Cold walk, cold me

I don't think I have warmed up yet from my walk last night. I felt chilled to the bone as the saying goes and I can't say I have quite felt toasty since. I guess it was colder than I thought it was and the night was cold too. Our 'heating system' had a small failure as somehow the wood did not continue burning the way it usually does and formed a bridge in the middle. The house was FREEZING. I am now interested in finding some real long underwear and I did unearth my wool socks this morning as well. Brrrrrrrrrr.......

We plan to walk again tomorrow but the temperature is supposed to be a balmy 35 and not the 10 of last night. I must go find my latest read, set in South Bend, Death in Lacquer Red, which is just strange to read as all the locations are real places I drive by frequently and have been to. I feel like I am on a driving tour more than reading a story. I can't recall ever reading a book and having to orient my brain to where I am in town before.

Not much else to report. I did have the pleasure of going to a lovely baby shower and visiting with friends this afternoon. Fun.

We have erased yesterday

This morning I suggested we get out our imaginary wipe on/wipe off boards and erase yesterday. I do feel a lot more sane today and keep having to remind myself that I am the Mommy! And don't you forget it! There are so many yucky, tedious things that drag me down but I am somewhat ready to face the little whipper snappers again. I did really appreciate what Glenda had to say on her post on motivation. We are reviewing a list of places to go as a reward for our goal setting. The Field Museum in Chicago I believe is our first pick.

Today my spirits were also lifted by finding a car seat carriage carrier (or whatever you would call it) and my back is sighing in relief. It was second hand, the price was right, and mommy and baby are happy. No more lugging the car seat awkwardly around and being sore all over.

I do believe a therapeutic walk is on the agenda this evening as well. The unshoveled sidewalks make me sore just by themselves. So.....maybe the snow will melt someday. Snow, snow, snow with no end in sight.

Thank you again Glenda! and your hubby too!

Loony update

I called my walking friend and she was up to taking a walk so we scheduled a time and I watched the clock to know when to run out the door. Well.....while we were attempting dinner the phone rang and she had to bow out as there was an errand that she had to do that could not wait. So.....I begged my family for someone to go with me. No one volunteered. I must be too scary or it is too cold or something. It occurred to me to ask the hubby and.....he agreed! I insisted it be on my regular walking path as I knew he would want to stay in the neighborhood and I did not want to. It is dark and much slippier around these parts and my friend's neighborhood has lights and more shoveled areas. Off we went. After a few blocks he asked if we were almost done. We had barely begun. I drug him through the neighborhood which I am pretty sure is a four mile hike and it was just a good thing he came with. We talked through my insanity and I do appreciate the time he took which would not be his regular choice of evening activities. He was cold, slipped, (I caught him :o)) got hungry, evaluated the lack of shoveling even from the fire department, sped up towards the end and made for the car. I usually talk with Cindy about books we are reading etc. so asked him what he has been reading and he actually bit and told me about his latest book on wood - riveting. All and all it was a good walk. One wrong turn in that neighborhood and you are completely lost but I made it without my friend, feel a little better, and hope I can go again tomorrow night. Thanks Charley.

Some days I hate homeschooling

I have no doubt that most homeschoolers feel this way from time to time but frankly, homeschooling this crowd has been somewhat overwhelming lately. Some days I just don't feel like facing the little non-reader and the giggling grade schoolers who have trouble focusing, and the older kids who avoid the subjects they don't like.

Another funny conversation today from the same boy as other funny comments.......I was watching him do everything but his math and it was making me NUTS. I said "You know Martin, if you were in school the teachers would probably be having me give you some sort of medication to help you focus." and Martin replies, "There really is medicine to help you focus???? Can I have some???" Ugh. Then my eldest said she could use some too. This whole family needs some!!!!! How does the mother of eight side tracked people married to the expert of side tracked people keep their sanity????? AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I think I need a little escape this evening. WalMart to pick up some yogurt I need or.....could my walking friend be available? I will have to give her a call. I am feeling very loony at the moment.

