hump day bump day...

How can one be surrounded by chaos and kids day in/day out and not be at least a little bit crazy? Yesterday I had some time off.....

We needed food....so I called my sister-in-law.....they also needed food at their house. So....I left the two little girls here with Mirielle and Ashley, because Miss Camille wasn't well enough for an adventure. Kim left her two little ones home with their older sisters, and off we went...the two of us rattling around in that great big 15 passenger van like peas in a pod. We had plenty of room for the things we bought at Wegmans, Target, and Price-Chopper. We also took advantage of being kidless by having a yummy little lunch at Wegmans....they have a "wokery", and the Chinese food is pretty good. Pretty expensive though. ouch. But we had small portions (it is sold by the pound), and ice water with it....and we relaxed.....at Price-Chopper, there was a coupon for six free donuts...the cheapy-cake-kind....well, there were none on the shelf...and I overheard a lady asking about something and being told to just take six from the case...so I wandered over and asked the bakery man..and he directed me over to the case to pick out six...wow! Six really nice FREE donuts! After packing all of our groceries into the van in the freezing cold, we went through the McD's drivethrough and got two large hot coffees for the long ride home...and yes, we each had a donut. The remaining four I gave to my niece when I dropped Kim and her groceries off at her house. (it is rather cruel to give four donuts to a child with eleven siblings....)

Home with the groceries...the girls were leaving for girls' fellowship...Paul was making dinner. Rats, I was hoping they had already eaten...(I wasn't very hungry, for some reason....)

It was nice to sit at the table with ten of them, anyway. Eating together is a good way to hear about each other's day, and hopefully teach some manners along the way....

One child missed the bus this morning, one Miss Sonja Kathleen. There were many reasons for this, and she almost could have made it, but she was only two spoonfuls into her bowl of Reeses' Puffs, and she had no socks on yet....the stupid bus came five minutes early. rrr. Sonja looked at me with that caught-in-the-headlights look, so I just said, "you can just stay home." Jonny was protesting loudly that that was NOT FAIR as he headed down the deck steps.

Aaron has a dr. appointment this afternoon. I have to go pick him up at school....blah. He has to go the ear/nose/throat dr. about his allergy tests, and to have a CT scan of his nose for the surgery. I don't mind though. I have enjoyed his appointments because it gives us some time together. He is eighteen years old, he goes to school and works, and I don't just take time with him for granted.

When kids are little, their mommy bathes them...then showers them, at least here. My girls are growing up...Jonathan is only six, but he takes his own showers already...the girls need help with their hair sometimes, but sometimes do it themselves, Suze and Sonja...Evelyn has been on her own forever now....and I realized that I miss it....it used to be such an ordeal, showering like seven or eight kids in a row....I would have the stack of towels ready and the water on, calling the next one in as I finished one up....but I always talked to them while washing up their hair, and now I am seeing that like all things, this is passing....I still have the two little girls...okay...maybe I am overly-sentimental, but it is just that I enjoy the little moments with the kids. Teenagers and adult kids are wonderful too, but the little ones....they are just precious.

That doesn't mean I love the laundry that comes with the territory. Today I am going to do load after load and make a dent in it.

Yesterday, Samuel picked up the livingroom without being asked. He was prompting his sister to help, and I heard him say to her, "You know, you don't always have to do just the bare minimum. It doesn't hurt to do a GOOD job..." wow. He IS listening to me.

Happiness is reaching for my coffee cup and finding there is still lots in there, and it isn't ice cold yet.

Happiness is seeing Miss Camille first thing in the morning with her sleepy face and footy jammies on.

Happiness is having lots of stuff in the 'fridge, and knowing what is for dinner (roasted chicken, potatoes, and carrots)

Happiness is knowing you took care of some phone calls that have been niggling.

Happiness is having Sonja home from school because of the excitement of Charlotte Claire and Camille when they found out.

Happiness is sitting here with the dishwasher already humming, and the livingroom looking good, thanks to Sam and Evelyn.

Happiness is the absence of a Clothes Monster, although Sonja's school clothes are now there.



I want to re-do my main bathroom. It is stuck in the eighties. The paint is a rosy pink, the floors (which will stay) are really nice, my late brother Billy put tile in, slate blue and really nice....and the countertops are burgundy...the mirrors are Victorian-like, and the fabric outside shower curtain is blue with roses and pinks.....it WAS nice, but after a while it starts looking...old and tired. So....the floor is staying, the countertops are staying....I am thinking to paint the walls a grey/blue,...I don't know. But I did buy new mirrors yesterday....they were marked down to $7 something each....I almost bought a shower curtain, but realized that I hated it and shouldn't buy it just because it is cheap....

And like I tell my kids, I have not forgotten about painting their room, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I am going to buy the spackle one of these days, perhaps even today! I know they are getting tired of hearing this....but it WILL get done.