Let me take you on a little journey...
Sep. 20th, 2007 06:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameOr maybe it's a big journey. For whoever doesn't know, like my grandparents, there's this ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ditl community - it stands for "Day In The Life". You take pictures all day, with captions, and then post it and everybody comments and then at the end of the week someone wins the weekly contest for their ditl being the best.
I wanted to do a ditl. I PLANNED to do a ditl. But, well...we have some long days. LONG. And I just don't have time or inclination to learn how to do fancy little imprinted text and borders and make it all pretty and neato. As you will understand after clicking this cut, if you dare. Plus I have a penchant for narrating ;)
Don't even do it if you're on dial-up.
I prepare this thing each night-before. This morning I got up to find Grant had erased "Pick Daddy up from work", as he had made other arrangements to get back.
Rise and Shine is at 9 am
I also baked muffins the night before, which is typical and sometimes life saving. Strawberry.
At least some people can dress themselves. And do some morning chores.
I look at this and hear the stabbing sound from "Psycho". It's...THE LAUNDRY ROOM.
You don't get to see me folding towels, getting clothes out and adding them to the mountain on the changing table, moving diapers to the dryer, and adding more to the washer. I do something similar every morning, usually as they eat/play.
Baby butts make it all better.
I find clothes for the three littlest, and help with some shoes, and remember I need to get dressed.
Elise wears her Halloween outfit to La Leche League today.
Ananda did her hair herself, and I think it's kind of awesome.
A compilation of artists who also work at Starbucks. We got this in Boston and got sick of it listening to it driving down the WHOOOOOLE East Coast, but it's been long enough that now it's nostalgic and cool again.
"Historic Downtown Homestead" O_o
Awesome new independant bookstore...
And we're not even late! Can you imagine? Us, not late!
They supply all this in the kids' section, and the owner's homeschooled kids are usually there during the day :)
Laura says, "I saw your van and said, 'Oh no Brian, Tina's here, we must be late!'" Tina says, "Shut up, Hobag." But I laughed as I said it.
! Leader's daughter is SO CUTE.
I had to chase Jake around WAY TOO MUCH - next time he'll be on my back or I'll bring the stroller to strap him into if he's that wild. And I nursed both of them and changed one of them. And then it took forever to cross the street back to the van, and to find the keys in my purse and diaper bag, and everyone is sweating up a storm when we're all finally strapped in because IT IS HOT!
Back at the ranch, they are "starving", and after copious amounts of ice water everyone wants...more muffins. Are muffins a food group?
I try to round out their lunch a little.
Tangent - I found that and all these other watermelon plates in a clearance bin at the grocery store and love them. We are a picnicing sort of lot, after all.
And while I'm doing this, let me tell you about the set of four teacups and saucers I found at Goodwill for just .50 each!
"Hahahahaha, can you believe that as I'm talking to you, I'm arranging my dishes on the counter and taking pictures of them to post on the internet?"
Well Good Morning Sunshine. Ah, to be 17 and goth on a tropical afternoon...
We always watch Reading Rainbow in the afternoon.
So that means I can get a free minute to check my friends' page and comments...
And show you my awesome yarn - HOW I LOVE YARN - and the storage system my man dreamed up and recently executed. Note the little hook holder thing on the side of it.
Alas, with mother distracted, my toddler has scattered my free LLL tote all over and now the baby wants to eat it all...
I surrendur the computer after cleaning it up...
And while I was busy with that, I don't think it was the dinosaur that scattered muffin all over the carpet...
It probably also wasn't him that pooped on the carpet.
NO FOOD ON THE CARPET AND WE KEEP OUR DIAPER *ON*!
*afternoon chores not pictured*
School time...
This guy has a sore throat and wanted tea with honey.
Spot mopping...we get a lot of spots.
LEETH-T! he calls her happily.
And it's time for ballet, after a big shoe finding debacle.
Is it normal in other places for this to be on your left, and that out in front of you?
It's a bit of a commute and the smallest take naps the whole way there - we hang out for awhile parked and talking after I drop Ananda off at the door and she runs in.
But then they wake up.
I brought this to go over with them all as a review, during and after the class.
"Can I take a picture?" asks Aaron.
DAMN.IT.ALL.
