going to a fun pool!

My boredom didn't last long, and yes, it probably is because my sister, my only sister, my bestest friend (well, along with Kim), is half a world away in Norway....I am glad she is having a good time, we will have go out to lunch when she comes back so she can tell me everything. And hopefully she will tell me soon if I am picking them up from the airport, and what day and time....and hopefully she remembers that my birthday is coming up and all I want is a European doll pram....ha.

Today we are going to our friends' house to swim in their pool. Their pool has a diving board! The kids are so excited. Evelyn and I got up this morning and went to the small grocery store in the local village to get bread and turkey and tomatoes and ice and chips for lunch. We are 95% ready to go....the kids are all in their suits, now it is up to me to get moving again and pack the coolers.....

I wish wish wish I had my camera...I realize how boring it probably is to read this with no pictures.....so for now, my descriptions will have to do. The kids have turned on the television to a program about locomotives in Europe, history, scenery...quite fascinating. Right now it is featuring The Orient Express. Very interesting....

Suze has her suit on and a sweet little sundress over it, SK is playing paddleball, Kap is brushing her hair, Charlotte Claire is also brushing hers in hopes that she gets it right and no one will "fix" it for her, Jonathan is watching the show with too much interest, sucking his thumb, Mali is playing SIMS on the computer, Camille is riding a tricycle in the kitchen in her little pink and white suit....Rosie is under my feet. Joseph is playing his guitar, Ben is sleeping. Evelyn is all ready, bugging me to get moving. Margaret went with some friends to a waterfalls park, with the two Norwegian girls who are visiting.

So....I think I will spare my children the agony of waiting for me any longer.....

afternoon.....

Eight of the kids are watching "Curious George". Well, now seven because I just asked Evelyn to make me a cup of coffee. I had to bribe her with some silly bands next time I go to the store. I apparently already owe her seven dollars, and now two packs of silly bands. But it is worth it.

Okay...going swimming with Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille: today the water is literally bathwater. It doesn't even cool one off, but it does make it bearable and enjoyable to be outside. Jonathan doesn't use a floatie this year, the pool is four ft. deep, his chin is above the water....he doesn't make me too nervous, but he does like to get my hair wet...for some reason, this is always great fun for him. Charlotte Claire wears a floatie suit, but she still goes underwater and swims like a fish. She does her share of coughing and sputtering, which is maddening, but she always has a smile on her face. Camille wears a floatie suit AND a Speedo vest, she floats nicely. She was being a brat today, she wanted to hold on to the front of my suit. Suzanne got her to let go by taking hold of her and pulling hard, then distracting her and playing with her....it is too hot for them to fight about sitting on the ladder, so they fight over the single pair of surviving goggles instead. Well, they mostly share nicely....Today I made up songs about them until I was driving even myself crazy, but it was fun. We sing and dance and do ballet and I hope the neighbors don't hate us, all the noise we make in there.

The $3.99 Slip-n-slide was certainly worth it....the hose water is deliciously cold, and even those of us who don't slide down Slip-n-slides like to stand in the mist it throws. Unfortunately, Sonja just came in and told me that it ripped. The hose was kinked and when they straightened it out,it blew a hole in it...oh well. They are still using it, even though they failed to find the duct tape.

The problem with having this air conditioning on is that it feels just nice enough in here to deter outside play. I was much more compelled to get them into the pool yesterday when it was unbearable in here.

One thing nice about the heat is the speed at which the clothes dry out on the deck. It is just too hot to run the dryer.

I hate hate hate to say this, but I am getting a teeny tiny bit bored. I need to DO something. Not just clean or go swimming, something different. I don't know if I like this or not. I keep thinking about my sewing machine....I need to do something creative. Seriously, all these years my major occupation was having babies, and for me that meant making new car seat covers and buying new clothes and getting everything ready, and chasing toddlers while nursing babies, it was just always so busy. Now....we don't even have nap time anymore here.....unless they conk out on the couch. I am adjusting to it, but I feel an emptiness. Maybe it is time to start taking those college classes....not that I am overflowing with energy or anything. I mean, there is plenty here to keep me busy, but I don't feel like cleaning out cupboards or organizing closets. Maybe I need to plan a grand adventure for the kids and I...hmm. Do I have the summertime blues? Me, who LOVES summer? Too much of a good thing?

we are just cookin'

It is going into the nineties today again, and tomorrow too...possibly Friday...and the humidity is oppressive...but Mali had enough yesterday afternoon...she got Benjamin and Joseph to bring up the two window air conditioners and put them in the kitchen and living room windows. We hung a sheet up across the hallway, and cranked them up. It is now in the seventies in here, which is fine and dandy. Going behind the sheet is like stepping into another world,a sticky muggy world, a world we all slept in last night....I am thinking of letting the kids camp out in the living room tonight. With all the fooling around they will do, I don't know if they will actually get better sleep, but it will feel better, and be fun.

