The Puddles

World is good.  I can confess that we have been out of milk for three days, but I managed to pick up some today.  Didn’t have time to buy more than that.  Now they won’t take my children away.

Too tired to write more. Must go to bed.  Two games and two parties to go to tomorrow.

Only five more days to go.

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The beginning of all things bad.  It is bound to happen at some point.  Something always goes wrong when Chris goes out of town. So far . . .

1.  A bird flew down the chimney into the house.

2.  The sliding door on my minivan broke.

3.  The kitchen light is on the fritz. (Ben told me that it upset his stomach this morning because of all of the blinking going on.)

Good news . . .

1.  Rosie chased the bird back up the chimney.  It is about time she proved her worth.  At least I think she did.  Heard the bird come down.  Called my Dad.  He said to stick my head up the chimney and close the damper.  Are you kidding me??!!  No way.  When I got back there, the bird flew out of the chimney (very creepy). I went to the garage to get something to get it with (not sure what I was looking for. but the pounding in my heart had to stop before I could do anything.).  When I got back, I couldn’t find it again.  No feather anywhere, but Rosie was staring at the chimney as if her life depended on it (it did.).

2.  I googled my door problem.  Found out the problem.  Fixed the problem myself!  (It was a fuse.)  The world  is good with my door again.  Didn’t even have to call my dad on that one.

3.  The kitchen light has been on the fritz for a few days.  I can’t get the cover off to fix the problem.  My dear neighbor came over to help and he can’t get the cover off.  But guess what . . . if you turn off the kitchen light it doesn’t blink anymore!!!  Problem solved.

Chris called tonight and he was impressed with my abilities so far.  Yea.  He may just leave us at home by ourselves more often!  (Please don’t.)  He is feeling liberated. (The week is not over yet.  Don’t count your chicken before they hatch. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Etc. Etc. Need I say more?)

Only six more days to go . . .

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Sleep was exactly what I needed.  Same for the children.  Ben is already up and dressed.  Madie is singing while she brushes her hair.  And Ainsley  just yelled down the stairs that she found some Princess underwear in drawer and then she said, “Yah hoooo!”  The morning is good.  Time for a cup of coffee before we head out to school.  The perfect way to start a day.

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It is 10:40pm and it is time to go to bed.  Long day of nothing on the schedule but still so much to do.  I think my lack of sleep is catching up to me.  My brain is only working at half speed.  I actually got to talk to Chris.  He sounds good and happy.  Excited about being where he is at.  Awesome.

I fear that we may be coming to the end of goodness in my children.  We are eating dinner and someone hadn’t done her homework (like I asked), someone hadn’t washed her hands (like I asked), and someone sat there quietly hoping I wouldn’t ask him anything.  Tears followed. (It wasn’t the beginning of tears that evening and unfortunately it wouldn’t be the end.) I sent them all upstairs to follow up on everything I had asked them to do earlier (especially the nasty dirty hands.  Gross!).  I stepped outside and called my mom.  Just the medicine I needed.  A good conversation while sitting outside in the beautiful evening weather.  The quiet peace didn’t last very long.  But I managed to put everyone to bed without too much drama.  Now it is my turn.  I really wanted to stay up tonight and try to finish all of my computer work this evening, but my computer is NOT cooperating with me.  I am accepting this as divine intervention.  The world, and my computer, is telling me to go to bed.  I will try to finish tomorrow.

You know that it is time to go to bed when you have desperately tried to caffeinated this evening by drinking large amount of dt. coke and coffee (not at the same time!) and you could still fall asleep while sitting upright and typing on the computer (I could seriously type this entire entry with my eyes clothes and I think that it would be ok.  I am that tired.) Time to listen to my brain and the computer (and my problems are not because it is a mac.  It is the PC world that I am trying to work with.) and go to bed.  Good night.

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Ben climbs into the car after I pick him up after school and says . . .

