Cheering and Parenting

 Kennon ran in her first home cross country meet of the season. Here she is running with the pack just after the start. They hold the race at a local farm so they run through the woods,  up big hills, around ponds,  through rows of apples trees, and sometimes swarms of bees.

And here she comes. I know I have said this before but I love seeing my daughter race across the finish line.  I even jumped up out of my chair and cheered. She placed 13th overall. She also was voted to be team captain this season. Go, Go Kennon. 


Notice the new blue shoes. After so many miles, this is Kennon's first time racing in new shoes. In the past she wore whatever Mom picked up 2nd hand in her size. But she had outgrown her 8's and refused to take over my 9's that have been gathering dust the last few months on my shelf.  She was determined to have a new pair that she could put her own miles on. It made sense. She runs about 10 miles each week. 


Well, all the kids needed sports equipment this year. So we decided to hand out $50 dollars each and let them run with it.  Savannah bought her a hockey stick and goggles on ebay for about a 1/4 of the cost, socks and shin gaurds at Wallmart, and picked up a pair of cleats her size at the town swap shop, pink shoelaces not included. She came in right at $50.  


We figured if Savannah could get all that Kennon should have no problem with one pair of shoes. So I took Kennon shopping and pointed out a nice pair for $35, which would mean $15 in her pocket- No sales tax here, folks. 


But she was convinced that a pair for $70 was far superior in performance. Or at least style. So she made up the difference and got her new blue shoes. Not without some completely pointless arguing at the checkout that we were making life way too hard for her. But I think for a girl who had many opportunities to work all summer a $50 handout was plenty generous. 


Of course I am not including these details to embarrass my children. I just think that they will be interesting stuff to look back on. 


With Mom down this summer, there was much to do. And we were willing to pay them for most of it. Everything but daily dish chores were up for grabs. And of course there was also the dental office that now needed a cleaning crew and grounds keeper since that employee was on bed rest.


Some Saturdays some children were not willing to go. They didn't mind the cleaning so much. They just couldn't handle the inspections by Mom that always followed. So they stayed home and another child made the money that weekend. But declarations like, "This is the last time I am ever coming to the office!" didn't stick and everyone took a turn. 


By the end of the summer due to the many financial opportunities provided for them it was determined that they would all be buying all their own clothing. There was plenty of complaining during school shopping (Mom on wheels accompanying them)  but we made it through. The kids made some excellent choices within their budget. They always are so much smarter when the credit card won't be footing the bill. Suddenly they don't need one more T-shirt after all. I sometimes felt bad and wanted to just spoil them, but then remembered if I caved I would be taking away their work incentives and I knew that I couldn't do that. Not if I wanted my lawn mowed once a week. 

 
So far the younger two have remained mostly immune to the realities of the hard knock life of Team Casper. They still think that a trip to the swap shop is far superior than a trip to the mall so for now Caroline just makes a dollar an hour and then drives us insane until it is spent. We'll deal with them later and maybe we will have it figured out better by that time. 

I hate to post that it was the worst summer ever because I know life can be so much worse than feeling great and just sitting around relaxing but. . . . I  had so many mountains I wanted to climb, festivals to attend, places to explore, lakes to swim in with my kids, and the list goes on. This is such a summer paradise up here. 

We barely got a chance to relax last summer with starting the practice and moving in, and I was really looking forward to being a new house organizing it and doing fun stuff with my sister. All that other stuff is still on my to do list. Luckily, Peter got the job and they will be back next summer and give us another chance to show them it's a great place. 

My poor kids. I don't even think they can remember that I used to be sort of fun. Now I am just that lazy mom on the couch that bosses everyone around and she can't actually do much of anything herself. Luckily we splurged on our first above ground pool that was big enough to keep them entertained at home all summer. 

It was perfect for Caroline. It was just up to her shoulders so without any supervision she finally learned how to swim. 

Camille even thought it was deep enough for practicing her dives. 

 

And though we ain't fancy with this wimpy new pool, rickety bottom of the line trampoline, and free swing set from the neighbors . . somehow it was enough to earn us best backyard hangout on the block.