It feels like we are stranded here. I recognize that I like to GO places, in this heat I cannot put the kids in the van...

Last night, as I was sitting here finishing another book, hair down and feet up, Abigail brought the girls home from girls' fellowship...Emily and her have two Norwegian girls staying with her, so they stopped in too. Now, I really enjoyed meeting Cecelia and Henriette, they are lovely and very sweet. Their English is excellent, too. But....SHE COULD HAVE TEXTED ME!!! A five minute warning could have accomplished wonders in here....it was hot, we were relaxed, it was too messy....they just stood there looking around.....oh dear, my house is my home and I love it, but when I look around from that different point of view, rats!!! The diaper bag and the guitar case on top of the dog cage....the waffle blocks all over the floor....the couch covers all askew, and a huge pile of towels on one couch...folded, at least....the clothes pile on the couch is very small, but it is there. There are towels hanging around from chair backs, we DID go swimming three times yesterday. A pile of bathing suits graces the kitchen table, they dried on the deck and didn't make it back into the bathing suit basket. And Benjamin had just come home with pizza....anyway, FIVE minutes would have been nice. I didn't say anything to Ab, I think I know why she didn't give me any notice. In her mind, she saved me from fussing. In my mind, I am embarassed. Oh well. Now that they have been here at our worst, they can come back anytime!

Yesterday we all suffered for a while and cleaned the house all up in spite of the heat. I even vacuumed the edges and the stairs and the hallway.....we were so hot when we finished up, I was literally dripping....we spent some time in the pool after that.....then came in for grilled cheese and ice cream cones...today it won't be so challenging to clean up, with the a.c. on....but I still don't feel like it.

I love my kids....last night we sat at the table and colored pictures with some of the 30 cent crayons. Camille can make circles and faces already. She knows all of her colors, and she has a basic concept of numbers, she can count to ten. (I can brag on my own blog, right?) But the best thing about her is that she looks right into my eyes, and says in all sincerity, "I LIKE you, Mommy!" She is still squishy and huggy and her cheeks are chubby and she is our little sweetie. She is growing up so fast and we, especially me, are feeling her babyness slip away....

My goodness, could someone just GIVE me a baby?

One of our friends was looking after her little granddaughter the other day. She was loving it, and as I admired that baby's sweet little bare piggy toes, I wondered out loud if we realized just how blessed we were, back when ours were babies....

I have been enjoying my summer. I like being the "recreation director". Cooking and serving and washing clothes aren't my favorites, and I simply don't love cleaning the house (I don't hate it, but it is so repetitive, it doesn't STAY clean long enough to ever feel like I accomplished anything)....but being the R.D. is fun. We want to go see a movie one of these days at the cheap theater, and going to the drive-in is also on our minds. Emily is taking the Norskies to a big mall in the big city on Friday, I thought maybe I could take these guys there....we want to go back out to the camper, too, when it cools down a bit. And I have to go shopping and buy TONS of candy for the candy store at our church summer conference. Plus lots of drinks. Plus the stuff for Children's Day, I do the cookie decorating table.

I miss Mirielle and Aaron and Samuel....three kids in other countries....wah. Mirielle is coming home for a week near the end of July though...I cannot wait. Aaron and Sam will home a week or so after that. In August we are going camping for nine days, hopefully there will be a time that everyone is there at the same time.

STILL hot and humid....

But I ain't complaining, no sir, not me. Ha. I am trying not to....but jeepers. I almost feel like I can't breathe. The weather forecast calls for temps in the nineties, with high humidity, along with an "Air Quality Warning", which means those with pre-existing respiratory conditions should limit strenuous activities outdoors. Which in our case means indoors, too, since our thermometer on the livingroom wall only goes to ninety, and the needle has been stuck there.

So I won't be doing much in the way of cleaning around here. I have an appointment today that I am simply re-scheduling, as putting children into the van with no air conditioning on a day like today is almost criminal.

We took an evening trip to Walmart last night, when it cooled down a bit. We took the minivan, too, and cranked the a.c. yum. We stopped at the dollar store first, and I ask you: who can spend $44 in a DOLLAR STORE? Well, someone who buys 44 things, I guess. ha. There's tax, so maybe 41 things. Anyway, I bought ten 13 ounce bags of Brach's chocolate covered toffee, sunglasses for the kids, flip flops, really good Nature Valley granola bars.....it was fun because Mali, Kathryn, Suzanne, and Sonja were with me.