“Mom, my enemies (a.k.a the girls) think that I like them. But I don’t.  I just laughed at their jokes and now they think I like them.  UGHHHH!”

Oh, boy. This is only the beginning.  Poor Ben.  He sure is adorable!

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Wow. Busy is the word I would use for Tuesday.  4 hours of sleep and then going, going, going for 18 hours.  Long day.  The zoo was so much fun.  Just getting to hang with Ben was a blast.

I have to say that the children are behaving really well . . . so far.  Not too many disaster or none that we can’t handle.  No hospitals. No fire dept. No 911 calls.  The children are relatively fed, bathed, and dressed.  So far, so good.

We all miss Daddy, but our days are so full of stuff that before you know it Daddy will be home.

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So far so good.  Busy and tiring.  It is 1:30am and I’m still cleaning and working on laundry since I will be at Ben’s field trip all day tomorrow and more Girl Scout training all evening (I don’t think it ever ends.).  Still trying to play catchup from the weekend garage sale.  I am so tired that I think the dishes will have to wait until the morning.  I have to have some energy to walk around the zoo all day tomorrow with all the other kindergarteners.  But I am really excited about going.  It is going to be a ton of fun!  Bonus . . .  I get to hang with Ben all day!  Who needs Europe when you have my smiling precious boy telling me the best stories ever all day long!!!

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I am tired.  Down to the bone tired.  We are finally home from the church garage sale where we raised money for the youth to go to camp.  The good news is that we raised all the money ($3400 from the garage sale alone) that we needed for the kids to all go to camp!!!!  The only downside from this experience is that I got to see a side humanity that I don’t care for.  Some of the people who came to buy, just don’t live by the same set of rules (like trying to cheat by switching price tags) that I thought everyone lived by.   But in the end, I am thankful that they came and bought items.  It means that camp is paid for and everyone gets to go!!!  So I just have to keep looking at the positive.

The whole garage sale was a whirlwind.  I was especially grateful for all of the people from church who just showed up to help because they thought we might need it.  I couldn’t believe that people just do that!  Wow.  Truly, they were sent by God because at the moment that they came it was very useful and welcomed.  There were so many people who helped.  Many who dedicated hours and hours and hours to get this project done.  It is so great to work with people like that.

So . . . I am tired. My children are tired.  I was watching Gordon tonight and the only way I didn’t fall asleep was by constantly talking to him.  He was a doll, as always, and he thankfully talked back to me. He knew Aunt Katherine needed the conversation to stay awake.  That . . . and he and I shared some ice cream together (Just don’t tell his mom.).  It is always fun when you get to spoil.

Time to get some rest.  I am rambling.  My kids do it . . . where you keep talking so that you don’t fall asleep.  So it must be time to go to bed.

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I walked outside to find the children sitting on the swing set eating their popsicles.  They were absolutely quiet.  Not a peep.  I could hear the music faintly coming from inside the house, but nothing else.  I asked if the children liked it quiet like this and they just shook their head yes.  For just a moment (or for as long as it took to eat their popsicles) it was so quiet and still.  Not even the birds were talking today.  I guess everyone, including nature, needed some peace and quiet just at that moment.  I think that I will go back outside and sit for awhile with some cold ice tea (my popsicle equivalent) and absorb the quiet.  I think that it will do me some good to fill my bucket with serenity.

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Quote from Ainsley, age 4.

Do you ever drive through your neighborhood at night and see the lights on in the window and wonder what is going on inside?  Drive by our kitchen window on any given night these days and you would see three children and their mom dancing wildly.  Some might think . . . what are those crazy people doing? Are they religious fanatics?  Drugs?  Hippies?  Nope . . . the kids have really taken to turning up the music and dancing each evening.  They take turns dancing in front of the stove so that they can see themselves.  They love it!  But it must look odd to the neighbors.  I don’t care.  I’m here to impress my children and not my neighbors!  So if you are ever in the neighborhood and you catch a glimpse of us in the window . . .

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