Part of the homeschool insanity also is having to spend a lot of intense time taking care of my own children not including their laundry and stomach and then the cute husband comes home and needs care as well. Then......it doesn't end. Caring for them goes on and on till......ZZZZZZZ......I try to get a few winks before it starts all over again. Did I mention that the side tracked husband tends to come home only to leave for his next project so the little whining, crying, tired, hungry wungries are still here with their not so cute mommy. Hmmmm......

There really are no options but at least hubby is drawing the line in the sand with kids on TV and Internet till some subjects are caught up on. Somber children. Tired mommy.

Afternoon fun

My kids went sledding with some friends this afternoon. It was FREEZING out but they seemed to enjoy themselves. My parents came over to celebrate Benjamin and Cecilia's birthdays. Mom got Benjamin some sort of delightful drum that makes all kinds of noises with different music with. I wish I had the camera up and running as it most amusing to see her demonstrating how it worked. I think we need to find her one for her birthday as she seemed a little torn to be giving it away. She was calling us the last few weeks and demonstrating it over the phone to Benjamin. Hmmmmm.........I don't think she has grown up and I have a new perspecitive on what to get her from Christmas and her birthday.

House work

I think paying off the house might have inspired dh to take trimming out the house more seriously. Remember.....no nagging or asking any questions. What it has done for me is that I have been looking at the homestead differently when I pull in the driveway. Don't ask me why but I get this weird little feeling of "wow, no more payments" each time I've driven in since yesterday. I have less of a sensation to dance on the table but still might every so often just to keep my reputation with the children and husband of being odd alive and well.

I smell popcorn so must run and eat some. I love popcorn. My dear daughter made some popcorn and is a little cranky as she did not buy sufficient sewing supplies so cannot tackle her latest project. Poor, poor daughter. I feel for her and I am sure her daddy can too as he too has forgotten key supplies during one of his projects. Like father, like daughter. She is going to watch a movie instead. I should read more Bonhoeffer. I find a lot of Bonhoeffer hurts my brain and I can only take so much at a time.

Debt free!!!! Yippee!

God richly and daily provides all we need to support this body and life! The mortgage is paid off! Christ be praised! I am such a happy woman.

So I went to the bank today sort of by accident. Anna needed a pair of shoes repaired and the bank was across the street from the shoe doctor. I decide to pop in and ask about the whole process. Our goal this month at the bank was to pay off our mortgage. It did not occur to me until I walked into the bank that I could do that today. Charley only gets paid once a month so we weren't going to have another pay check so.....why not today? I told the information lady why I was there and we both got sort of excited. Surprisingly I got butterflies in my stomach as it was hitting me what a wonderful point this was in life to be completely debt free. I was not expecting to feel anything but while she was working out the paper work I was just feeling stunned and grateful it was over with. She warmly congratulated me and I skipped out the door with an official looking paper in hand. Jumping up and down for joy.

I called Charley and suggested we go out to eat to celebrate (we RARELY go out to eat) and he said something about wanting to celebrate with friends. I said "But Charles dear, I am your WIFE and this is OUR house we are talking about". "Oh, good point. Let's do that." So his choice is Texas Road House. It is not always my favorite as it can be a little loud at times but if the husband wants a steak then so be it. I am going to ask for a table rather than a squishy booth. Ingrid will be along for a ride and there is just no room in those booths for the mom and the baby.

Cheers everyone. If there is a little extra spring in my step you will know why.

New list idea

So it occurred to me that my making lists for the kids to do was making me a little nutty. Why do I have to make them lists? They are aware of what they need to do so I turned the table on them and told them to write on the board what THEY got DONE in the day after they completed something so when their dad got home they had evidence of how they spent their time on the board. I figured it also might make them more aware of how they were spending their time.