 There are 6 girls on our street that are all either 2nd graders or 4th graders. And for some reason the mother on bed rest house is the place to be.

 They especially like playing with my new wheelchair. I mean my very old very ugly wheelchair that Savannah insisted on buying for $5 bucks at a end of summer yard sale so we could hit up all the stores that didn't have motorized scooters. So far it has just been traveling all over our backyard with children and has yet to go along on all the trips Savannah planned to outlet malls and TJMaxx.

 All the girls are playing a sport this fall. Unfortunately that means I am headed in all sorts of directions and have to choose which daughter I will support each evening. Here is Savannah at her first field hockey game. I think #4 (the one with the pink shoelaces) was just looking for an excuse to get to wear a short skirt and hang out more with her best friend, Natalie #5. 


Camille and Caroline are our first soccer girls and they are loving it. Kennon is once again on the cross country team. I have to decide every game not only which one to attend but also should I even attend since my Dr. recently told me that my bed rest was intended to by spent "Laying down" not "sitting down"?


Luckily I just found that out and was at least good for something this summer. Like cooking and washing dishes sitting on a stool for hours.

 And burning office confidential papers with my children in our driveway. They all want to help me with this task. It's a lot more fun than using a shredder. 
We have a very organized neighborhood with a president, secretary and treasury. They held their summer block party last weekend.

I guess they used to get together for progressive dinners once a month and finally just scaled back to two parties a year for summer and Christmas. We have felt very welcome and definitely notice that this neighborhood doesn't fit the New England stereotype. 

Marcus has two older boys that live next door and it is pretty hard to keep him from crossing the street at all times to see how they are doing and what toys he might be able to play with today. Despite the 8 year age gap these two get along very well. They let Marcus run their remote control cars and send him home with something every day to add to his growing toy collection. Caroline also seems to prefer the boys. When she wants a friend to come over to play she asks to invite "the boys next door" rather than the two 7 year old girls down the street. 

The other night I went to a Relief Society Meeting with Kennon and Savannah and was upset to come home and find dishes still waiting for Mom to wash next to my kitchen stool. However it turned out that Camille had a chunk of tooth fall out of her mouth right before I left so Brent took the three younger kids to the office with him for an emergency appointment. Marcus and Caroline sat in the corner and watched while Camille and Dr. Casper got down to business and fixed the tooth. I guess if I can't have a maid, I should be grateful for an in house dentist.


There has been a lack of pictures documenting this pregnancy. I guess it's hard to remember to do photo shoots when you're never up and about. 

Aug 31. First day of School

 Kennon -8th grade   Savannah 7th grade.

 My growing up way too fast daughters head off to school. Both with straightened hair, big earrings and even eyeliner. And a lot more confident than last year at the new school. This year we live so close they "get " to walk. 

They complain that life is so rough and good parents in our neighborhood drive their children to school. I tell them that they are spoiled to live a 1/2 mile from school and skip the bus all together. I used to walk a 1/2 mile to my bus stop at the potato sheds (winter, snow and ice) . .  . And Then ride the bus for over an hour. 

 Camille- 4th grade and Caroline -2nd grade leave over 2 hours later and the bus pulls right up to our driveway. Which is great since that is about the max I am permitted to walk. They have already been up for hours though thanks to our Mandatory 6 am Family Scripture Study. But they move so slow and are so easily distracted  that I am happy to have two whole hours to coax them out the door. 


They are the last to get on the bus and the first stop off the bus in the afternoon. Once again, quite spoiled. (Caroline brought the parasol to school for the first day. Her friend had given it to her the day before and she was convinced she needed it to keep the sun off her during recess.)

 Camille went straight to the back of the bus taking her rightful spot among the 4th graders now she has finally made it to the top. 5th grade goes onto middle school. I like the old days when they let kids stay at the elementary through sixth grade. 

Marcus won't be riding the bus for two years yet but he insisted on a school bus picture. 

We had an awesome day home alone together. I have never been so anxious to get my kids off to school. All so I could finally enjoy my bed rest in peace. I know one is still hanging around but I am happy for minus 4. Marcus never asks me to take him anywhere and never tells me that he is having the worst summer ever. 

