...pouring down a glass of milk rather than going through the trouble of preparing food. Lest you wonder why the 17-year-old boy has pressed a white dress-shirt to wear to school rather than a trendy t-shirt, it is the day before the "big game", and all football players are asked to wear white shirts and ties to school as a show of school pride and solidarity. Later, they will attend a special lunch at the school as a team.
-Breakfast. The twins...
...eating cheerios with frozen blackberries.
-Breakfast. The 13-year-old boy...
...running his hands through freshly harvested sunflower seeds. He did find something else for breakfast.
-Breakfast. The 14-year-old girl...
...pensively pondering.
-The 17-year-old boy, having saved time by drinking milk for breakfast and not making himself a meal, checking his facebook...
For some reason, in almost every photo, his looks evil, but he's really not. I promise.
-Take the oldest three to school...
...but first we have to cross the one-car bridge....
...over the town river...
-Have a Skype conference with Dad while he's out of town...
I got a kick out of the message at the top of the Skype call...
That is the story of my life.
-Take the 9- and 7-year-olds to school...
-Clean the kitchen...
I could die happy everyday as long as my kitchen is clean.
-Check on my "Questions About Mormonism" threads in HERE and HERE...
This actually took up quite a good deal of my day as I fielded questions and looked up references.
-Start laundry...
-Start to fold laundry...
This task remained in this state for many days, as the babies love to pull my folded piles off the couch.
-Look up the answer to a question I received about what Jesus was actually accused of...
I was reminded it was blasphemy.
-Spend some courtyard time with the 3 three and under...
-Look at my AMAZING toes, painted by THIS wonderful friend who has broken my heart and moved away...
This process was repeated many times throughout the day.
-Try to prepare some semblance of lunch and go back to the school to pick up the little kids...
Blissfully, my sister-in-law picks up the older kids from school during the lunch hour, so I am free to continue lunch preparations and get the 5 little ones fed. It was also fortunate that I didn't have to work at the school this afternoon, as I was able to give the kids the van for the afternoon, thus saving me TWO MORE trips!
After the 5 older children returned to school with the van, I tandem-nursed the twins, while I read the 3-year-old stories. This usually doesn't go very smoothly, but because the twins were very tired, they went right to sleep. I have no photographic record of this period as I forgot I was doing this blog post for about 5 hours, so you will have to just imagine it. Not that I would post a picture of myself tandem nursing, anyway, as many might respond as did the 3-year-old boy as per THIS post.
At about 3 o' clock, we all woke up to greet the 7-, 9- and 14-year olds as they returned from school. The 13- and 17-year-old boys were at school for football practice.
At some point, I must have gone to sit on the porch with the 3 three and under because I took this photo...
For a while in this post, I went from speaking in the present to speaking in the past tense. Now, I will resume speaking in present tense. I don't know why.
-Shower, now that I had someone to keep the 3 three and under out of my hair...
-Dress in a skirt, in preparation for a meeting at church for all regional music people...
-Straighten my hair for said meeting...
Apparently, I really don't look like this. This is the face I make when I am looking in the mirror. However, this is the only face I ever see, so I don't know that I look any different.
-Make one and a half peanut butter sandwiches for dinner to stave off morning sickness during the two-hour meeting, plus the half hour drive each way...
-Attend said meeting, then return to the 14-year-old girl having forgotten to make grilled cheese sandwiches for anyone other than herself and the 3 three and under. The 17-year-old boy was not happy to return from football practice to no dinner. Sad.
-Kitchen clean-up...
It is the 13-year-old boy's task to do the dishes each night, and the 7-year-old girl's task to clear the table. However, she usually helps her brother with the dishes when she's finished because, according to her, she's "nice". Love that.
-Watch the rain right before bed. This was the best photo I could get...
I know, lame.
-Cry, because of this comment on my "Questions About Mormonism" thread as I was shutting down the computer...
It was a happy cry, perhaps one fueled by pregnancy hormones, but this still totally made my day. It was not easy putting my sacred beliefs out there to have some ridicule and insult me, but comments like these and others completely made it worth it!
-Nurse Twin A, then twin B, then put the 3-year-old to bed after reading him a story.
Good night.
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19 comments:
Wow! You have all of those kids, are pregnant and still manage to get so much done and make yourself look nice! You are an inspiration!
Your are an inspiration... and I think one is hard and half the time my hair is in a pony tail... how in the world do you do it!?!
Plus thought I would also add love your kitchen! It is so unique and neat
Have a great weekend :)
What a day. I agree with Tyler about your kitchen, I'd love to trade. The bit about the post that made you weep with happiness was touching. I think you are far braver than most people by putting yourself out there like that and being honest about your faith. I appreciate the courage it takes to do such a thing, sadly I'm a big fat chicken most days so I admire the willingness of others to take the reigns:)
WHAT A DAY!!! I am exhausted just reading about it.
You are truly amazing :) I agree, though, I would be THRILLED each and every day if my kitchen were cleaned :)
You don't have much going on , do you? ;)
Aw the memories your posting brought to mind. At the point in time when we decided that B1 NEEDED to go to school, not be home schooled, we only had one car, and getting a second was far from an option!!! So early in the morning, while pregnant with B4, I would get the three young sons up and into the car. We would then ride twenty five (25) minutes or so (sometimes it depended on traffic conditions that morning) to take daddy to work. After dropping him back off, we'd head home to get the boys breakfast, B1 dressed aand ready for school, to then drive him to school ( a fifteen to twenty minute ride due to the increased traffic by that point in time). After dropping him off, we headed home again. Later we would pick him back up and again head home. Yet latter we would pick daddy back up and he would drop us off at home before heading to cater.