I was discussing possibilities of what they might include in their list. I had also just taken notice that a certain child had VERY little underwear in their laundry....hmmmm.....so without embarrassing that child, I mentioned they could include changing their underwear on their list. Actually I think there are several kids who seem to have a mysteriously small number in their weekly laundry. I am referring to the younger children. My dear eldest made sure to put that top on her list. I couldn't stop laughing.

I would say that overall they were much more concerned about how they spent their time. I also called their day their "free time" as there is MUCH whining around here about not having free time. They consistently frittter time away during the day if they have a list made by mom on the board. They have seemed to have no awareness of how fast time passes. We shall see how this goes. Day one of a new idea always seems to go better. Consistency is always the challenge.

Sadness and swallowing my pride

It is always a tough day when I realize I am not cutting the mustard any longer in providing for my baby. I have been through the turmoil of 'trying to do things better' and try to hang onto exclusively breastfeeding my little person and frankly it is the better thing for me to do to just shove some cereal (or beef ;O)) into her and put her back onto the road of weight gain. Yes, I spent an hour or two wondering when this happened yesterday as her last appointment showed her climbing up the weight percentile scale. Sigh. Solids are a pain and messy but I usually cave a month from now with solids with the rest of the kids anyway. Ingrid will be five monthstomorrow. I always feel a little pang of sorrow when I even hear mention of people struggling with leaking all over the place. None of that going on here.

So, shut up Karin, keep doing the next thing that you are given to do and Ingrid will still keep her cute smiley self and not be scarred by solids at five months. I should be glad I made it this far. January was a crazy month and hardly a restful one so I shouldn't be so surprised.

Oh, I figured this out through mere suspision that she had stopped gaining and through dragging her to the scale at my friend the doc's.

Oh......tread lightly if you feel the need to discuss this with me. Only words of "I am sure this is hard for you" will go over too well right now. The nursing mother brain can spiral into being inadequate, not trying hard enough, judging myself, etc. Understanding this concept is perhaps difficult for the population who has never nursed their baby, let alone eight of them. Anna was prematurely put on the bottle, solids etc at the coercion of others, Erik was the most talented at growing and eating, Matthew made it to nine month before solids (wow), Martin was 6 months, Cecilia five, Benjamin 6, Stefan 6 but should have been 4 probably, and so now Ingrid is five. I suppose that is average for me.

Sniff, sniff, where did I put those little spoons anyway and NO I do not need new ones.

She doesn't mind

For the record, Anna doesn't mind these comments. She is used to it by now. She did say she would prefer if people would ask instead of assume. That's all......

Giving blood

So Anna wanted to give blood today but her hemoglobin (or something related) was not high enough. She was bummed. I had Ingrid with me of course and the nurse asked Anna if the baby was hers. Sigh. She wasn't embarrassed, just a tiny bit annoyed. Anna then said that she thought all the hoity toity (spelling?) parents at the audition probably thought Ingrid was hers and that is why her mommy was holding the baby for her. (I haven't had a chance since she said that to point out that her mommy wasn't just HOLDING the baby.) I don't think she is upset with the me or the situation but I am sure it is awkward to be a young 17 year old with a four month old baby sister who might be hers in other people's eyes.

What I did during the Innaugeration

I copied and pasted my favorite jokes from Susan's blog. I discovered my son's quote from Christmas was one of them but the one that has had me in stitches the most is the kid whose Dad was part of Democratic National Convention. My dh's eyes bugged out of his head while I was telling him.

Another funny dream

This time we were all at church on Sunday and it was the end of the service. There were some construction workers outside the walls and there were construction evidence inside of the church. The pastors had exited the church and were waiting to greet people in the back when suddenly some guy comes and tells us that the walls are unstable and we should really get out quickly. Well, we have this tradition of the ushers, ushering everyone out so no one got up to leave. The ushers must have left as no ushers came to usher us out to greet the pastors. Then, suddenly Pastor Stuckwisch ran back up the isle and into the sacristy declaring he needed to blow his nose. Hmmmm.......Anna thinks that last part was because of a discussion the two of us had about Matthew. We were sort of giggling that the poor boy would have to learn better sinus habits if he ever thought he wanted to become a pastor. The church falling down part I think came from another discussion at church about how there were some pressing needs at the church that needed attention and someone used the phrase of the church falling apart.