Then Wally World.....we needed pool shock, milk, and bagels. We GOT $3 shirts and 30cent crayons and a 64 ounce bottle of diet Snapple with Lemon. Which I am not ashamed to say we passed around in the van on the way home. I did briefly remember the cameras they have in the parking lot, but oh well. I would like to say that my nice mature girls walked like little angels, all in a row, but alas that would be a lie. They know how to have FUN where ever we are....then they found the SILLY BANDS! Only $1, Mom! All well and fine, until we got home and I realized that we didn't bring any for Evelyn....the girls decided to share though, with Jonathan too, and everyone traded Silly Bands until eleven pm, when most good children are long tucked in bed.

I finished my latest book, reading, not writing. It was "Under The Dome", by Stephen King. Despite his tendency to use some base terms and phrases, it was an excellent book, riveting from page one. Over one thousand pages, and none of those skip-over-because-it's-boring paragraphs, either. The man has talent. When I was first converted, way back when, I stopped reading novels. The first ones I picked up after a while were John Steinbeck, I read all of those. And then Charles Dickens. I read "A Tale of Two Cities twice, and also "Great Expectations" twice. Then I discovered Taylor Caldwell..... I didn't read S. K. again for quite a while, because he writes scary stuff. Good always triumphs over evil in his stories, and he has such a way to put things, I just enjoy his books.

Anyways....the kids have an old cell phone with no service, they continue to charge it so they can pretend with it because the ringer still works. It is Suzanne's, but Jonathan loves it. He bugs and bugs, so she lets him borrow it, then he wants it back. Life cannot be ALL sunshine and roses....

Sometimes people ask me this question, "How do you do it?" Well, since I am a good girl and don't make bad jokes, I veer away from the obvious answer, and answer....well...what IS the answer? Do WHAT? I assume they mean manage everthing. Which I simply don't do...but here are some things that have made my life easier:

1. In the summer time I usually go barefoot, but I still leave a pair of Birkenstocks at the front door, and one at the deck door, so if i go bye-bye, I never have to backtrack to the other door for shoes.

2. I keep wipes next to my chair in the living room.

3. I keep undies for the three youngest ones in the basket in the living room where we used to keep diapers. They can get them out themselves this way.

4. I use lots of zipper sandwich bags and storage bags. I buy the store brand when they are buy-one-get-one free...and use them for leftovers. So much easier than using Tupperware type containers. They fit in the fridge better, too.

And that's all I can think of right now. I get sidetracked in my thoughts easily, especially now, the kids are watching "Elmo's World" on Sesame Street.....anyway, I am glad Paul had the day off yesterday and was here when it was so hot out. Usually he comes home from his air conditioned office in his air conditioned van when it is starting to cool down a bit, and says, "It isn't too bad in here..." hmm. After being here yesterday, perhaps today he will realize how hot it really is all day in here. We DO have two window air conditioners but we haven't had them in the windows since a few years ago. Most days are tolerable, it is just when this humidity hits with the high temperatures...blah. But I am NOT complaining.

I think I should have some cereal and go out in the pool with the kids. The heck with sweeping this morning....

hot in humid

It is already 84 degrees here in central New York state. And the pleasantness of the warmth is overshadowed by the humidity, to put it nicely. It is miserable. It isn't quite as hot here in the the livingroom as it is out on the deck, but we have no air conditioning, and it is hot and sticky. And that is all I am going to say about that.....

I have already done three loads of laundry, swept the floor, brushed the dog, made omelets for breakfast, of course taken Rosie for her walk....and now it is too hot to do anything. The kids turned on "Wordworld", and I don't care.

Camille is sitting on the couch reading, "Pigs Love Potatoes", and watching tv. Jon is sucking his thumb and watching, and Charlotte Claire is just sitting there watching...I usually hate having them watch television, but once in a while won't hurt....there are eight of them in here, just flopped. I know we will be going swimming soon though.....

Aah, I love summer. Just totally completely love it. The lack of schedule, letting them stay up later, having them sleep in....just the whole spontanaeity ( I don't know if I spelled that right, but it is one of my favorite words) of summer.....of course it would help if I had a thousand dollars, so we could do all of my great ideas, but we make due. This week, of instance, if I had several hundred dollars, I would take the kids to a hotel for a few days to keep nice and cool and swim inside out of the blazing sun. A hotel with an indoor waterpark, as long as we are dreaming. But since we can't do that, we will just stay here and be happy.