Brent. . a Romney man?

In NH, it is our privilege to rub shoulders with Mitt Romney.  I had to get a picture of Brent suprisingly wearing a Romney sticker. This morning he's off to a cafe to get a glimpse of his real hero Ron Paul but last night he stood in line so I could get his picture with Mitt, who is now my new favorite man for the job. He did an excellent job answering questions at the town hall meeting we attended. 


My favorite reply was to a medical student who has been in Africa attending to HIV/Aids victims and has been disappointed that Obama hasn't continued the funding that Bush committed to. She wanted to know if he could commit to her that he would make wiping out HIV in Africa one of his mandates as President. His answer was that he wanted the funding to come from America's people through charitable organizations, not through US government funding.  Then he added, pointing to the running tally of our national debt that they had displayed that he didn't see the logic in our continuing to borrow from China to turn around and hand out to Africa. He said, "Let's get China to send them the money directly, instead." I initiated the applause for this answer. 


We were sitting on the second row.  

Close enough to notice that his belt missed a loop. (third from the left.) I liked that. The room as usual in New England had No AC and we were all uncomfortable just sitting. Someone asked him a question about global warming. Did he believe that our planet was warming and who or what did he think was responsible?  

He replied that he did believe in global warming, in fact he believed that we were experiencing it right now in this room . . . . or something like that. I was amazed that he could give an hour long presentation without sweating when it was easily close to 80 degrees in there. Then afterwards he amazed me even more. As I took Brent's picture Mitt smiled at me and shook my hand and said, "Hi, We've met before haven't we?" 

Well, yes we have, Governor. . a few months ago, but I didn't expect you to remember that.

I was so impressed. . . and elated. I just have one of those unforgettable faces I guess. 

Now I am ready to volunteer. Do you think they have any jobs for mothers on bed rest? 

There were only three other mormons there. It was a pretty exclusive event we were invited to I guess. Romney has a home in Wolfeboro, NH and doesn't need mormons to run his campaign up here among the Yankees.  Jen and Lynn are in our ward and from the northwest like we are.  Our bishop named Brent (not pictured) was also there. He just announced to the ward that he is leaving to take a new job in SLC in less than a month. My Brent was devastated. It looks like the Brent's will be breaking up once and for all.  (Brent was recently added to the bishopric to take the place of the first counselor. . . also a Brent.) 

Out here you feel completely betrayed and deserted when a ward member leaves to join the mormons once again in the west. It's like "How they can do that? Don't they know that we need every Mormon Brent we can get?"

What we did instead

The dental office has four weeks of vacation every year. We spent the first one in July enjoying the Fielding Reunion. This week is the second vacation and we all had tickets to travel to Washington for the Casper Family Reunion and a few days in Priest Lake Idaho at his parent's cabin.  Brent's family planned a huge party tomorrow evening to celebrate his mother's 80th birthday. Everyone will be there.  

Everyone except us. My doctor asked me not to travel right now. Especially flying with 5 children on my own since we were going to be taking a longer vacation than my husband was able to. So I canceled the trip and have been dealing with sad children ever since. Brent was really disappointed to that he had to spend his vacation without us. We sent him to see his mom on his own. So the kids are missing out on cousin time, farm time, and a week at their favorite cabin. We were desperate to find someway to make it up to them.

So we took them camping right before Dad left town. We ran into someone who has a lake house at Winnipesauke and offered to have us stay at their associations campground. One of our children was less than thrilled about family camping and begged to be left home alone for the weekend. I am a big believer that children don't know what is best for themselves and I insisted that we were all going.  

We weren't allowed to have a camp fire, which was disappointing.  So we brought the pancake griddle of course. This time we had electrical outlets right in our camp and Brent didn't have to flip pancakes outside the restroom on an extension cord (as he has previously been known to do).  Everyone has asked me how I possibly could go camping on bed rest. But when we camp I truly have a break. Brent does all the cooking and cleanup. It was a little messy at the dinner table as you can tell, but it didn't bother me half as much as it does at home. 