Then the dream progressed to my saying goodbye to Sandy before her trip and giving her a hug. So Sandy, hugs from the blog and from my dream. I will send you an email hug too. I missed being able to say goodbye to you on Sunday but I did in my dreams. You are in my prayers.

The Hiding Place and Cost of Discipleship

I am done rereading "The Hiding Place" and am about a third of the way through "The Cost". The first is a reread and I suppose since it has been 20 plus years since I first read it, I would say it is worth rereading more often. Anna and I talked about it and agree that this book and "A Day in the Life of Ivan D" are pretty similar. It is astounding and scary to read the potential for sick, cruel hatred and also humbling and inspiring to read of people capable of loving and forgiving their tormentors.

"The Cost of Discipleship" is definitely humbling as well. Some phrases are perhaps a little confusing to this bear of small brain but I am enjoying reading it. I cannot put my thoughts down in bloggerdom quite as poetically as some but this book lays it on the line what it means to love our neighbor and exactly what cost there is to the Christian who lives out their faith in this world in service and love for their neighbor. I am sure I am not stating that exactly right but my brain at least knows what I am talking about. I am looking forward to discussing this book with my class and hopefully a pastor or two.

Another book I really enjoyed last year related to WWII was "The Book Thief." This is a new publication and what I especially enjoy about this book is it shows the war through the eyes of German citizens and helps the reader understand how many people were caught in a state where resistance was not tolerated and that there were people who quietly resisted, loved one another and did what they could for all people who were suffering and dying during the war. It is mainly about the life of a young girl who is taken in by a German family and explores her relationship with that family and the people in her neighborhood. The characters may seem harsh at first but the author reveals their frailties and fears, and their hidden qualities that are more caring then first appears on the surface. It reminds me of situations like going to church and only knowing some people on the surface but if you were able to spend more time with them you would grow to appreciate them far more. The surface relationship is so deceiving and lends itself to fast judgements. Not everyone is flamboyant in their lives with other people and what they live out in reality can be far richer than that quick judgement or ignoring of the quiet, ever present people who are all around us. I guess I especially enjoy books where the characters are well developed and you form a relationship with the characters as their stories progress. I especially enjoyed this aspect of this book.

Most of my reading has been for the classes I teach in our co-op so there won't be too many for fun books on my list.

I think I need some exercise

I have been living somewhat in terror of the scale and contrary to some people's opinion need to figure out how to lose even a little bit of weight. I can't go to the extreme of my popcorn diet of years ago as Ingrid probably would be the loser in that plan, but SOMETHING needs to change. I was having a great time exercising over Christmas break but now it has been snowing or completely way too cold to even get outside. My not exercising also brings on that word Anna uses of Constantensation which I haven't fully appreciated it's meaning till I finally figured out what that meant this weekend. There is nothing to make me feel that tense outside of an overwhelming list of things to do and also my desire to curl up in a chair and catch up on all the reading I need to do for school. Reading in a chair will not help the filth go away.

The kids are upstairs taking down the tree and then I hope to clean up the blurp on the floors before Anna and I run off to an organ concert at ND. I need to fit in feeding the blurper in the next hour as well. Hmmmm........

I will try not to think too much about my newly stocked supply of Meade (spelling?) that might tempt me while avoiding my vocation. "Mom!" chirps the two year old as he discovers me in the basement. He is napless and didn't eat lunch so early to bed for him tonight.

Ok, ok, back to the house rescue......

She did great !

I meant to blog last night but I was WAY too tired and too busy wrestling with Ingrid to do it. Anna was enjoying some very silly Youtube stuff that another organ student was talking about so there was much giggling while I was attempting la la land.