Rosie wants out again, and I do not want to go out again. But that is part of being a grown up, doing what you don't want to do. And part of being a Christian is not complaining about it. That, I need to work on.

home again

Home....it is nice to be here...we are tired and have had too much sun, too much fun. Jonathan stayed at Emily and Abigail's apartment last night, and is very tired today. We went to watch the symphony orchestra from the big city play at a lovely park on a nice lake...oh, it was heavenly. Well, except for the long line at the bathroom with all the girls. But the music, what could be nicer than being 25 feet away from a live version of "The 1812 Overature"? Oh, it was lovely! Emily was with us, and we had an excellent time. We stopped at Little Caesers and got four pizzas, which they demolished...I only had one piece. Camille had ants in her pants, but she was pretty good. She liked the music alot. I wouldn't let her talk during the performance, the other kids know by now that it is disrespectful and they are amazingly good....Jonathan was worried about the fireworks that came afterward....he got to sit in Emily's car and watch them with the windows up, he hates the noise. Anyway, this performance was patriotic, and the conductor has members from each branch of service stand up while the orchestra plays their particular theme song, and everyone claps, it is very touching. We have much to be thankful for, living in this country.

I had a nice conversation with two old ladies before the program started....they asked me who all the girls "belonged to"....and I said they were mine....they wondered at the one boy, and I told them there are four more boys not with me....AND three more girls....oh my goodness, they could not believe it. Emily was sitting there sewing a purse out of some old jeans, the other girls were just playing around and laughing and eating pizza and enjoying themselves.....they ARE lovely and I am very lucky.

Enough bragging. I let my camera at the camper. rats. I think we are going back out there on Tuesday or Wednesday for a few days. It is nice out there because there is no housework, just a tiny little camper floor to sweep, a few dishes to wash, and the towels to hang up after swimming. I like it because there are no computers or television, the campfire inspires fellowship. I feel closer to the kids and I think bonds have been strengthened between us. Plus, they can ride their bikes to their hearts' content, and there are awesome inground pools.

I did miss Rosie, though. She is such a sweetie. When I got home, she was beside herself with joy. She just wiggled and wiggled and jumped and made that happy noise that she makes....and she followed me around everywhere, even while I put towels in the wash....now she is sleeping at my feet. I would gladly bring her to the camper, but it is at the church conference center, and no dogs are allowed....wah.

The kids are so tanned!!! They are also tired out..they are watching "The Book of Virtues"....they had popcorn, Camille is already in bed, they are ready soon. It IS nice to be home, it is nice to write again even if it is just blah blah blah...

Things I am thankful for:

1. The night sky. Being out in the country and looking up into that vastness is just amazing. We saw some shooting stars, and a few satelites, and of course some planes.....

2. Swim floaties/vests....I put a swim suit with foam panels built in, plus a vest on Camille, and she floats. I still watch her, of course, but she floats.

3. Sunscreen. They are all so tanned and a few of the fairer ones are a bit burnt, even with sunscreen.

4. Freezepops. When it hits ninety degrees, they are so good.

And of course all the usual things. It is good to take time to count our blessings.

The thing I am most thankful for today is that Jesus made a way for us to follow. I am glad for friends and fellowship.

home for a bit...

We came home last night and are leaving again today. Boy, that sounds easy, all wrapped up in that little sentance. We left most everything in the camper, took a trip to a different Walmart, which was an adventure all in itself because there is a little game room there, with a few things they can "ride" on...we didn't put any money in, but they didn't care. We did let Suze buy some of those little erasers that come in different shapes, they look like donuts and soda cans and realistic food items. She is fascinated with them, and since I accidentally threw away her whole collection a few weeks ago, I let her feed that machine some quarters for eraser french fries and pie slices. The amazing thing is that not one of the other kids said, "No fair"....

Anyway, we brought some food back to our camper, and came home for the night. I bought them new toothbrushes in Walmart, which was very exciting too, so we didn't have to bring them all from the camper and bring them all back again. There were only 8 kids with me, but...Jonathan was in high gear. He wasn't exactly BAD, but he was humming. Does that make sense? Then I was humilitated when I went up to bakery ladies and asked for cookies for the kids, and they said they don't give away cookies. What? okay. I felt like a begger lady.....our Walmart always gives the kids a cookie, so do the grocery stores. Of course sometimes I wish they didn't know this particular fact, they start reminding me as soon as we get in the store, the littler ones. Anyway....I was tempted to just leave the cart there and walk out, but I didn't. I really felt like crying. I don't know why. I bought them a few packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups....hmm. Did I really buy them for ME? hmm. I only had one though.

I watered the garden and put the hose in the pool, backwashed the filter and skimmed out some bugs....it is going to be really hot next week and I don't want the pool to turn green when we are gone.

Paul will be going with us this time, he took today off from work. I love seeing him wind down and relax, it doesn't happen very often. He is Mr. Energy and Mr. Responsibility, and I am Mrs. Relax-Too-Often. It is hard to Relax-Too-Often when Mr. E. & R. is puttering around being energetic and responsible.

When he sits down with his guitar and starts to mellow out, it is enjoyable.

The kids are buzzing around here, looking at me expectantly, they want to get moving! Their bikes are there at the camper, and it is hot and sunny, there are nice pools there.

So....hello, and goodbye.