070705

So, yeah... I haven't been able to come up with any clever opening blog ideas. I've decided to write about my day thus far. That should REALLY give anyone reading this a little insight to my world.

So this morning, I wake up at 8:30am and go downstairs with every intention of making coffee and taking a shower. I have five children still asleep (two are visiting). It's drizzly and very cool outside... like fall but without the looming harsh winter. What a nice morning to drink coffee, read a little of my book, and make fun of life via email with my best friend, Martha. Jealous, aren't you?

Don't be...

Shortly after I came downstairs, a small little boy's head peeked from the corner of the midlevel of the stairs and smiled at me. Duncan's awake!! Oh crap... Tessia and Duncan's mother will be here to pick them up in a couple of hours. I should probably do last night's dishes and finish doing their laundry. I also have to gather up their toys to send back home. Why didn't I do all that last night, you ask? Well, YOU take care of/referee/feed/play/talk to/save from injury FIVE SMALL CHILDREN ALL DAY and we'll see what YOU do in the evenings when they go to bed!!!! I got the entire kitchen clean and straightened the living room from the hurricane named "We Hate You Because You Are Sending Us To Bed!!" that hit last night. I then started their laundry, which was all covered in mud from the decoy mud frogs they were making yesterday to catch an actual tree frog.

9:20am: Time to wake up the rest of the children and feed them breakfast. I send up Duncan to wake up the girls, which he gleefully does. Well... he wakes up Alaina, who comes downstairs to verify she actually has to get up. He wakes up Chloe, who cries because... well, I don't know why. Alaina marches upstairs after said verification and forces Ariel to get up. Then she decides to tickle Tessia awake. Apparently, you DO NOT TICKLE TESSIA awake. IF you do, she hits you and tries her best to bite you. So I go upstairs and make her get up.

9:40am: Now I'm making five different bowls of cereal, slicing bananas, and pouring apple juice. I have about 3/4 cup of milk and 2 bananas to feed all 5 kids. Miraculously, like fish and loaves of bread, I manage to make it all stretch enough to fill little bellies. Of course, since I haven't the EXACT same cups and bowls and spoons, there is the obligatory fight over who gets what, which ends in me making everyone shut their eyes as I plop a random bowl/cup infront of them. Not that it would even matter if I had the same color for all of them. When I do, they fight over who gets the bowl/cup/whatever on the right or left. And yes, they ALL do know the difference if I send them out of the room and do not comply with said requests. HOW, I do not know... but they do.

9:55am: I make my pot of coffee.

9:56am: Tessia and Duncan's mom arrives. CRAP!! I forgot about the clothes in the washer!! I never gathered up all the toys they brought! We chat for a bit and I gather the already cleaned clothes and the clean but not dried clothes. Tessia and Duncan run to attack their mother inbetween each and every bite of food. Finally, they all five finish eating. I've got the clothes gathered, Sunshine has changed Tessia and Duncan's clothes, and I've gathered all the toys. Now Tessia would like to play a Neopets game just one more time. That's no problem except that Duncan sings one of my favorite songs, "When's it my turn, when's it my turn, when's it my turn (the ad infinitum remix)" Then Alaina and Ariel join in. Yay. We chat some more while the kids all take turns playing the game and then Tessia, Duncan, and Sunshine head out for some fishing in the rain. I immediately head for the shower. Shoot!! I forgot I made myself coffee!!! YAY!!!

12:10: I'm in the shower. The entire time, Ariel and Chloe take turns busting in on me to "tell me something". Not ONE of those 'somethings' has anything to do with blood, fire, injury, or death. Finally, I am clean... and the kids want lunch... I smell coffee.

12:30am: With a towel on my head, I look around for lunch food. Alaina wants chicken noodle soup and she wants to make it for everyone else. So I wait until she's got the first can of soup opened to see how much, if any, water is needed. None, good. I pull out the bowls (yes, I've gone though 8 bowls, 8 cups, and 8 spoons in 3 hours).

12:40pm: Cofffffffeeeeeeeeeee!!! But the book is out of the question. I do, however, manage to fit in time for funny emails back and forth with Martha while I work on a little bit of XMCW stuff.

12:45pm: Kids are hungry again. ODDLY, the chicken noodle soup they were all so thrilled to have didn't fill them up. They want a snack. We make popcorn. Heh, THAT'LL do the trick. Popcorn is oh so filling.

1:00pm: I do all the dishes and start prepping dinner. I'm cooking a full chicken, so I have to do all the prep work now ORRRR do it later and eat at around 10:00pm.

1:35pm: I get to sit down and do this blog entry. Chloe comes up to me and shows me a closed fist and asks if I want to see the present she got me. I say, apprehensively, "suuuuuuuuuure." It is a lightning bug she caught in the house. Not just your average lightning bug, mind you... but one that is completely smashed on its entire right side of its body and perfectly okay on its left side. I say, "Oh my... that's very nice." Alaina asks what is 'very nice.' I tell her that Chloe caught a lightning bug. Chloe then says, "Wanna see, Laina?" and puts it between her finger and thumb and chases Alaina and Ariel around with it. Freaking GROSS.

It is 2:19pm right now and I'm pretty hungry. I haven't eaten yet. Plus, I've got to work some more on dinner. Tonight I have training and show promoting to do and I like to have a straightened house (at least) during the evening times... clutter bothers me.