So we stop at the gas station and fill it up with air and it seems to hold well. For now. I have a pretty accurate tire pressure gauge on the dashboard, so I can check it frequently.
It stays stable the whole way home in the slow lane.
I've had people give me crap in my picture posts because I have a palm tree in my yard. They think it's kind of cliche and tacky, being from up north. Evidently they don't realize that there are literally dozens of palm trees in the suburban yards up and down my one-block-long street, and that palm tree FARMS line the highways. So today on the way home I took some pictures I've wanted to show some people *coughPOPPYcough* for awhile - these are taken about a half mile apart, all on one road that could seriously be any major road in Homestead. Any.
Then there are the stores, churches and homes.
It's not just the postcards, folks.
I get home and find Laura is already here.
As is Grant, who is as sick as Isaac is starting to say he is :/
Then the camera batteries died. So you miss us doing our "hectic day" quickie dinner, which is Grant running to get a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store while I boil water for Annie's mac n cheese from the giant case we keep on hand and steaming whatever vegetable is available in the fridge. Laura and Brian were here for it, and there was prayer involved. Grant and I managed to snag some minutes in our room to just lay together and be all yummy close and tell each other things about the day, until someone found us out and started jumping all over the two of us. I'm sure something else happened, too; it probably involved lactating, diapers and laughter. And evening chores.
Then the batteries are done, and everyone else plays while Aaron gets ready for karate, that Bob is going to come along and watch.
When we get back, Bob wordlessly holds his hands out for Elise, as they are BFFs. It ends when he lays her down in the bed.
Then it's time for Laura to go; there are hugs goodbye.
And then I help all the kids apply these big wall clings Grant got them today while he was out working - Isaac's are shown - and do the first load of dishes (there are always two before I make it to bed), and finally get around to that spanish review we TOTALLY forgot about at the dance school.
And then it would be already-late-bedtime...but Grant is sickER, now, as is Isaac, and Jake and Aaron are starting to sniffle and look glassy-eyed.
So Grant stays with them all camped out in front of Cinderella, while I make a late run to Winn Dixie for gatorade and soup and, while I'm there, some things we can use for tomorrow. What the hell is all over my pants?
After manic shopping and rapid put away, it's star chart time, then teeth brushing...
And we read.
Him too.
And it finally seems as though Grant and I can camp out in side-by-side chairs and watch Brotherhood 2.0 and whatever else may have run across at the office...
And we do, and Jake decides to take the opportunity to run in the sleeping-big-kids' room and open up the dresser drawers like stairs to climb to get to Annie's top bunk, thusly pulling the whole thing down on himself. We sprint towards his screams after the crashing sounds, and lift it all off of him and him out. After much screaming and terror we see he has a small lump on his forehead and a little cut on his cheek, as well as his crying drastically worsening his runny nose. I am also crying and clutching at him, as he does to me. I did not think to take pictures of any of this, and my brother was kind enough to clean up most of the mess that resulted (including a shattered lightbulb) while we cleaned Jake up. He seemed fine, though a bad headache seemed to develop later. We decided to hack the legs from under the dresser and stabilize it with 2x4s that run from just in front to just behind, on the bottom, ASAP, because this happened once before years ago, with another child, but we thought we fixed the problem by rearranging the weight in it and moving the thing. Then we hear that the commotion has awakened Elise.
And as Isaac then wakes up hysterical about his illness and sounding a little croupy, wanting NOTHING but Daddy...this is me 5 hours later.
If anyone *hemhem* would like to make it pretty for me...well that would be fine and I'm sure I'd post it over there :p
As it is I am only just finishing it even though I've been walking over every "spare moment" and it's just getting done...because today we had a double ped appt, and the big kids had awana, and we've only just gotten the three sick little ones to sleep simultaneously for the first time at 5:49 am. And I have MORE DISHES AND LAUNDRY TO DO, and one of us is going to sleep inclined with Elise on chest because AFTER G went and got it, I found out baby decongestants aren't reccomended for infants with a history of seizures :/ And tomorrow is already booked, even though I'm not sure anyone will be up for anything, and we haven't even replaced the stupid tire (that had to be refilled again today) yet.