Her audition was Friday morning at 8:30am. We got up at 6:00 and were at the school for her to warm up by 7:30am. Warming up had two meanings. It was only 8 below zero in Bloomington as compared to 19 below in South Bend but certainly cold enough that her feet and fingers needed some warming up before she warmed up her playing on the organ. Brrrrr......we have a knack for picking politically correct weather. (You know that extreme weather is a result of global warming don't you???? Even though as a kid this was considered normal weather) Last spring it was unusually warm when we visited. Her warming up had its glitches thanks to nerves I think. We left for her audition at 20 after and Dr. Fischell and Dr. Young greeted her warmly and in she went. Ingrid and I were in the hallway outside. You can hear everything through the doors. After a tiny bobble in the beginning, Anna sailed through her pieces beautifully. I was busy pacing with Ingrid, trying to concentrate on praying for her (it is hard to pray while listening to a prelude and fugue did you know that?) and also thinking about how incredible Bach's pieces are to begin with. Her other piece was some Mendelssohn sonata which also went very well.

She had to sight read a hymn and she tells me that the professors told her to pretend the pastor gave her a new hymn on Monday to prepare for Sunday. This to a girl who looks up the hymn for Monday evenings on Monday afternoon. She believes she just smiled and went ahead and played. I could only hear a little bit of that and had never heard that hymn before but it seemed to go fine.

We had many conversations with the organ professors after that which I at least found helpful. I am always full of questions so I can understand what is going on. She should know in a month, the result of her audition but considering our conversations and the fact that they seem to be building their organ program, I am optimistic she will get in.

We had dinner with the organ students last night and they impressed me as a great group of young people who seemed very down to earth and serious about their studies. One grad student has two children so she would not have to miss little people all together as they come to all their events. Their names are Carolina, and Annaka. The name Annaka they told me was in the same name family as Nancy. Who knew - sorry Mom, I didn't know...... We got back to the hotel close to nine and I hope to get on the road around nine this morning. It is Benjamin's birthday so I need to get stuff around for him. Perhaps we won't be able to pull off cake till tomorrow but who knows.

It was a great experience overall so we push onwards to the next thing in the Horner family.

Snow, running around and the homelife

I think I am hiding right now from the reality of life with the kiddos. I better type fast. It has been a hectic day as I knew it would be. We are having more than the usual ammount of snow for us today and all week. I am keeping the plan to leave sometime on Thursday afternoon as the time to leave for Bloomington. They are calling for a foot of snow tomorrow and into Thursday but they say that is ending at one. Hmmm......we may be leaving a little later than I thought. Those people in Duluth who read this blog are not required to express any sympathy for us Southeners. I am actually delighted to get real snow but why does it always have to decide to come when I have travel plans????

Whenever I have a day to run around my children at home decide it must be a vacation day. Not. I find it very difficult to keep after the grading on days like this so I am in a 'give up' mode which I know just affirms their idea that they are on vacation. I NEED to go upstairs and round the troops.

Matthew had an orthodontist appointment, Anna had an organ lesson, and I had an appointment to see how painful it might be to renew my teaching license. I want to take a few courses to help me more effectively teach the kiddos English/literature and have been toying with taking a very slow journey towards working on a Master's in English. This may be totally insane but according to the lady I spoke with today, lots of people take this approach. I can not say I was that impressed with the interview itself but would have to take courses locally anyway so I can not be too picky. In light of my scary, screaming children I may even give up on the idea of a few courses to renew my teaching license but we shall see. Stefan must have a nap hangover or a nap cut short too soon to produce a happy child. Sigh.

Back to the vocation........

Finally winter

Just kidding. It has been winter here for awhile but I haven't changed my view from my window picture. At least it is obvious it is winter in this picture. Today was the "Big Tree Contest" award ceremony. OOOhhhhhh! Aren't you excited and impressed. The tree in the view is the largest Beech Tree in our county. Our shagbark hickory is also the largest in the county. Every time we go this cute little event the kids chat about how certainly we have some more winners but then they never bother to measure them for the next contest. Oh well. Not much changes around here. Everything is about wood in one way or another.

