saturday with lots of kids...

Well, I should say lots of YOUNGER kids. Paul, Emily, Abigail, Mirielle, Joseph, Aaron, and Mali are all at the Carrier Dome doing fundraising work at a concession stand at a college football game. I am here with Samuel, 15, Margaret, 13, Kathryn, 12, Evelyn, 11, Suzanne, 9, Sonja, 8, Jonathan, 6, Charlotte Claire, 4, and Camille, 3.

On Thanksgiving night, we went around the table and each said what they were thankful for, and what they wanted for Christmas. Both Aaron, 17, and Evelyn, 11, asked for twin babies siblings. I told them to ask God, not me.

It is sunny and cold this morning, with snow on the deck and a dusting in the yard. I think I probably should get the winter stuff out today.

Our living room is a giant playroom. Why oh why does it bother me? It doesn't bother anyone else. Jonathan has his Thomas train track set up now, plus half of his Hess truck collection scattered around....we assembled a new computer chair, they cannot part with the box because it is way too much fun to play in. Of course the dollhouse stuff is out, not too much but there is a giant camp site set up. And the Little Tikes tractor trailer is here, then two guitars are sitting here, plus a three foot long firetruck in the door way of the kitchen. In the kitchen I see a dolly in a carrier bed, adndtwo sit'n spins. The couch monster is gone, but there are three or four items on the arm, it is trying to revive....

We might wrap presents today. We might make Christmas cookies. We are going to make our pizza for dinner. I would like to decorate for Christmas a little, it is so much fun. (see, this is one of those things where my selective memory takes over and I forget about how it REALLY is....) I also want to do fun things with these guys, I don't like to see them must play Wii and SIMS all day. (at least Wii is better than watching the Saturday morning cartoons...blah, I cannot stand when kids just sit in front of the tv....that is perhaps why my living room is full of toys...)

We heard from Benjamin again last night. Since he isn't officially in Basic yet, he still can use a phone to call home when he has time off. He is still in a processing center, he said 300 more guys arrived yesterday. He misses us but says mostly it is because he isn't really doing anything yet.

Paul is leaving on Monday for Boston, he will get home on Friday night, then we leave in the wee morning hours Saturday for the Dominican Republic. When we get home from there, there will be only two weeks 'til Christmas! That's why I feel more pressed to get things done now.

Not to beat it with a dead horse, as Mirielle would say, but I am so so excited about our trip. And I am letting myself be, because, WHY NOT? It is half the fun, the looking forward part. The beach is supposed to so very nice, with fine sand and no rocks, the water clear and warm. The chairs around the pool are the comfy ones with cushions, and there are real beds on the beach and near the pools. Aah, a nap in the shade with the ocean breeze blowing. I can't believe that it is really ME that is going. These things do not actually happen to me. I feel like I am an imposter, a lady dressed up as a Carribean Tourist. (in super duper clearanced Carribean Tourist clothes) Especially now that we are staying in this upgrade hotel. The people writing reviews about this place complain about things like a few pieces of fuzz on the hallway carpet. Snobs, I tell you. One lady said she walked over to one of the less classy hotels, and felt very snobby because "the Grand" is so much nicer. I don't belong in a hotel with a butler in a white tux bringing room service anytime of the day. The butler also will
draw" a bath every evening, complete with rose petals and lit candles and a bottle of champagne or wine. They bring chilled towels to the poolside, along with fruit on sticks, and drinks...you can also request to be misted with cool water. ha, is all I can say. I would rather stick my head in the toilet than have a strange man spray water over me. Anyway. This whole thing seems unreal. I looked it up, and this hotel they are upgrading us to is at least a thousand dollars more than we are really paying. The other ladies there probably wear pearls, and probably did not stand in line on Black Friday waiting for Kmart to open, to get a few $19.99 coats for their teenagers. They probably don't order from the dollar menu, because they probably don't go to McDonalds. They probably don't drive 15 passenger vans, and they probably aren't thankful for snow because it covers up the toys in the yard and makes it look nice.

I do not own a watch anymore. My last watch, I left at the Rec. center when I went for a swim last winter. The one before that, which was a really pretty gold Timex....I got into the pool and realized I had it on, so I took it off and tossed it on the grass next to the fence...when I got out and searched, it was nowhere to be found. I am convinced that Rosie ate it. If she did, I didn't want it back after...never mind.

Anyway, the other Hotel Ladies probably wouldn't agonize about whether to spend $8 at BigLots for a watch to wear on vacation....I use my cell phone for a watch now, so I can live without the wristwatch here....Paul says we do not need to know what time it is anyway when we are there.

Oh well....kids are up and they want to talk to me.....I miss having a baby....would someone please just give me a baby?!