Thursday, July 29, 2010

Well, What a Day!

Today, for what may be the first time in my life as a mother...well, maybe the first time in my life as a mother of more children than four, should we say?....I made a To Do List. And stuck to it. Like glue. Kinda. I didn't get the laundry done. Otherwise my very, very long list got all checked off!!!

I mean, I'm really to the point in life I don't even make those dreaded lists 'cause I'm sure to fail, then I begin to feel like a failure and get depressed, then quit making the lists....so what's the point?

This time, I'm not sure what was different. Maybe it was that the majority of the list was phone calls. They were very important phone calls. Calls to clarify car insurance information. Calls to verify health insurance information. Calls to clarify boat insurance information. Calls to find out that although the boat insurance was clarified, it was never processed....so back to clarify the boat insurance information. This was in between about 6 diarrhea diapers on one kid, washing diarrhea bedding, diarrhea clothing, diarrhea trails on the floor...oh, and I was just informed that one of the kittens pooped on the floor. That one's easy 'cause the kitties are the girls' responsibility and if they don't take care of it, the kitties go 'cause Mama's pregnant. Whew! Now I was informed that it wasn't in fact kitty poop but a lint ball....?.... In addition to all the phone calls, there were important computer issues to deal with..setting up an account with the above-mentioned boat insurance so I don't have to try to remember to keep up with the payments every month..they will be automatically processed. Checking if our Finnish twins updated their Facebook, mop floors, run the dishwasher the fifty times that were required to catch up on dishes....Wow!

The girls baked two Finnish cakes, did their jobs, and are behaving quite well today.

I was able to make a fresh garden vegetable soup...most of the veggies picked straight from the garden, washed, and tossed into the pot...along with some meat.

How do days like this happen? I mean, I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth but I just don't get it. Usually my days just continue on the path of my post from yesterday....all that before noon....and after noon....and until midnight...and starting again in the morning!

Well, with that, I guess I better go address that one more diarrhea diaper I just heard loading up...I can just see our diaper supply disappearing before my eyes today. I have to go bust into my van stash cause I just ran out in the house. And dig every diaper bag out that I find. And dig into a few more corners. We should last until our Sam's Club run tomorrow. Crossing my fingers!!! :)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Our Twins!!!

They came, and they left! :(

This summer we were blessed with the presence of 17 y.o. twin girls from Finland. They are just about the nicest girls you could ever wish to have in your home. They were friendly, outgoing but not at all overbearing, helpful, patient with the kids, thoughtful....you couldn't ever find a better package deal. They helped without us asking, did the dishes, took care of their own laundry, bedroom, bedding, baked, cooked....many times I would have to run an errand or just do some outside work, leaving my oldest two in charge, to come home to a meal cooking. They weren't here to be our nannies for sure, they were here to learn English and just kind of hang out with our family, but they were kind of unstoppable, those two! They are the oldest of 11 kids, so they are used to working hard. They many times told me they do much more at home so to them, they just preferred to keep busy.

Sadly, our camcorder charger was lost the entire time they were here and our camera for part of the time had dead batteries, then when I finally remembered to buy batteries, the memory card was missing! I finally bought a cheap memory card but then couldn't find the camera! We used their cameras the last night they were here and got some pics and they also promised to send me pictures that they took over the summer.

We will miss them greatly!!!!


Here, one of the girls is giving three of our girls a lesson in baking sampyla, a Finnish bread/bun that we fell in love with!

We will miss these girls greatly and hope to see them again!

As I was typing this post, I got a return text from one of them saying their trip went well and they will soon be home in northern Finland. They haven't seen their siblings yet...the kids are all waiting to see them, I'm sure!!!! :)

It's Only Noon AND.....

I've already changed a huge poop, have another two waiting for me, wiped up two spilled milk messes, cleaned up puke, and now my baby spilled a huge cup of milk!!!!!! Thank goodness for big girl helpers, my second oldest is mopping that last milk mess up...my oldest also changed a pee diaper.

I have been trying to make my way to the dishwasher, to no avail. Whenever I get near, I get either my 2 y.o. or 1 y.o. hanging on me or the dishwasher door. I always try to have morning time be primarily kid time, then try to make up lost time after my littlest one goes to sleep but sometimes could I pleeeeaaaase at least get the dishwasher going to do its work while we sit????

***SIGH***