to the vet and the store....

Yesterday I made a few phone calls...those calls I knew I had to make but...one call was to the ob/gyn for a "yearly"(ha) check-up. Who on earth wants to go there? Not me. But I made the appointment. After all, my mother had breast cancer in her forties, her mother died of it when she was her thirties, so I suppose I should have a mammogram one of these days. Another call I made was to the vet. Rosie has had yucky stuff in her eyes for a while, and the over-the-counter flea stuff I have been using on her does not work. The vet just happened to have an opening yesterday, so Joseph went with me and helped with the little girls while I managed a spastic Rosie. The parking lot alone was smell-heaven for her. Then the waiting room...oh my goodness, there was a kitten in there, in a cage! A free-to-a-good-home kitten...hmm. Anyway, Rosie was pretty excited to be there. I was nervous. But when we got into the exam room, she loved the vet and her assistant. She sat there and behaved herself while they held the pressure gauge to her eyes, and put tear strips right under her lids, drew blood, gave her a rabies booster, and snipped hair from her ears. They kept saying what a good dog she is, and I was proud of her, but still nervous she was going to get sick and tired of everything and snap at someone.

Joseph waited in the van with Miss Rosie while I took the two little girls into the grocery store for milk. $148 later, we had our milk. Charlotte Claire and Camille walked and held on to both sides of the cart. It seems like just yesterday I had so many little ones in the cart I had no room for groceries....(I see all those infant car seats filled with all those sweet babies, and I want one)

Our dinner was so good last night that some of the kids suggested we just eat it every night. I made up six pounds of taco burger, and served green peppers and tomatoes and lettuce and cheese and salsa and hot sauce and lime tortilla chips and tomato-basil tortilla wraps.....with French onion dip, for those who like sour cream, because it was all we had.

Emily came over last night, but I was a good girl and went to bed by eleven, even though I could have stayed up for hours and talked to her. She works tonight, but then has a few days off, yay! Saturday night we are having a "family party night"! Oh, the hard work and the toil of the early years is nothing compared to the joy and fun we have together these days.

There are trials of course. Yesterday a few of my girls banded together and started acting rebellious towards me, and behaving like all the rest of their siblings were against them. I don't mind so much when they get extremely silly, but this was silliness plus attitude. Bad attitude. They also took off on a walk down the road without permission, and acted like it was no big deal. I separated them and told them no computer for the evening. They both apologized to me later, and we talked about things....they are such funny girls. I hope I gave them the message clearly that we won't tolerate that attitude without dragging punishments on into the next day.

I don't believe in long term punishments. I like to get the message across and give them a chance to put things right as soon as possible and get on with life without dwelling on being grounded or losing computer time. Ma Ingalls used to say, "Least said, soonest mended", and I think that is so true.

And of course the younger ones get tired, and getting them all brushed and cleaned up and read to and cuddled and into bed isn't always smooth sailing. There are tantrums. There is bedding to be changed that should have been changed in the morning, oops. There are things they HAVE to do before bed. There are things they HAVE to sleep with.

Today, the two little blanket jammied girls have decided to play store. I still haven't put all the things away from last time they played. They took pasta and canned soup and sauce from the closet shelves and set up a whole store. I just told them if they want to play store, they have to only sell toys and books today. It is incredible how much just these two can mess this place. I try not to see it just as a mess of course, they are playing and pretending and having fun. And learning, slowly by slowly, to clean up what they get out. It seems like they can take it out WAY easier than they can put it back though....

It is supposed to be extremely warm and humid and nice tomorrow, in the high eighties. Mirielle gets home before noon, so we are thinking of picking all of the kids up early and going to the beach for one last hurrah. If you areone of their teachers and are reading this, just think how much they would learn, being packed into the big van together (learning how to get along) and playing volleyball on the beach and soccer and taking the littler ones to the playground. Diving into the canal and making sand castles and perhaps catching a few fish. Spending time together and with me and getting some delicious and healthy vitamin D filled sunshine....