*Grant Sr is out of town for a couple of weeks with Robbie staying at Teresa's, as if often the case, if anyone was wondering.
ditl community - it stands for "Day In The Life". You take pictures all day, with captions, and then post it and everybody comments and then at the end of the week someone wins the weekly contest for their ditl being the best.I wanted to do a ditl. I PLANNED to do a ditl. But, well...we have some long days. LONG. And I just don't have time or inclination to learn how to do fancy little imprinted text and borders and make it all pretty and neato. As you will understand after clicking this cut, if you dare. Plus I have a penchant for narrating ;)
Don't even do it if you're on dial-up.
I prepare this thing each night-before. This morning I got up to find Grant had erased "Pick Daddy up from work", as he had made other arrangements to get back.
Rise and Shine is at 9 am
I also baked muffins the night before, which is typical and sometimes life saving. Strawberry.
At least some people can dress themselves. And do some morning chores.
I look at this and hear the stabbing sound from "Psycho". It's...THE LAUNDRY ROOM.
You don't get to see me folding towels, getting clothes out and adding them to the mountain on the changing table, moving diapers to the dryer, and adding more to the washer. I do something similar every morning, usually as they eat/play.
Baby butts make it all better.
I find clothes for the three littlest, and help with some shoes, and remember I need to get dressed.
Elise wears her Halloween outfit to La Leche League today.
Ananda did her hair herself, and I think it's kind of awesome.
A compilation of artists who also work at Starbucks. We got this in Boston and got sick of it listening to it driving down the WHOOOOOLE East Coast, but it's been long enough that now it's nostalgic and cool again.
"Historic Downtown Homestead" O_o
Awesome new independant bookstore...
And we're not even late! Can you imagine? Us, not late!
They supply all this in the kids' section, and the owner's homeschooled kids are usually there during the day :)
Laura says, "I saw your van and said, 'Oh no Brian, Tina's here, we must be late!'" Tina says, "Shut up, Hobag." But I laughed as I said it.
! Leader's daughter is SO CUTE.
I had to chase Jake around WAY TOO MUCH - next time he'll be on my back or I'll bring the stroller to strap him into if he's that wild. And I nursed both of them and changed one of them. And then it took forever to cross the street back to the van, and to find the keys in my purse and diaper bag, and everyone is sweating up a storm when we're all finally strapped in because IT IS HOT!
Back at the ranch, they are "starving", and after copious amounts of ice water everyone wants...more muffins. Are muffins a food group?
I try to round out their lunch a little.
Tangent - I found that and all these other watermelon plates in a clearance bin at the grocery store and love them. We are a picnicing sort of lot, after all.
And while I'm doing this, let me tell you about the set of four teacups and saucers I found at Goodwill for just .50 each!
"Hahahahaha, can you believe that as I'm talking to you, I'm arranging my dishes on the counter and taking pictures of them to post on the internet?"
Well Good Morning Sunshine. Ah, to be 17 and goth on a tropical afternoon...
We always watch Reading Rainbow in the afternoon.
So that means I can get a free minute to check my friends' page and comments...
And show you my awesome yarn - HOW I LOVE YARN - and the storage system my man dreamed up and recently executed. Note the little hook holder thing on the side of it.
Alas, with mother distracted, my toddler has scattered my free LLL tote all over and now the baby wants to eat it all...
I surrendur the computer after cleaning it up...
And while I was busy with that, I don't think it was the dinosaur that scattered muffin all over the carpet...
It probably also wasn't him that pooped on the carpet.
NO FOOD ON THE CARPET AND WE KEEP OUR DIAPER *ON*!
*afternoon chores not pictured*
School time...
This guy has a sore throat and wanted tea with honey.
Spot mopping...we get a lot of spots.
LEETH-T! he calls her happily.
And it's time for ballet, after a big shoe finding debacle.
Is it normal in other places for this to be on your left, and that out in front of you?
It's a bit of a commute and the smallest take naps the whole way there - we hang out for awhile parked and talking after I drop Ananda off at the door and she runs in.
But then they wake up.
I brought this to go over with them all as a review, during and after the class.
"Can I take a picture?" asks Aaron.
DAMN.IT.ALL.
