new day....

What's new today? Well, Miss Charlotte Claire is sick. She had a fever last night, so I knew it was coming...well, this morning while the first trip kids were getting ready for school, she came down the hall, went into the bathroom, made it to the toilet, then went back in her room and got into bed...I went in after her and asked if she wanted to come out to the couch. "I think I need more sleep, Mommy..." She is such a little grown-up at four years old. Poor thing. She had her bowl, and her sippy cup of water, and she wanted to stay in her bed.



Sonja stayed home again, she has a sore throat and is hoarse. What, a new sickness? hmm. The other kids went, although I wouldn't be surprised if Suzanne ended up at the nurses' office. It is so difficult for me to determine who is ready to go back to school!

It is snowing again. There is another huge snowstorm on the East coast, this translates to lake effect snow for us. We aren't getting pounded like NYC or D.C., but perhaps four inches. And, it is going to get colder again, in the single digits. The thirty-something degrees yesterday was lovely. My brother said he felt like wearing shorts.

Camille is cuddled up to me. Her cheeks are very pink, she looks like she is sick. I think maybe a fever is coming on for her, too. I sort of hope if she gets sick she gets it today and gets it over with...but since I cannot choose these things....

It is getting time to do some grocery shopping. I have the minivan today, but was planning to do the shopping tomorrow. Ashley has to go in to get her ring sized before it goes down the drain or something. She decided not to go to school with Mirielle and Joe because of the timeframe...she would have three weeks of classes and finals at the time she would be eligible to go and be with Benjamin, as he goes to school in Texas. (she can when he is halfway through the 16 weeks) She only has those eight weeks with him, then we don't know where he will go. So for her to be finishing up a semester while she could be with him was just not appealing to her, and I do not blame her. She will have plenty of time to go to school, right now her whole heart longs to be with her new husband.

We are getting along nicely, Ashley and I. She is a treasure, through and through. Life hasn't been easy for her, but she has no bitterness. Camille sometimes still shouts joyfully, "Ashley's here!" For all the craziness here, she says she is thankful to be here. I think it is evident that there is peace here. Peace which has nothing to do with quietness.

Do I long for summer? Not really. As much as it almost suffocates me to live in here, in this living room for so many hours a day, day in and day out, while it snows and gets colder and colder then colder still, then a few days that go up to thirty, then colder again...it is nice not to have the pressure to always be on the go and outside....but then when I think about those summer evenings when the kids run around the yard, climbing trees and playing badminton until dark...which isn't until after eight o'clock...well, then I do miss it a bit....but overall, I don't mind the "down" time of winter. The cuddling and the being together in here. I have read a few books, and am now thinking of starting a new project: painting the living room again. I hate the color green that we chose for this room. It is ugly and hideous and I do not know why I chose it. I thought it was like this nice pale sage, but no, it looks like the Kmart toothpaste we used when I was little...mint, toothpaste green. blah. And the kitchen could use another coat of English Ivy, which is a pale buttercream yellowish color. I am considering using that color out here, too.

My coffee is almost gone, but there is more in the pot. We are turning into a family of coffee-holics here. I only drink one or two cups a day, some days possibly three, but the kids come from school and put on a pot now. I bought them some decaf, so they make that. I think they just like the grown-up-ness of it, and the smell, and the comraderie that comes with having coffee together after school. (Not the elementary kids, the older ones.) Mirielle has a nice travel mug, I got her a pink one for Christmas so her dad won't steal it...yesterday after she was long gone to college, I found it on the counter filled with coffee...wah. She texted me later that she was so tired, and she had forgotten it. I told her that it made me cry. Well, not all-the-way-cry, but sad....

I have to call the car place today and get that old gold car in to get the steering fixed. They keep telling me it is fine to drive with no power steering...then this morning Joe said casually that he almost hit someone because he couldn't turn...rrr.

Camille is telling me that her belly hurts, and that she is "sick right here, in my belly, Mama!" oh joy oh joy....