The Adventure Begins

This is what is left of our back porch and patio. It has taken two and a half very large dumpsters and lots of noise to get to this point. While I'm really looking forward to the finished product I'm sure the next couple months are going to drive me crazy. They did fill in the old cistern in the back which puts my mind at rest about that at least. I was always afraid one of the kids would find a way to fall in it.
Next week they will be tearing off our current utility room. It is really an old porch someone put chipboard around. Not pretty but I will be without a washer and dryer. I can hardly wait to make trips to the laundromat, YUCK!

I have been trying for the last couple of weeks to get up early and walk before the baby and the little kids get up. This means walking at 5:30am. I'm waiting for that energy boost that comes from being in shape. I must be very out of shape because all I feel is a need for a nap.

Since we have a dumpster available I have been trying to weed out the garage. Last spring it flooded so things are moldy and muddy. Truly disgusting. I have also been trying to decide whether to save some baby stuff. I probably won't ever need it again but I have never gotten rid of baby stuff. I'm not sure I'm constitutionally able to do it. Afterall, dh might feel less old one of these evenings and my soon to be 42 year old body might cooperate.

I need to go through boxes of things from the garage. I have found 4-H and sporting ribbons, my old school letters, photo albums. Maybe I'll spread it out, take a digi pic of it and get rid of the real thing. What is a middle aged woman doing hanging on to basketball and gymnastic ribbons for?? Inertia I guess. And I thought I reduced when we moved four years ago.

Well, back to the black hole of a garage. If I never post again you'll know where to look for me.....

In order...

what I have done today.

1. Arose at 6:00am to make cinnamon rolls, get up all children, feed, water and dress said children.

2. Pack belongings in van and drive 1 1/2 hours to camp. Spend one hour standing in line checking in dss. Drive back home with detour to..

3. Pick up old metal bunkbed from friends to replace the garage sale wooden bunkbeds kids have been sleeping in for 6 years.. continue home after wedging them in around remaining 4 children.

4. Try to give children lunch (even though it's 1:30 and they have been starved for hours).

5. Move van with bunkbed frames still inside so that contractor can bust up our concrete back porch and steps to begin our construction.

6. Give up on anyone including baby taking a nap while large jackhammer is going outside kitchen.

7. Make dinner after cacophony stops at 5:30. Feed very tired children dinner, bathe nurse and soothe (which includes watching Thomas AGAIN!!! and Veggie Tales) until the little darlings fall asleep.

8. Do dishes, do laundry, explain to 12yodd why she cannot spend the night in the hog barn at the fair.

9. Drum roll please.... drop into computer chair. How could the day be so full and so little be accomplished???
Truly one of the mysteries of motherhood.

Leaving For Camp

I need to take S and C to camp tomorrow. They are packed and ready. E is staying the night with a friend tonight. It would seem (if I were the paranoid type) that my children can't wait to get out of here.

We went to the 4-H fair today to check on the kids' projects. They did really well, lots of blue ribbbons and even a couple special merit ribbons.

I have been trying to be more productive around here. I hate things getting away from me around the house but I also hate not getting to play on my 'puter. I think I have become blog addicted. I am now more caught up on strangers lives than I am my family. That is probably very sick, or geeky, or both!

What else..my babysitting gig starts again tomorrow, P has to go back to work, and I have to get out of my little vacation frame of mind where it's just me and P and the kids, which is just how I like it. Now that I have sickened all my single childless friends who are wondering how I became so sappy and insipid I will go to bed :-P



F has that manly pose down and L looks like such a pris (which she is NOT)

Zip, Nix, Nada

That is what I accomplished today. I also realize I have no amusing way to say that. Sorry, for hip cutting edge blogging you'll have to look elsewhere. Dh and I went out for a coffee, he took L and F to the park. Then he took E, S and C to "I, Robot". I sat in the yard enjoying the weather. Yesterday I needed gills to breathe, today was like May. I let A explore the sandbox for the first time. I don't even think she ate much sand. So now I'm sitting here nursing a vodka tonic and feeling the sleeping weight of A on my shoulder. Not edgy and hip but pretty darn nice.

Back Home Again...

