good morning....

This morning, the kids got ready very nicely for school. They had toaster pastries and milk, Jon took his shower like a champ. He is excited that Mirielle is picking him up from school today, but does not realize that his sisters are getting picked up by Emily. I am proud of them that they decided not to tell him, they don't want him to be sad...by the time he finds out, perhaps he will have had fun with Mirielle and won't be so upset.

Today is chilly, and the rain is moving in. Lots of dark cloudy rainy weather. I love it. I am glad I am here in the house with no plans to go out and about. Mirielle is planning to make lasagna for dinner, when she gets home from classes, and I am thinking about doing some organizing....

Busy times are coming! This weekend...phew. Tomorrow night, Activity Club starts for the kids ages 5 and up, at church...our older kids are all involved too, leaders and such. Saturday and Sunday we have the bi-annual soccer tournament, this time with a Music feast on Saturday night. Our younger kids will be in the children's choir, and some of the older ones are in the jazz band. As usual we will be running the candy store/grill, plus: we have committed to running a concesssion stand for the Carrier Dome for the football season. Saturday there is a football game, so 21 people have to be there for that while the rest of us run the grill, watch the soccer, get our kids ready for the music feast, and serve a roast pork loin dinner for almost seven hundred people. By the way: our group numbers about a hundred, including children. So it will be challenging. Paul will be part of the group going to the dome, so I am trying not to feel overwhelmed with how busy the day will be. I know if I just take it one moment at a time, it will work out. And the whole aim is to have fun and fellowship and be together to be strengthened in our faith. Besides, I LOVE being the candy store lady. All those cute kids....I like seeing them time and time again and watching them grow. Oh, the stories I could tell...about when they buy things for their friends, or give to another child who doesn't quite have enough, or come back to tell me I gave them too much change. Lots of them just like to talk, too.

So tomorrow Mirielle and I are planning a small shopping excursion, we need to get four cases of water for the grill. And some bread and grapes and things for us. Mirielle has volunteered to pick up the donuts I ordered for Saturday's dessert. When we were asked to do dessert, being so swamped this weekend, we decided to do something simple. Donuts! Donuts for seven hundred people! I was shocked and impressed when the Price Chopper store I shop at agreed to have 55 dozen of assorted donuts baked and frosted and boxed up for me on Saturday morning, for FOUR DOLLARS A DOZEN!!! There are more people coming now than we had planned for, so we need to go to another store and get four more dozen, too.....I am very partial to donuts, so this sounds heavenly to me. By the way, Samuel didn't have a donut last night after dinner because he was full, not because I wouldn't let him....then when he wasn't full, the box was empty. So I am getting him a donut tomorrow....

It is so pleasant in here right now...I have one more drink of coffee in my cup, but Paul made a pot, and there is more in it....I am sitting at the desktop, looking out at the pear tree. Rosie is lying on one of my feet, so I have one warm foot and one cold foot. The two girls are both up now, and are watching Superwhy on public television. They are cuddled under blankets. It is quiet and cozy.

I do think I will take a small nap today. I stayed up til the wee hours with Miss Emily last night. She is such a good girl. We solved all the world problems, and before she left she gave me a nice hug. She also told me that if I decided to babysit a child or two, they would be very lucky kids. I was oh-so-happy. We aren't a mushy family, but a compliment from your oldest is quite special...I mean, she was my experimental child. The one who had to sit at that table until her juice was gone. The one who went in for a nap whether she wanted to or not. The child who learned to read and tell time before kindergarten even started, who wasn't allowed Barbie dolls or television. (We didn't buy one until she was 13 years old).....I thought I had to win every battle back then, didn't know so much about letting things go, and seeing the bigger picture. Thankfully I always liked to stop and smell the roses and I liked to read...I would read those kids just stacks and stacks of books, cuddled up on the couch....and thankfully, by seeking God and His wisdom, little by little I became more flexible and aquired a little more discernment about what things are really important. She just remembers that she had a wonderful childhood, climbing trees and going on adventures and playing "cabin in a storm" in the corner of our living room....they were talking last night about when their cousins would come over and they would play "Scary Game", or what I referred to as "Screaming Game"...some of them would hide in the rooms downstairs, and the rest of them would run down the hall, in the pitch dark, and the hiding ones would jump out....so basically it was like an hour of non-stop screaming and screeching at the top of their lungs, while my sister and I sat up here with our littler ones, wondering how long we should let them do this. And being thankful we don't have close neighbors. This did not happen just once, it happened every time their cousins came over. This, and the plays they used to put on....especially after we got that video camera...oh my goodness, they were hilarious.

Oh well....we do have a lot to talk about when we stay up late....and of course for Emily, it is not late, her schedule is backwards....

And now I have to get breakfast for Miss Camille, who "wants cereal, right now!"