Mommy, I will miss you.

Katherine often tells me she will miss me when I tuck her in at night. But last night she made both her father and I cry because we are leaving today and won't see them for over a week. It's amazing how you can look forward to something so much and be so sad at the same time. I know in my heart they will be fine, but when you spend so much time with these amazing little people, it's kind of hard to leave.

Michael, in his formal way this morning said, "Mom, today you leave on your trip. Are you excited?" The kids are so sweet sometimes.

Of course, as Murphy would have it, Katherine has pink eye and the baby is running a slight fever. The kids just like to make it as hard as possible for mom to leave them.

My hope for the next week is that they don't come down with any diseases, they don't kill one another, they don't tie up the sitter and leave her in the basement, and they miss us as much as I will miss them. So Katherine, I will miss you too!

Major household appliances

They don't like me. We recently survived the great refrigerator catastrophe of 2008, but it seems that we will soon be moving on to other appliance tragedies. (I am happy to report that due to an error in my owner's manual, Maytag fixed my frig for free.) Now, it seems the garage door, the vacuum and the dryer are in competition to see which will die next. The garage door has been resurrected several times already. Again, I think we are cursed, seeing as this house is a mere 2 1/2 years old. The vacuum has been disassembled and reassembled many times in efforts to extend it's life. It's getting close to 4 years old now. I don't think that's old for a vacuum, but with my rotten luck, it'll die soon too. I thought I was doing good, spending a whopping $250 on that vacuum. I figured it would last me ten years or so. Silly me. The refrigerator man broke down the expense of refrigeration for me. If we'd had to pay to fix the fridge, or have it replaced, we would be paying around $800 a year for refrigeration. That's not pretty! On to the dryer. Now, I must say that the dryer has lasted us nearly ten years. That's pretty darn good. And every time it starts having issues, if I talk to it nicely, it shapes up and behaves itself for several more months. So I am hopeful that the dryer will outlast the vacuum and the garage door.

The moral of all this nonsense? Homeownership is expensive because it requires you to own things that break. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I wish we lived in the days when you bought an appliance and you died before it did!

Michael and the Tooth Fairy

Michael has had a very eventful week! First dogs, now teeth! He lost his first tooth yesterday, but it wasn't of his own accord. It all started a couple of years ago at Grandma's house. One Sunday evening, after being told NOT to jump off the couches in the basement, he came upstairs bloody and crying. Yup, he jumped off the couches and hit his face against the coffee table. He bit through his bottom lip and we got to go to the ER to get stitches. We didn't notice his tooth right off. It was probably a few days later that I noticed that it looked a little funny. It was nothing we worried about, but over the last two years it got gradually grayer and shorter than his other front tooth. And so yesterday, after getting his teeth cleaned, it was determined that it needed to come out! He did great, no tears or anything, and he now has a slightly toothless grin which will stay that way until his adult teeth finally come in.



I have to preface the next part by saying that I am the world's worst tooth fairy. I can't even count how many times the tooth fairy has come late to our house. My brain shuts off at 9 p.m. and apparently remembering to be tooth fairy is included in my lack of brain function after that hour.

So my poor son comes crying into my bedroom at 7 a.m. to tell me that the tooth fairy forgot him. After rubbing the sleep from my eyes and trying to remember what it feels like to be awake, I told him that he got up too early and the tooth fairy just hadn't made it to our house yet. (I've had to use this excuse a few times.) Unfortunately, he went back to bed to wait for the tooth fairy. I had to very carefully slip my hand under his pillow and make the change, while he was laying there. I gave him a buck, so hopefully that makes up for completely forgetting to be the tooth fairy. But I've probably ruined his faith in the tooth fairy! When he grows up, he can explain to his shrink how I ruined all of my children by being a crummy tooth fairy!

Puppy dogs and little boys

That is white puppy. White puppy has gone everywhere Michael has gone since white puppy was bigger than Michael. He loves that dog. And while white puppy isn't nearly as white as he once was, he's a much beloved family pet. He goes camping with us every year, and as you can see, even if he's hangning by his tail, he even goes to the fourth of July breakfast with us too.

