happy mama's day, and happy Monday...and happy to be home day....

 

Paul and I with fourteen of the kids, taken last summer...Suzanne and Aaron were in California...

Paul and I with all of them, a few years back...

Paul with the boys...

Me with the girls except for Miss Suze, who was stuck in Cali...

With Miss Sonja K.....we were going out and about, and oops, we were dressed like twins!

We had a very nice weekend...my sister and I shared a hotel room, so that meant staying up pretty late.  Of course we had to go to the ice cream place, owned by a small dairy, ice cream made fresh, oh my goodness...

I had pumpkin, and a scoop of raspberry, Cheryl had just pumpkin...it may or may not have been the second time we went in the two days we were there...I'll just say the mint chocolate chip is pretty good too.

Today, I have to bring a check to the collision center, and go pick up some things to celebrate Miss Charlotte Claire's fifteenth birthday.  I put pork in the crockpot with ginger, sesame seed oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and some dark brown sugar on top.  We'll make some fried rice, some veggies, and I'll get the girls some sushi.  

Tomorrow is her real birthday, but I have jr. activity club, and they have dance practice, so we'll do a little something tonight.  I'll take her shopping one of these days to get her a gift, she wants new sweatpants.  I do have a few things for her tonight, too.  

You never want a child to sense that it's another birthday, ugh.   It's not really like that, but I do run out of steam, and I don't want to!   I am just as excited for the 8th birthday of the year as I was for the first!   Evelyn is such a good big sister, she was here last night, and she is planning to visit this evening, to make it fun.  

Char is turning 15.  We know what teenagers are like, I happen to appreciate and enjoy them...they are predictably unpredictable. 

Charlotte Claire in the red Converse, Sonja K., Evelyn, Camille....

Jonathan is having trouble fixing his car.  He got the new clutch, then discovered another part has to be replaced, it's like $400 something at the auto parts store, so he bought one from Ebay for $60, and it'll be here next week.   He wasn't under the illusion that it'd all be a piece of cake, and he's learning amazing things...

Ah well...I love going away, love those road trips, but I love love love coming home...Paul had flowers on the counter, and I got the new glass/brass pour-over that I bought myself for Mother's Day, and...Paul bought me a new garbage can, as the old one was cracking along the top edge.  The old one had a dome top with a nice sliding opening, the new one has a dome top but a swinging opening, which doesn't make sense, because it'll swing right into the garbage, because we all know that we fill that can to the absolute brim, scrunch it down, and fill it some more, before we take it out...  So, although I was pleased with the gesture, and the color, it's light gray, the old one was navy blue...I don't like the style, and stupidly muttered, out of his hearing but within Sonja's, that I should have bought the one I wanted before he bought this.  It sounded so unthankful and rotten, and Sonja got upset with me, I was upset with myself, because who wants to be unthankful and rotten?   The old top is still outside, Paul told me later, if I want to put it on and use it, it's more practical.  Um, a light gray can with a navy blue top?  Oh, my life!!!!