when words paint the pictures...

 If my kids didn't mind the intrusion of me snapping pics, or perhaps if I was more motivated to be the pushy picture taker, memory maker...or maybe I'm just lazy.  But part of it is that my kids come over and relax, in comfy clothes, and don't necessarily want to be in the blog.  I don't know why, ha.

So I'll use my words.  Emily, Abigail, and Mariel came over for dinner...the pups LOVE when more people come, bark bark bark, wag wag wag.  Suri especially loves it, more people to pet her.  Margaret and Adrian were here with little Wulf and Tennyson.  Tenny likes to explore.  He likes drawers, and cupboards, and unattended drinks.  He also likes me.  He toddles over, puts his arms up, and how can I not pick him up?

Evelyn came over too, she took Sonja out shopping for a while.  Paul and I, and Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille were here.  So when Ev and Sonja got home, there were 14 of us.  I had plans for pulled pork nachos.  Margaret seasoned up the pork while I cut up red, green, yellow and orange peppers, red onions, and shredded some cheese.

I filled a big bowl with snow from the deck, filled that with cans of seltzers, oh we're fancy, it's like having ice.  (I didn't open the seltzers, just set them in there)

We sat around the table and solved the world's problems.  This picture surfaced recently:

If you look closely, you can see that Emily Anne was holding newborn baby Kathryn Grace.  Abigail and Mariel had matching homemade dresses (how on earth did I find the time?   Little Molly Rose had a homemade jumper on, too)...Benjamin holding Margaret, who was fifteen months old, fifteen months and one day.  Samuel was still two, wouldn't turn three until August (this was March of 1998).   

(Emily 13

Abigail 11

Benjamin 9.   (I had lost a baby at 12 weeks between Ab and Ben, then Ben was born the year after, due exactly the date of the loss, but was born a week early)

Mariel 8

Joseph 6 

Aaron 5

Molly 4

Sam 2

Margaret 15 months...

Kathryn Grace...one day old...)

(So when Benjamin was nine years old, he was the oldest of eight kids...)

(Evelyn was born the next year in August

then Suzanne

Sonja

Jon

Charlotte Claire

Camille...)

(three more miscarriages during, then one after Camille)

(I was a grand old 32 years old!  With ten kids!  After Kathryn was born, I developed a bad headache...which turned into a horrible migraine.  Paul had gone home, I was there with the baby, and my head hurt so badly...I rang the nurse, and asked for something...time passed, I sat there crying, no one came, and I was there with this new baby, this beautiful little girl, but my head hurt.  Finally, the nurse came in with acetominophin or whatever, and I asked her if she could take the baby for a bit, as my head was killing me.  As she wheeled baby Kathryn out in the bassinet, I overheard her say, "What in the H is she going to do when she gets home?  Ten kids!"  I cried even harder, because I was wondering the same thing.

I also wanted to scream out into the hall after that nurse, "EXCUSE ME, I am NOT a big BABY.  I just gave birth with absolutely NO pain meds..! (.but a migraine, oh dear, that does me in)

So THIS is why I love the quiet, and the down time, and sleep.

Anyway.  I had put this picture on Instagram, and it spurred some conversations.  It wasn't always easy for the older kids, it was busy and crazy...Emily used to get a book, and climb a tree.  She also took the kids on adventures, and they loved her so much...she had a following, continuously.   Mariel used to try to organize, make cleaning lists, and get mad when Benjamin and Joseph didn't cooperate.  

Paul expressed how he would like a do-over.  I would also like a do-over.  Wouldn't we all?  We all did our best at the time, but in retrospect, you see so clearly how you would be so much more patient.  I can't say I regret much though, I think ditching the housework for adventures was grand.  

Anyway.  Yesterday after our church meeting, we had lunch together with our friends.  Emily made her amazing butternut squash curry soup, made with coconut milk, Paul and I made stacks and stacks of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  Emily bought the ingredients, and we all gave donations to the youth fund.  It was great fun, and so nice to all be together. 

Today Paul had the day off from work.  He brought the pups and Miss Char on an adventure, a hike on some public land he's scouting for next hunting season.  Jon went to work, Sonja K. to class, so Camille and I rattled around here like peas in a big giant pod.  We did go out on the deck for some 50 degree sunshine, but then when it clouded over, brr.  Yes, I had a tank top and shorts on, I like that sun on the skin.

Paul and Charlotte Claire are home now.  Cam has practiced her violin, and is playing SIMS, Char just made fries in the air fryer.  I have chicken in the crockpot, there'll be chicken and gravy for dinner.  Life is slower now, than it was when we were knee deep in small children, but it does get speeding fast sometimes.  Tomorrow, Anya and Elise will come for a visit while their mama goes for an appointment.  Then, in the afternoon, Miss Anne and Mr. Davian will come for a visit while their mama has an appointment...we are going to set up some trains...:)