 When he wasn't tending to camp duties the dentist enjoyed doing absolutely nothing on the beach. He usually hates family days at the beach and I was pretty worried that he would go crazy with nothing planned for the day since I am not up for much lately besides sitting around. But Brent had just starting reading  "John Adams" a big book I made it through on bed rest and highly recommended. So we were all happy on the beach. I even went in the water. I float so well nowadays. . . for some odd reason. .  that it hardly took any effort to float/swim out to the dock a couple of times with the kids.  The lake was so much warmer than the ocean we are used to. And clean and clear. I am in love with Lake Winnipesauke. .  . just like I always knew I would be when we planned to move up near it.

Marcus ran into a bully on the beach. He is the younger boy in red shorts in the picture.  He kept getting after Marcus for touching his sand tunnels. Marcus just stood there confused and didn't know what to do about it. Then he accused Marcus of stealing his rock. Marcus protested that it was his rock. Finally after a  minute holding it in his palm debating he handed it over to the young kid, saying, "All right you can have it" The punk picked it up, looked him straight in the eye and said, "TOO LATE" and tossed it away. Then he started in again telling him to get off the canal he had dug. Savannah and I were cracking up watching the whole thing, especially since Savannah was the one who had dug out the canal in the first place for Marcus. That's when Marcus's daddy happened along.  He told him he would dig his son the best one ever. All the way down to the water. So here they are. The little kid was digging away trying to keep up with Marcus and his Daddy. 

 Camille is the one in shorts and T-shirt. She brought about 10 changes of outfits camping but not a single swimsuit. Caroline on the other hand forgot to bring a change of underwear. Kennon gave me quite a lecture for letting them pack for themselves. No one wanted to sit by Caroline on the way home after finding out she had been wearing the same panties for four days. 

 Once again we met up with protests when we announced that we would be driving home by way of the state of Vermont. We had missed church that morning and Brent and I were determined to salvage the Sunday by taking them to the visitor center in Sharon Vermont. It was built there on the site where the prophet Joseph Smith was born and his family once farmed. The grounds were beautiful and I didn't even have to tell them I was on bed rest to get the golf cart tour of the old farm.  This is how we all looked after camping for a two nights. Caroline may have forgot panties but she had stashed in a nice Sunday dress in her backpack. 

They built this monument in 1905 to commemorate the 100 year birthday of our prophet. The farm is located up a steep hill and it was quite a job to bring these enormous pieces of marble all the way up the hill in the winter on wagons. Marcus fell asleep during the movie and was great the rest of the tour. It was a wonderful experience and I felt more than made up for skipping church. 


So just another reason to visit the Caspers. We will take you camping with us on Lake Winnipesauke and throw in some great church history on the way home. 

Brent gets his baldy back

Kennon took Marcus on a walk two days ago and took the camera along. She is doing an excellent job making up for a dead beat mom this summer.  Enjoy that beautiful blond hair for a second.

When he got home I feeling a little bored. That's pretty common this summer.  (By the way, I am posting this pre-hair cut photo so you can all enjoy seeing what pregnant bed rest is doing to my figure. My sister keeps reminding me that it's okay to get fat this one time because in a few months I will have the rest of my life to just work it off. ) I had made up my mind that I would give my son a "little" haircut. I would use the biggest guard on the clippers and just even it up a bit. I love cutting hair and there wasn't anyone else's hair to cut in the house since Candice had cut all of ours the week before she left.

Marcus refused.  I bribed him like mad. I would take him to Chuck E Cheese, buy him a buzz Light Year toy, a slurpy at the gas station.  . anything so Mom could have the pleasure of this haircut for 15 minutes. He was completely opposed to a hair cut though. Candice had cut his hair in May and we had mistakenly given him a bag of M&M's to eat during the ordeal. The bag filled up with hair and he was spitting hair and crying for most of the cut. 