The kids are sledding at the moment and I need to retrieve my ten year old from Grandma's. I thought I would throw in a picture of our three girls since I believe it is the first picture of the trio we have taken. Pretty nice picture eh? I need to go figure out my school stuff for Monday and am hoping I can remember where we left off in December. That will be a trick.

Off to the Knackers with me

If I were a cow (which I am not) I would have been sent to the knackers a long time ago. Nursing babies is WORK for me. There are those moms who worry about leaking all over the place but not me. I am just happy my baby is leaking at all. The past several babies have been a challenge in the weight gain department so I have had to really concentrate on how much I eat, drink, rest etc. If I get that right then I can at least provide for the little peep squeaks. The other thing I have resorted to and not given a hoot about is having little Miss Ingrid stay with me all night. The little nipper at least will get a bonus then and her weight gain has been the best of any of them. The question of "Is she sleeping through the night?" is always a little awkward as I cannot help people understand this sleeping with the baby thing and not see it as I am spoiling her or something. She is actually a very happy and content baby so why throw her in her crib just yet? The few babies before her that I threw them in the crib started to lose their steady gain of weight trend. Do I care if those moms who are not off to the knackers put their babies in their cribs from the get go? No. I sometimes can feel that I am not a 'with it' mom as I haven't done that yet with Ingrid but I am at least happy to be a 42 year old mom who does not really give a hoot if I am doing this mom thing right or not. Being 40 something is certainly good for learning how to ignore the norms of society.

No that was not an announcement

We are not expecting twins or singletons so in case you misunderstood that last post.....that was not an announcement, just an if......(I am easily misunderstood......)

You are amazing

So says many when visiting with us. I guess I should be flying high since people find me so amazing. Am I really so amazing or just doing what God has given me to do? In the next breath the same people will look at me with concern and ask if we are going to have anymore children. I am not so fond of that question as it smacks of "None of your business and this seems like a pretty personal question to me." Hmmmmm......this has been discussed on another blog before so this is not a new thought. Where but with my like minded friends can I talk about how I am OK with my family and my life. Sure there are times when I wish some of the kiddos would learn to not be such sinful little creatures but sin happens. I just need to stay up a little later at times to recharge.

I was contemplating this morning, how moms of many ARE professionals. Who else can manage children of all ages as well as mothers and not find it freakish to have one preparing for college while there is a two year old being introduced to the potty and a four month old 'vomiting' (as the neighbor called it) on the floor beside him. It goes with the territory. The game plan of the morning IS.......spring from bed, start decaf machine, reboot laundry, feed and water dog and kick him out, fold laundry, contemplate whether to get the crew up, and perhaps wash a floor or two (yes, I do wash floors on occasion and without guilt), unload dishwasher, contemplate dinner and if there is anything for lunch and then at 8:00am deal with the kids who are up and compiling their list for the day. Then while doing all that I think random thoughts of what each child needs and sometimes an occasional thought of the older children's lives and what is the next thing I need to do for them besides find them clothes that fit or cut their hair or whatever. Who says that being a mother is mindless. I also throw in there the wife vocation (oh yeah, him) and consider whether he has clothes that are ironed and presentable, if his tummy is happy, are the children following the tightwad regiment, and if the legos are out of his path to protect his poor feet in the night or early morning. (I just thought how God gave me Ingrid to keep up on the floor washing - blurp, blurp.)

If being a wife and mother and taking care of the people in my life is so unrewarding than why am I so busy? It must be drudgery eh? My favorite part is helping the older kids contemplate their future vocations and work on those areas that need attention. I have especially enjoyed teaching literature in our coop so my reading brain is exercised.

Why would anyone feel fulfilled caring for people in their lives? If you are a doctor or nurse and get a paycheck then caring for others is considered worthwhile but if you care for your family it must be less admirable????? Go figure.