So we stop at the gas station and fill it up with air and it seems to hold well. For now. I have a pretty accurate tire pressure gauge on the dashboard, so I can check it frequently.
It stays stable the whole way home in the slow lane.
I've had people give me crap in my picture posts because I have a palm tree in my yard. They think it's kind of cliche and tacky, being from up north. Evidently they don't realize that there are literally dozens of palm trees in the suburban yards up and down my one-block-long street, and that palm tree FARMS line the highways. So today on the way home I took some pictures I've wanted to show some people *coughPOPPYcough* for awhile - these are taken about a half mile apart, all on one road that could seriously be any major road in Homestead. Any.
Then there are the stores, churches and homes.
It's not just the postcards, folks.
I get home and find Laura is already here.
As is Grant, who is as sick as Isaac is starting to say he is :/
Then the camera batteries died. So you miss us doing our "hectic day" quickie dinner, which is Grant running to get a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store while I boil water for Annie's mac n cheese from the giant case we keep on hand and steaming whatever vegetable is available in the fridge. Laura and Brian were here for it, and there was prayer involved. Grant and I managed to snag some minutes in our room to just lay together and be all yummy close and tell each other things about the day, until someone found us out and started jumping all over the two of us. I'm sure something else happened, too; it probably involved lactating, diapers and laughter. And evening chores.
Then the batteries are done, and everyone else plays while Aaron gets ready for karate, that Bob is going to come along and watch.
When we get back, Bob wordlessly holds his hands out for Elise, as they are BFFs. It ends when he lays her down in the bed.
Then it's time for Laura to go; there are hugs goodbye.
And then I help all the kids apply these big wall clings Grant got them today while he was out working - Isaac's are shown - and do the first load of dishes (there are always two before I make it to bed), and finally get around to that spanish review we TOTALLY forgot about at the dance school.
And then it would be already-late-bedtime...but Grant is sickER, now, as is Isaac, and Jake and Aaron are starting to sniffle and look glassy-eyed.
So Grant stays with them all camped out in front of Cinderella, while I make a late run to Winn Dixie for gatorade and soup and, while I'm there, some things we can use for tomorrow. What the hell is all over my pants?
After manic shopping and rapid put away, it's star chart time, then teeth brushing...
And we read.
Him too.
And it finally seems as though Grant and I can camp out in side-by-side chairs and watch Brotherhood 2.0 and whatever else may have run across at the office...
And we do, and Jake decides to take the opportunity to run in the sleeping-big-kids' room and open up the dresser drawers like stairs to climb to get to Annie's top bunk, thusly pulling the whole thing down on himself. We sprint towards his screams after the crashing sounds, and lift it all off of him and him out. After much screaming and terror we see he has a small lump on his forehead and a little cut on his cheek, as well as his crying drastically worsening his runny nose. I am also crying and clutching at him, as he does to me. I did not think to take pictures of any of this, and my brother was kind enough to clean up most of the mess that resulted (including a shattered lightbulb) while we cleaned Jake up. He seemed fine, though a bad headache seemed to develop later. We decided to hack the legs from under the dresser and stabilize it with 2x4s that run from just in front to just behind, on the bottom, ASAP, because this happened once before years ago, with another child, but we thought we fixed the problem by rearranging the weight in it and moving the thing. Then we hear that the commotion has awakened Elise.
And as Isaac then wakes up hysterical about his illness and sounding a little croupy, wanting NOTHING but Daddy...this is me 5 hours later.
If anyone *hemhem* would like to make it pretty for me...well that would be fine and I'm sure I'd post it over there :p
As it is I am only just finishing it even though I've been walking over every "spare moment" and it's just getting done...because today we had a double ped appt, and the big kids had awana, and we've only just gotten the three sick little ones to sleep simultaneously for the first time at 5:49 am. And I have MORE DISHES AND LAUNDRY TO DO, and one of us is going to sleep inclined with Elise on chest because AFTER G went and got it, I found out baby decongestants aren't reccomended for infants with a history of seizures :/ And tomorrow is already booked, even though I'm not sure anyone will be up for anything, and we haven't even replaced the stupid tire (that had to be refilled again today) yet.
*Grant Sr is out of town for a couple of weeks with Robbie staying at Teresa's, as if often the case, if anyone was wondering.
