just wait!

 Just wait 'til they're teenagers.  See, way back when, a long many years ago, I had a tie-breaker baby.  Yes, we had four boys and four girls. (Emily, Abigail, Mariel, Molly)(Benjamin, Joseph, Aaron, Samuel)...then came Margaret, the girls were in the lead!  Little did we know, Margaret was to be the first of the five-girls-in-a-row, in five years!   (We actually had stillborn baby Robert when Margaret was still in Kindergarten, then Jonathan was born eleven months later, but that's another story for another day)

Anyway...those five girls were little and sweet and I got to dress them all alike, I got to hear how awful it was going to be when they were all teenagers.  

Truth:  There were days.  I remember the feeling of relief when I realized we were all on the same monthly schedule...because that explained a few things, we just weren't all coming down with rabies.  yes, there was some snarling.  Girls are besties but oh dear sometimes those claws would come out.  They loved to share but also didn't love when someone helped themselves, so we had our dramas.  The days are long but the years are short, so now we find ourselves looking back on those teenage years, as the youngest of them is turning twenty next week.  They'll be 25, 24, 23, 21, and 20. (Robert would be 19, Jonathan is turning 18, Charlotte Claire is turning 16 in May, and Camille will be 15 in November).  So when Sonja turns 20, I'll only have three teenagers in the house!  

With Kathryn in town, they decided to all get together last night, the five-in-a-row...

Margaret, Kathryn, Evelyn, Sonja, and Suzanne...(Ev holding Kathryn's baby Rhys) (Sonja and Suzanne should switch places, but Wulf took the picture, he did a good job!)

I spent a good part of the day at Ben and Ashley's yesterday with Anya and Elise.  I made them oatmeal for brekky, we played two huge games of UNO!, we played Paw Patrol, and I danced with Elise while Anya read "Anne of Green Gables".  We painted a wood pizza, and went outside and played pirates.  Their mama and papa and baby brother came home, and I got to hold baby Declan!

He's big and small at the same time.  I would have stayed all day and snuggled him, but his mama needs her rest.  I said my goodbyes to the sweet little girls and headed home...

Molly and Josh came for a visit with their chocolate Lab pup, and Lydia and Ophelia.  We had the little pools on the deck, and the sandbox open, so they joined in the fun...

Achilles in the pool...

Give kids a hose on a warm day, they'll be set.  

We had instant pot beef roast with gravy, potatoes, carrots...I've found if I put the carrots in there on top, whole, and the potatoes too, they get so tender yet don't fall apart and turn to total mush.  

It's a cooler rainy day today, after two brilliantly sunny and warm days, but that's okay.  We certainly enjoyed the warmth.  

This fine morning, Kathryn and I are going to pack up Achilles and Rhys and go to Aldi, we need bread and orange juice and coffee cream, and diapers.  Molly wants to come too...

The years of raising small children are already blurry in retrospect, but it does come back to me with the grandchildren.  I want to support and encourage the mamas, it's hard work!  Just being available, on duty, 24/7, responsible for these precious little ones straight from heaven, who have strong wills and more energy than mamas ever have...it's amazing but tiring.  

I'm so thankful for my lot in life.  So very, extremely thankful.  My kids have grown up to be my friends.  

Update:  Paul's foot is going to be okay...he did go to Urgent Care yesterday and have it fixed up, it was too late for stitches, but they cleaned and bandaged it.  Never a dull one, I tell you...