But I was bored, remember. And stubborn and determined that he was having a haircut right now.  I turned on Blue's Clues and held the buzzer up next to his ear for about 5 minutes so he could get used to the sound of it before I started cutting. Finally I ventured in for a quick trial run. He started screaming and thrashing around and knocked off the guard. So within 5 seconds of his haircut I had buzzed off a bald spot on the back of his head. Now what was I suppossed to do? I was already wrestling him as it was and now we HAD to cut his hair. .  VERY short. Finally after some talking, I figured out that it was the sound of the buzzers he was opposed to and he consented to let me finish with scissors. I commenced a quick hack job with scissors all over his head just getting it as short as I could hoping to blend in with a bald spot. When I was done, there were lines all over the place but I couldn't get it any shorter to make them disappear. Plus any shorter would be bald and Blue's Clues was over now. I sent him off to play.

 Dad came home and said it looked terrible.  He was going to buzz it. Good luck I said. He pulled a Hershey bar out of the cupboard and the next thing I knew they were out in the backyard Marcus fully cooperating. And Why didn't I try bribing him. . . . he wanted to know?

Here he is smiling. He actually seemed to enjoy Dad's haircut. And Dad knew just how to do it after over almost 15 years of practice on his own head.

Two minutes later he's enjoying his prize. And the nice cool breeze of being almost completely naked now. 

Brent loves his little baldy and declares him way cuter now. I am embarrassed to take the kid out of the house. 

Luckily that's not really a problem as I don't go anywhere anyway. Maybe his hair will grow back just in time for my reentry into society.

The Fieldings come to town

                       Fielding Family Reunion in Maine in July


Jeremy, Spencer and Candice's family were all here with us at our annual family reunion. I was in charge which was great but it all got rather complicated when first of all we decided to settle on a foreclosure home a couple months before they arrived and then in the middle of the remodel I was put on bed rest.
Alainna was unable to come because she had her 2nd baby boy two weeks before. Ciana was unable to come since they had already added two unexpected trips to their summer to attend Candice's baby's funeral and my Grandpa Fielding's funeral in July. 

 Maddie wrote a song for the girls to perform

 Marcus and Brent

Megan

I think they may have ended up the wisest though. They all descended on us during the northeastern heat wave. It was okay at the rental house in Maine. Spencer spent about an hour searching the house when we showed up in denial that it seriously had no AC. Brent and I have acclimated to humidity and are used to sweating a little indoors and couldn't understand why they were uncomfortable without 68 degrees inside. The last night the kids were having an awful time going to sleep in their top of the loft bunk room. We put them to bed about 8 because they were so exhausted. They came down repeatedly to tell us they couldn't sleep and it was too hot. It was after 11 p.m. when 8 year old Maddie came out bawling to her Dad, and hollered down the stairs, "Dad, it's like there's no AC up here!" But that was nothing. By the time we pulled into our house at the end of the week to spend a couple nights there the temperatures were up above 100 and lots of humidity on top of that. That's fine if you have somewhere to get cool but we didn't. Our house had ZERO AC also.   It's usually only in the high 70's so it hasn't been necessary. We walked inside and realized it was hotter indoors than out, so we left immediately and went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant, which had minimal cool air. Everyone was complaining at lunch and I was sick of being in charge and feeling helpless to make them all happy. They were all talking about hotels and we said, fine go, but we are going to stick it out at home with our fans. Definitely regret being stubborn on this point. I was just so excited to have my family over at my house after working so hard to get everything arranged for them that I guess I was going to force them to stay despite it all. After sweating in a restaurant we found the only cool public place in town. The local library. All 22 of us hung out there for over an  hour. We finally went home and tried to stay as wet as possible in the backyard. That's when Brent wrestled my Dad into the pool just like old times except this time he forgot he was dealing with a senior citizen and actually cracked one of his ribs. It was a pretty tense moment as we watched them struggle- my Dad not giving up and Brent unwilling to let go. He kept saying, "Look, I'm not doing anything. It's him." But the point was that he wouldn't get off of him and Dad won't ever give up. I was worried about a heart attack. Luckily it was just a rib. Then armed with lots of fans thanks to Jeremy's credit card at Walmart we attempted to sleep for the night.  At midnight it was still 95 in the bottom bedrooms in our house. The only ones who didn't suffer much were those who chose to sleep on the basement floor.  The next morning they all took off to check into nice cool hotels.  I am so sorry family. I don't know if we will ever talk them into coming back. The crazy thing is those two or three nights were the only hot days we've had here all summer. It's usually perfect weather here all summer.  

