schedule, and my kids don't have chore charts. I am always a day late and a dollar short, but....I am learning. Learning that yes, the place has to have a certain order so that it is pleasant to be here. (and I hate STICKY so, that is taken care of...I just hate sticky. And crumbs...I hate crumbs. I cannot walk in crumbs) Anyway, off on that tangent again...., God has been very good and merciful to me. Because I know the way of salvation. It is the key to everything.

So....I never took pictures on Saturday...I should have. I also should have taken pictures last evening. We didn't have an official sit down Sunday dinner because of pie construction, so when the first pizzas were done, Suzanne made a "restaurant" for the two little girls. She covered their Little Tikes table with a towel, got out some of those battery-operated candles (kids LOVE those things, a great Christmas gift idea...they can pretend with them, or sleep with them...like a night light, right in their beds....our kids like to close all the doors in the hall and make it dark, drag a pile of blankets and some of those candles and play "storm"....)anyways, tangent, Suze served the little girls their dinner and it was picture perfect. They had gone to visit Grandpa and Gramma with Paul earlier, and still had their little matching jumpers on....I thought of taking a picture, but....oh well.

Right now they have their blanket sleepers on and are playing dollhouse. I just made Charlotte Claire laugh because Camille has a dollhouse daddy and a dollhouse mommy, and they are hugging. I told them that I like to hug daddy like that because he is like my boyfriend, and I married him and I love him and I think he's cute.

Does it sound like it is always mayhem in our house? Sometimes it is...but usually it isn't. They aren't allowed to jump on the furniture or slam the doors...and the television is not on very much, only when a specic show is on, not just for background noise...and it is always turned down during the commercials....they are not supposed to walk around and eat, although I do look the other way when the older kids come home from school and storm the kitchen...but it isn't always crazy in here....

Rosie is asleep on my foot, so I have one cold foot and one warm one. Camille and Charlotte Claire need a bath, and want a bath, and need attention, and want attention....