That summer B4 was born. And the next fall anouther loop was added to our driving circle. Both B1 & 2 were now in school, one half day, one all day. I swore that while I knew that B4 had not been concieved in the car (o;-p), he most certainly spent way too much of his youth in one!!!
I always referred to it as driving my "loop-de-loos".
continued ...
part 2 ...
The week after B1 graduated from high school, we had a house fire. We ended up living with my then bachulor brother on the FAR south side of town. While there we sent B1 off to college. And that fall, we had three still to home sons enrolled in three different school systems. B2 wanted to finish his Sr. year in the same high school, and he ws doing 'okay' there, so we let him. But by then we had learned all of the details of MI's 'school of choice' program and knew that we no longer HAD to fight that schools administration ... so B3 was enrolled in a different school system, a fifteen (15) min. drive from OUR house. And B4 was in his last year of the Christian school all of the boys attended from Preschool through 8th grade.
But we were living on the FAR side of town, and I was working 'part time', ... and we ended up needing to traverse the highways during the morning rush hours ...:-/
That fall B2 took over B1's job as manager of the schools auditorium. And he had neither a car nor even his licence (at 25 he has now decided he wants to get it and is close to doing so :-D). So sometimes I had to pick him back up at 11:oo p.m. due to the auditorium having been rented ..
Both B3 & 4 tried out and made their schools socceer teams, equaling either practice or games EVERY night. Usually, B3 had games two nights and B4 had games two other nights, but sometimes they both had games the same night ... so I'd keep track of who's games I had attended to try and keep everything 'even'. And while B4's games were always immediately after school (just not always at their school), B3 often had later games. I spent so-o much time driving "loop-de-loos"!!!
One particular day, I had left work, picked B2 up from school, droven him out to near where we were living to a Dr.'s appointment, headed back to pick B4 up from school, went back out and picked B2 up, dropped him back at school to run the auditorium, picked B3 up, ... and while I'm not entirely certain at this point in time what all else was involved, I do remember that when I finnally pulled into my brothers driveway for good (well, till 10:45 that night) I had literally been on the road for close to four (4) hours. I had walked through the door and asked "A, I there yet?!!! ;-p I've been driving long enough to have driven all of the way to B1's college by now!!!"
By B3's Jr. year, B2 was in the local community college, and both B3 & 4 were in the same high school. But then B3 got enrolled in the sound tech class through the local (oh waht do you call it? Where high school kids can go to learn "trades" such as cosmotology, and auto mechanics, and baking, etc. ?). But the class was held at one of the local high schools that had an auditorium, not at the places campus. Therefore, bussing to the school was not available.
So in the morning I'd drive them both to school (thankfully we now had two cars). Then at 11:30 I'd go pick B3 up and drive him over to his sound tech class. At 2:15 I'd pick him back up and head back to either drop him off since both him and B4 were on the socceer team, or pick B4 up. When they were both on the team, I'd have to go back at 4 to pick them both up, or - head to a game. ...
The year after B4 graduated, I kept looking at the clock SURE I was suppose to be headed someplace to pick somebody up .... ;-p
Rember the promise - "This too shall pass" :-D Also keep in the front of your mind that having the PRIVALAGE to be this involved in your kids lives really is a blessing!!! :-D
D.U.D.E.!!!!!
I always thought I was a lazy bum but your post confirms it. I agree with Suburban Princess - you are an inspiration!!!
I thought you were all done with your day at one point...and then I kept reading and realized it wasn't even LUNCHTIME. Wow!
Ahh, I miss you!
And I'm so glad you love your toes.
((((((Hugs))))))))
I am amazed you kept up the picture taking as long as you did. I would have been tired of that way before lunch. I am not the most avid of picture takers. My usual MO is to bring my camera and assign picture taking duties to a convenient relative. Very interesting though and very jealous of your washer dryer set. Probably much more of a necessity for you than me but nice.
What a day, (I do understand a little) Love your two sets of washer and dryers, I need so that. I hate to fold, something that is on the kids list of chores but never seems to get done.
Thank you for sharing information about the church and helping others understand, you are doing a great work.
Love the toes, see we still need to take care of ourselves even with the demands of so many. All I can say, is What a Women. :-)
Do you have super powers? You are amazing. I do not know how you do it all.
Do you have super powers? You are amazing. I do not know how you do it all.
I don't know how you manage with such a busy household AND blogging! I still scratch my head wondering how you manage to keep your home so clean...especially with all you have going on AND being pregnant!!! I truly admire your homemaking skills!
Jennifer, you must know that I DO NOT have a clean house!~ I just try to avoid photographing messy areas! Also, one morning each week I have a maid who comes to help me out! There, now you know my secret!
Cant remember which blog i clicked to get to this one (been blog surfing today) but your comment about your kitchen being clean (and the one that said "say no to crack") cracked me up. I could die a happy woman if I had a beautiful kitchen like yours! Love the pics, cant believe you manage to keep your house so clean with so many kids running around. I have two kids and my kitchen only looks that clean while they are sleeping or at school. Once they wake up/come home you can kiss the clean look goodbye! Lol.
Wow! You are one busy mama! Looks like you're doing a great job. You have a beautiful family and a gorgeous home! I love that you have a courtyard! I so want to live somewhere warm! You really wouldn't want an out door courtyard here. I don't know how you get your kitchen so clean! I only have 5 and I don't think it's ever clean in here!
Okay I got a kick out of your double washers and dryers. We too have double and it's great except for the fact that I get 2 loads done at the same time which means two loads that pile up and continue to double throughout the day. That was until I handed the laundry room over to my twin daughter Emma. Now all's well.
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