I didn't take a lot of pictures due to unexpected grumpiness due to the combination of extreme heat, pregnancy and bed rest.  Caroline, Maddie, and Meg

And why are these thrown in? This is what happened to Savannah when she agreed to take out the trash at the house in Maine. Someone had thrown a broken plate in and this happened on the way down the stairs. Pretty nasty cut with or without the staples. She's had a hard summer. First a cast and now the staples. At least I had some company on the beach for a few days. 
As you can tell she was thrilled too. This is actually the attire we brought her to the emergency room in. It was one of those bloody emergency room experiences that you never forget. 

Farewell to our summer guests

 Peter, Candice, and Laura slept over last Friday night on their way back down south after one busy summer. We celebrated at home with a lobster dinner. The kids each got their own dumped on their plate. Savannah was the only one who didn't complain about cracking out her own dinner.  Kennon, Camille, and Caroline thought it was gross and weren't to work a little for their dinner.  Laura and Marcus just couldn't get the hang of it.

 Marcus said goodbye to his partner in crime. Now I know exactly what people are talking about when they say double trouble

 Marcus would pick unknown berries out of our backwoods and feed them to his cousin. Laura taught Marcus to fill the bath with every toy, stuffed animal and doll in the house. Marcus taught Laura it was even more fun to dump them all out the second floor window along with all his clothes and even the dresser drawers. Marcus loved spraying Laura down with the hose. Laura is famous for always being naked. Inside or outside she is constantly stripping down to nada. Marcus tried to get away with it all summer too.

Caught at a rare moment when Laura's diaper was actually on, she showed off at the talent show for us.  . She sang us her ABC song with all their sounds from the Letter Factory DVD.

We are crossing our fingers that we convinced them that NH is the best place to live and that a better job  doesn't come along for Peter so they can all come back next summer after his final year of law school. I wish we could say that we had a non-stop fun time all summer for their benefit but frankly Candice was used and abused so much I really don't know if she could say that. She finished so many projects around the house giving each of our rooms the special touch that I never could've done on my own. Many a night Brent and I went to sleep near midnight to the sound of Candice's sewing machine zipping along. And when she left to go back to Peter for a night or two she always left my floors mopped.


So I said goodbye to clean floors last weekend too. At least for several more weeks. I am on the count down to week 30, though I'm not sure why that is the magic date. But I am hoping that then I'll be told to get back on my feet a few more hours every day.

I know tons of you are jealous of my Dr's orders to sit around and get fat. Take it from me though, bed rest stinks. It's hard to find ways to keep yourself happy when all your usual activities are taken away from you. I have such a new awareness and empathy for people confined to wheelchairs after now doing all our shopping in motorized scooters. They beep every time you back up you know and so you try to avoid it all costs. Especially if your teenagers are with you. You know how they don't like to attract attention when they are with their mother. Especially now that she is looking like she is disabled. I've learned that lots of jobs can be done on your bum. . . I do all dishes and most of the cooking on a kitchen stool. I can weed while I scoot along in the dirt. And I have found that sitting in the center of everyone gives me a great director's seat for keeping everyone else hopping. But I have a very trapped feeling almost all the time and feel so grateful that for me this feeling will only be temporary.
My Dad took my picture when we went shopping during the reunion. Brent and him had dropped me off  to get started. They found me so loaded that I couldn't turn right or left and was pretty much stuck in the chip wine aisle until they unloaded me a bit.

Six Kids

Well the good news is I have plenty of time to blog now. Thanks to the very big and also good news that we are expecting a baby boy right after Thanksgiving. I've seen him in there and he's totally healthy and we are so excited that we are going to have SIX kids and most especially a brother for Marcus. Okay, now for the bad news. Like I mentioned I suddenly have plenty of time to blog now. Even though we just moved into our newly renovated home and still have a big blue house that needs to be cleaned out of the last of our junk. But I am not going to be the one doing these things anymore.This 18 week healthy baby boy I am carrying is also sharing the space with large blood clots and has his life threatened by an abrupting placenta.