OK, we never actually left Indiana but you get the idea. After 3 days at an amusement park/water park we are home. I am now officially exhausted. Dh very "generously" offerred to watch the 3 littlest while I went with the 3 older ones on rides, etc. Then when I was good and tired he offerred to switch. He lost the 3 year old twice (grr). He also took the oldest two back to the park for late night fun while I stayed in the room with cranky little kids. I very carefully made sure all the children and dh applied sunscreen and (DUH!) forgot to put some on me so I was the one who got sunburned. I also took my camera and then forgot to take one single picture. Hey at least I can't bore you with pics of my vacation. ;-) The kids really had fun though. Even C, my 8yo, who is never visibly pleased announced he was happy. He is never happy. So that in itself was worth the hassle. We managed to arrive home in the middle or a huge thunderstorm. We lost power at 11:00 (darn, can't finish the laundry tonight) and it came back on at 5:27 this morning. I know this because everything that had been on suddenly kicked back to life. Scared the bejeebers out of me. We had to be up at 6:00 anyway to deliver E and S's 4-H projects for judging. We didn't stay for judging though because I had to take S to the doctor. He managed to get swimmer's ear and a secondary infection on top of it. Hmmm, why do I think sending him to camp next week to swim in a lake/pond might not be such a good idea. Well that about covers my mundane, middle class, middle american vacation. Now I need to rest up for the next expedition whenever that may be.

Summer Sunday

It was a pretty lazy Sunday here. We got home from church and after a sandwich all the kids went out to play. I sat on the swing and watched them swim and swing and play football and blow bubbles. For half and hour or so I was convinced that perhaps they will grow up to be interesting adults with close ties to their siblings, then they reverted to type, fighting and arguing and I was once more sure that we are way more "Roseanne" than the "Waltons". I came back in to start packing for our trip. We are to leave tomorrow at 7:00. I really want to leave by 8:00 so I'm saying 7:00 so we get out on time. The rest of my afternoon was spent packing clothes, food, medicines, etc. I remember being 20 and leaving for the weekend with just a clean pair of underwear in my purse. Ah, those carefree days are gone. The oldest 3 did pack for themselves but I knew I'd have to check it. Sure enough, dss 10 and 8 had cds and players, game boys, yuhioh cards, a deck of regular cards and a t-shirt a piece . When I came back down stairs I found Mel at the back door. Her expression was clear that if she could just get that door open she'd be outside too.

That's all for now. I'm leaving you with a pic of my wildflowers. It's sort of like a test pattern. It's a little humbling to remember test patterns, lol!

Kitchen Conversation

Ds 8 made breakfast for dd5 and ds3 this morning. I heard him from the bedroom.
C I want more milk!
C I want more syrup!
Where's the fork?
Can I have a napking?
I want another waffle!
Me too!

Geez you guys, no wonder mom's so grumpy!

LOL, and I thought they were just inconsiderate to me.

Not too much else happened today. E got her haircut and then had me highlight it. She seems happy with it (which is good because if she started whining about it I would have had to snatch her bald.)
The three boys have complained I only ever e-mail or post pictures of the girls so I'm endeavoring to be fair and include them. This was taken outside church camp while we were waiting to pick up their sister. The two oldest boys go to camp in two weeks. The quiet will probably drive me crazy....after 24 hours or so.

I Should Have Stayed In Bed

Ok, it's only noon and I've wreaked destruction all morning in my effort to be productive. I started mowing at 7:00. That was great except I hit the top of the sewer tap and sheared it off. Ooops! Dh will not be happy. I'll try to convince him that the galvanized bucket adds charm to the side yard. I came in and shampooed the bathroom carpet, hung out the towels, threw in more laundry and then tried to fold up the octagonal play yard thing. It snapped, another oops. So, I went to run errands...and scraped up the wheel cover thing. I would just go back to bed and start over but I need to shower and take ds S and ds C to the dentist, oh yeah and make a list of things needed for our vacation, and take everything out of the freezer so I can move it when the contractor comes, probably next week when I'm on said vacation...sigh. And move all the rest of the stuff off the back porch and get dd to her double header softball game at 5:00. That will eat up the whole evening until 9:00. Well tomorrow is another day (that was my best Scarlett imitation by the way :-) )

Get Sick or How To Lose Your Home to Chaos

I have been sick since Sunday evening with a kidney infection. Ack!! While I laid around the kids played and played and played which was good. Of course laundry, cleaning, etc fell far behind. Now that I am up I'll need to bring the house out of its spin into entropy. I didn't feel up to going to 8yo ds's baseball game last night. Of course it was the game where he got hit in the eye with a ball. He has a heck of a shiner. Every game I do go to nothing happens. It must not be our family's week either because 12yo dd got hit by a pitch at softball. But hey, she did get a base.
All the playing and swimming did have one good effect on 5yo dd, she fell asleep outside playing.