So.....if we have twins next year or a singleton then don't fuss at me. I don't mind my family and we have tightwadism and 'affording' the children down to a science. I put 'affording' in quotes as that seems rather insulting. Do I look into my baby's eyes and contemplate if I will be able to 'afford' her???? Not! If I love my life why do others worry themselves with if it is right for me????? Ok, I will shut up now. Well....no I am not upset at anyone in particular but little comments accumulate into thought processes on how the general public evaluates what I am up to........

Psyching ourselves up

I should just say that I am psyched up for Anna. I went again to her lesson which it ended up that we were there quite a long time. Her poor teacher must have been soaking up the last opportunities to sleep in before his classes begin and he.....forgot. He actually remembered at 9:00am when we were supposed to begin and came 45 minutes later. I never saw a man look so humbly embarrassed over forgetting. It was ok. His guilt afforded us a longer lesson and Anna was able to practice a long time before and afterwards.

We leave a week from today. We plan to party on Thursday night and try to be responsible and calm and go to bed early on Friday. Her audition is at 8:30am (ouch) on Saturday so we will have to be up plenty early so as not to be too groggy for the event. I suppose I can sleep in a chair somewhere as I doubt I will be with her considering Ingrid will be with me. It is exciting to me to hear her progress and I guess it is somewhat invigorating to witness another person excelling at what they have worked so hard to do.

Had a conversation last night with an empty nester and she was looking at me quite seriously and telling me how incredibly hard the process was for her. Sigh. "You are going to miss her terribly Karin". I know. She knew what I meant that I would miss her companionship most of all. Many assume I will miss her ability to work around the house and help with the kids but frankly there hasn't been too much of that going on so I am already weaned from that. Erik and Matthew are 'the housekeepers' now. They will be WELL equipped for the life ahead of them.

Oh, Ingrid was talking with the Notre Dame employees who were VERY charmed with her cuteness. Her best compliment yet was "Ingrid, what a absolutely wonderful name!" Thank you Notre Dame employee. Most people don't say anything at all. Another woman earlier this week said "Ingrid, we need more Ingrids in the world" Yes, we do. Perhaps we will start a trend.

I am now at my mother's and Ingrid is getting eaten up by her Grandmother. What will she do without anymore babies to hold? Ingrid is wonderful to hold. She has enjoyed every single one of the babies (ok, Stefan was a little difficult). The kids are VERY quiet right now and we are wondering what they are doing. Hmmmm........

Overload

I have been playi;ng 'put out the fires' lately. Between helping Anna to calmly get ready for her audition, getting a hold of the house, listening to screaming, irrational two year olds, and doing all the incidentals I would say I am in a little bit of struggle time. Am I ok? Yes, I suppose. I think I am ok but drat that vocation is keeping me on my toes and I feel life is RRUUUNNNN and not much fun. I did have a great weekend visiting with many friends who I don't see enough of but I am definitely paying for it now.

I went to Anna's lesson on Monday and all I can say is "wow!" I didn't know her fingers moved that fast. I think she should be fine for her audition. She seems pretty confidant and has another lesson on Thursday morning. She gets to play in the Debartemelo Building (whatever it is called) on this INCREDIBLE organ. She did that through the summer too and since ND is not up and running yet she is having a few lessons there.

I also seem to not be able to remember anything. I have lost A LOT of stuff that I need to find. I found one of them and that is a relief but now I have an illusive library book that needs located. I put things in special places so I will remember where they are and voila! I forget where that is.

Screaming. Why must two year olds scream? There is no talking sense into them. I thank God for bedtime which at least affords an hour or so of peace before I fall asleep and then......he's up again. He did nap today but I was of course away from home and couldn't enjoy that quiet for too long. When he is happy he is quite cute and agreeable but I think he has the winter blues or something. He loves being outside but refuses to wear mittens so....he can't go out.

Charley returned to his work vocation yesterday. He is somewhat tight lipped and biding his time on a few issues so I am hoping there is some resolution for him. His previous boss retired before Christmas......we shall see.

It is almost time to take off for the Epiphany service but took time to write this little post.