WARNING: THIS COULD BE MY WORDIEST POST YET!
6:00am- I awaken to Lucy crying. Of course by the time I get upstairs she's sound asleep again, so I trudge back to bed hoping the last hour before the alarm clock rings feels longer than the previous 5.
7am- I hear the alarm clocks upstairs...just a minute faster than ours, but I don't get up yet. As the youngest 2 girls awake upstairs, they usually drift down into our bed for the seven minute snuggle before the snooze alarm goes off.
7:07 snooze is up. Time to wake the boys. John takes over on this morning allowing me a few more minutes with Rose and Lucy.
7:20 all the kids are in the kitchen now. I can smell the coffee brewing that I had set up last night. Time to get the day rolling. Kids are helping themselves to the cereal and homemade chocolate chip muffins, set out the night before.
7:45 school kids out the door. The kitchen table is cleared and the rest of us settle into the family room for coffee, puzzles, blocks and other games. Not in any rush to get dressed.
8:30 Kids are playing happily, so I sweep and mop the kitchen, while John sneeks outside to take the rest of the christmas lights down before the rain comes through.
9:30 The kids and I are finally getting cleaned up and dressed for the day. No need to rush a good thing. I miss these rare, slow-paced mornings now that I'm working more.
10;00 snack time. Kids pile around the table for fruit snacks, chex mix, and juice. I pour another cup of coffee for John and I.
10:30 John's working on converting Lucy's crib to a day bed, while I scrub the downstairs bathroom and switch over another load of laundry. Rose is 'helping' me, while the other kids 'help' dad (mostly bouncing on beds and getting into his tools.)
11:00 I'm starting lunch, and I ask John to check the bathtub drain which seemed a little slow last night. (at this point he remembers that the boys "might" have lost a matchbox car in the tub yesterday.) He opens up the drain trap in the basement, while I use a coat-hanger in the tub to try to fish the matchbox out. It made the first 90degree angle, and is happy to just park right there. I think Dora and/or Boots may be driving. It's not looking good. And after much poking and fishing with the coat hanger, and talking through the 8 inch curve of drain, we decide to wait another day, till John can locate a better tool. (What would be a "better" tool, I'm not sure he knows...just buying time to think of something.)
11:30 lunch is on.
12:15 John and Mary are off to school. Riding bikes today.
1:00 art 101 at the kitchen table. brushes and watercolors...and water...everywhere!
1:20 All 27 pieces of paper are covered in gray water. (What happens to all the COLOR in watercolor?) I'm sopping up the mess, and saving the "art" while the kids washup and move on to the tv room for a movie...Alvin and the Chipmunks.
1:45 3 youngest are off to nap. John leaves for work, and Charlie and I find a warm spot to snuggle on the couch.
3:00 Lucy fell out of bed. Nap's over.
3:10 house is full of noise again as the kids burst in from school. Snacks, then homework.
4:30 Frank asks if he can play "army dudes" on the Nintendo. (A coworker of John's gave us a whole box of parts and games along with the Nintendo game console. The boy's favorite is a game of little plastic green army men making their way through the house battling various things.) Charlie, Frank and John get 25 minutes of game time. This is an eternity for 3-5 year olds...especially when the older kids aren't telling them how to do it.
5:00 supper. fish sticks, mac-n-cheese, california blend. (There were a LOT of leftover veggies.) doorbell rings..neighbor kids. Nobody rushes to answer. How bad is that?! Grace finally gets the door, and makes excuses for everyone. It's yucky outside, so I'm glad she didn't ask to go out and play.
6:15 Kitchen's finally cleaned up, coffee sounds really good, but the pot is in the dishwasher, and I'm feeling too lazy to wash it by hand. I can wait.
the basement toy room looks like a landmine hit. Grace is playing with her new Webkinz on the computer. Boys are dressed up in cowboy and Starwars gear, and shooting Nerf guns. Little Rose and Lucy look adorable having a picnic lunch with their dollbabies on the living room floor. Alice, Emma and Mary are watching Extreme Home Makeover. It's a pretty touching story, and before I realize, I'm sucked right in to watching it with them. Figures it was a 2 hour special. We watched the whole darn thing! Eventually all the kids trickled in, and joined us. I hate wasting an evening in front of the tv thought. At 8 the tv was off...pajama time. This is when Lucy was sleepy but catching her second wind and tumbles into the corner of the end table. She split open an area behind her right ear...it was a mess. Moments later, she's giggling, playing with her babydoll, and bumps her lip...yep, fat and bleeding. Oi.
8:15 extreme home makeover here...kids were disappointed to learn that meant "clean up time" in the basement. Quick teamwork and all the toys were put away in just a few minutes. Yeah!
8:30 Bedtime! First Rose and Lucy upstairs. Then Frank and Charlie to the boys room. Later Grace and Mary. By 9, all 10 kids were pottied and in bed. Whew.
9:15 I hauled up 4 laundry baskets full of things needing folded from the basement laundry room...I'll get to that soon. The washer and dryer are running. Straightened the bathroom. Opened the dishwasher to air dry before I put those dishes away.
The clock on my computer says 10:30. Time to pull that coffee pot out of the dishwasher, and brew some up for the long fold ahead. My night is just getting started.
Blessed night all. ~jamie