Michael has wanted a dog for as long as he's loved white puppy. Unfortunately for him, we attempted dog ownership before he was born and it just didn't work out too well. Cats are much more my speed. Slow. I figure if I can keep up with five kids and two cats, we are all doing pretty good.

Yesterday, the kids dissappeared outside and I didn't see them for quite some time. Hallelujah, I thought, they have finally caught the vision! Then Michael opens the back door and in comes a dog. I was out of my seat in an instant, hollering at Michael to get the dog out of the house before the cats saw him. Of course the dog cooperates by running through my house in any direction opposite of a door. I finally shoo the dog out the front door and turn to see my big, fat cat, Don Juan, shaking with his tail about two sizes too big. Poor cat. The kids have done some pretty ornery things to the cats, but that was by far the worst! After getting over the shock myself, I asked Michael what in the world he thought he was going to do with a dog in the house. He informed me that he was going to take him up to his room and maybe feed him something. I found out that he "caught" the dog and intended to keep him. Well, the kids played with the dog outside until the dog ran off. They even named him Bud. Michael cried when the dog took off. The poor kid just really thinks he needs a live dog. Apparently white puppy isn't enough anymore, although he will have to suffice for now. The cats would have a heart attack if there were a dog constantly present! At least he had his own dog for a whole afternoon!

The fourth of July!!

It's an exhausting, fun holiday for us. The fourth actually starts on the third with a sleepover at my husband's grandmother's house. Oh the chaos! Many of the kids and greatgrandkids go and it's a busy time. I was discussing with my husband that this is the only way we have ever celebrated the fourth and it's going to be very strange when his grandmother passes. (May that not be for many more years.) Anyhow, the sleepover consists of lots of food, a pajama parade, which includes music, goofy costumes and lots and lots of noise. The poor neighbors!! Then the sleeping bags get pulled out, and we line the kids up on the grass. This year, my kids were up till nearly midnight. At about 6:15a.m. the following morning, a band of neighbors comes around playing patriotic music. It's a wonderful tradition, but a little too early for my taste! Our sleepy family were the last ones up this year! Then it's off to the church for breakfast.
We took the children home for a nap right after breakfast, but the only ones that ended up sleeping was me and Odessa. Then it was off to Grandma's house for more food, swimming, and fireworks. Needless to say, the children are always completely worn out after all the celebrating!

Paper

Two new posts in one day! What's up with that? I feel the need to address the paper problem today. I'm about to tackle a major job, consisting entirely of paper. I'm not sure who is really trying to save the trees, because it certainly isn't our grade school. Next year I will have three children in the grade school and I know, without a doubt, that I will get all notices in triplicate. I have determined that by the time I have all five children in school I will never have a spot of space on my desk. I'm unable to keep up with the paper now, I hate to think what it will be like in the future. My current idea of cleaning off my desk for company is to grab everything off of it and put it on the floor in the laundry room and shut the door. It's not terribly efficient for the long haul, but it creates a temporary feeling of cleanliness. Just don't go in the laundry room. And what's up with putting ads in the mail several times a week. I occasionally look at them, but it comes down to just more paper for me to deal with. I hate paper! And the process of cleaning up the paper usually consists of moving the mess around the house. If it's laundry day, then the mess moves to Dad's den. If Dad is having company, it's back in the laundry room, or up to my room. The kids have been out of school for a whole month, and I keep thinking I'll get around to cleaning off my desk because I shouldn't be accumulating more paper. Or that's what I'd like to think. But no, my desk is littered with who knows what under even more paper. I want to go on a paper strike!!

Like a moth to a flame

That's what clean floors are to children. (Can you tell that I am constantly battling the floor?) They absolutely MUST walk across the floor, when it's still wet, because they HAVE to have something on the other side.

It's also the same if you tell them to go play outside. It inspires the need to pee, get a drink or otherwise be inside the house. It amazes me. The sad thing is, if I didn't tell them to go outside and play, they might never notice it's summer time.

Clean clothes are the same. As soon as they are clean, they must get them all wet, dirty, and spill all foods down their fronts. Thus ending their state of cleanliness and providing constant work for a mom that apparently has nothing else to do but harass them about being in the house, walking on the wet floor and spilling everything they eat down their little fronts.

I love my children. And someday, they will have children. There are just rewards!!