and of course the baby continued to be cute

Biscuits and More

Hmmm, how does the weekend disappear so quickly? Saturday was biscuits, biscuits and more biscuits. Somehow 4-H always sounds like a good experience in March and by July when they are trying to get all the projects done perfectly it stinks? (And why does everything involve turning the oven on to 450 degrees when it's ninety outside.) The oldest two spent almost all day working. I finally got groceries. As a reward we went to the drive-in to see Shrek II and Harry Potter. It was lots of fun except for the mosquitoes and 5yo dd throwing up. She did manage to do it in a shopping bag and not on the van seat so that was at least a plus.
I taught Sunday School today. We only have to teach every third month and I have the 3-6 yo so it's not too taxing. I worked on Mt. Washmore today. Got everyone's sheets and all the towels washed while I could hang them to dry. Of course they were all done for about 2 minutes until everyone got back in the pool. So here it is Sunday evening already. It seems like I should have more to show for a weekend.

OUCH!

Only I could manage to get a bee sting on my thigh. I was picking up pool toys outside this afternoon. It looked like it was going to rain and I didn't want them to blow away. I picked up the beach ball and somehow managed to mash a bee or wasp on my thigh. Ouch!! It still hurts. It was a pretty stinky day all around. The morning was consumed with errands. Pick up materials for 4-H projects, return a swimsuit I was sure would fit dd but didn't, get some groceries and drop off some important papers. I had my six and the girl I babysit for. They were picking at each other the whole time. That is not a big deal but it does get on your nerves. This afternoon dd worked on 4-H projects. She did make progress but oh the whining and complaining getting there. I wanted to go to the drive in tonight but it looks like the weather is not on my side. Maybe tomorrow?!

A New Stage

Well, my baby has reached the "I can put stuff in the vcr" stage She was very industriously trying to put her block in it this morning. I'll have to hunt up those baby gates. I'm afraid she's going to be an early walker. She is 8 months and cruising furniture now so I'm sure in a month or so she'll accidently let go and take off. Two of my others were early (the other three were 12-13 months). I think they have a little better sense of self-preservation when they are older. Nine month olds walk off the ends of steps, furniture, etc and don't seem to get the fact they are going to fall. Not much else doing today. My oldest dd is trying to finish 4-H so we have 3 batches of biscuits to eat. I made some pumpkin muffins too so I guess snacks are taken care of. I better not blink or it will be my now 8month old doing 4-H projects. Time really does go faster when you have kids. You can see the little one at http://img58.photobucket.com/albums/v177/joyofsix/Picture0007.jpg

Catching Up on a Busy Weekend

Well, nothing like starting a blog and then not writing for days. But I had a reason I swear! This past weekend was our little town's summer festival. It coincides with the 4th of July every year. So.. on Thursday evening we went to the park to watch the kids' baseball coaches in an exhibition/pick up game and stayed to watch the fireworks. Friday evening was the parade. My dh worked so I took the littlest two to watch the oldest four. Of course I then had to shell out money so they could walk around with their friends. It's always a good time and a great opportunity to catch up with people you haven''t seen in awhile. Saturday the oldest two had to help with the 4-H cakewalk and I took the youngest four to the kiddie carnival. It was HOT!! We came home and had popsicles and got in the pool. Saturday evening a rodeo was scheduled. I looked out and decided it was going to rain and having all six at a crowded rodeo in the rain didn't sound like fun. My oldest dd still wanted to go so she got a ride with a friend. Sure enough it poured. She came home an hour and a half later totally soaked. Ah, youth. Sunday was a community church service, water ball fights and kid's games in the fire hose. We of course let off our own fireworks/sparklers/bottle rockets etc at night. A good end to a holiday and festival. Today I took my ten year old ds to a friend's house to stay until they are tired of him. I took the opportunity to stop at Walmart and buy all the stuff I never seem to get bought. Tomorrow the girl I babysit will be back and things should be back to normal, or what passes for normal here anyway.

Wasting Time

What should you do when the baby is sleeping? Finish the laundry or start a blog? I guess you've figured out which way I went. For those who don't know me I'm the mom of six kids age 8 months up to 12 years. There are three girls and three boys but so far no sign of Alice the maid or any other maid for that matter. This weekend is the festival in our small town so I need to get cakes baked for a cake walk, wash ball shirts for those in the parade, find change for the kiddie carnival tomorrow and find mosquito spray since the oldest three kids will want to hang around downtown afater the parade tonight. Stay tuned, tomorrow may be more interesting!