It's all just so unexpected when you've had five pregnancies with absolutely no problems. So expecting no problems again I spent the first 16 weeks of this pregnancy packing, painting, running a lot even adding in some sprints with my husband. . . . really just feeling invincible. I didn't even worry about going the Dr., I mean I was taking my prenatals, why did I need to be weighed and pee in a cup?


But when I thought I was miscarrying I rushed in as fast as possible. They told me to start taking it easy, definitely no more exercise and then referred me to an expensive specialist whom I saw yesterday. I had a  ridiculously priced second ultrasound and found out that things had not improved from the first ultrasound like I hoped and so now I am under new orders till at least week #30. No lifting more than a jug of milk, and I must be up no more than 2 HOURS A DAY! One bathroom run an hour, showering and getting up getting something to eat and coax a kid or two to behave I think that will pretty much fill up the two hours don't ya think? So pretty much bed rest from here on out. Lovely. We are all going to see Kashann at her fattest EVER!


It's all very overwhelming but it's also sort of easy to do exactly what the Dr. ordered because it's not about me. I have no choice. This baby cannot be born for weeks and weeks and weeks, so that's just what I am going to have to do. I know there are way harder trials to have but for me this one is a tough one. I really love to work. I always have. (And I have tons of work to do because of the new house and of course the five kids.)  I always have told Brent I am just built for manual labor. I don't like brainy work. There is a good reason for that. :)


 I don't know how it is all going to play out around our home and how many nervous breakdowns I am going to have as I watch my world unfolding around me and am forced to sit and watch and doing nothing but beg, plead, nag, scream at my children and busy husband to do it. . but what are you gonna do? 


I am just so grateful that for now there are very good odds about saving this baby and staying down will help that. So there you go. Also very grateful for my sister Candice. Everyone kept telling me how it really was meant to be for her to come up here to live by us right after her baby daughter passed away, so I could help her. All she has done all summer is help me. She lives almost an hour away but comes constantly.
Last week she kept coming and saying, "What can I box up today?" Finally on Friday she was left with the kitchen, that was pretty much all that needed boxing up. I took Savannah to an appointment and came back and found it all boxed up. When Brent got home that night I said, "Honey, our kitchen is moved. We need to move the beds. . .TODAY!" So he got a friend to help and by Saturday night we were all moved in. So thanks to Candice this moved happened. She literally singlehandedly moved almost every box out of my house. The kids pitched in but it really was like pulling teeth to keep them going.
Now she is busy doing extreme makeovers on Kennon and Savannah's rooms to surprise them when they come home from girls camp. It's amazing what she can do. Especially because she is just using stuff she finds around my house or free at the town swap shop. It's not like I am giving her my credit card and sending her to the Pottery Barn. All while she cooks the food, takes care of the kids, and tells me every fifteen minutes to go sit down and she will do it. So I am loving Candice and think she is just a saint. I am pretty sure we are ruining her and Peter's summer.

The ocean is freezing! But all the kids jump right in. Even the one wearing the pink cast. She duct tapes a plastic bag around it. It's been really hard for me to take working on the house breaks. If it weren't for my sister Candice always, saying, "Hey should we go to the beach?" I really don't think we would have gone at all this season. And when Candice isn't planning fun family outings she is here helping me move.



  She is constantly making the 45 minute drive to help out for a day. She is on her way here now to help with boxing up more stuff and it is only 8 in the morning. So I just have a second and want to write about this little guy above, before I forget his latest 3 year old moments. Last Sunday we went to have Father's Day dinner at their apartment in Manchester. They live on the 8th floor. We had a great time, and I decided her apartment kitchen is better than my new one. About the time we were packing up to leave Marcus disappeared out the door. By the time we realized this he was gone. Nowhere to be seen on floor #8. It had been at least 10 minutes by the time he was located down in the lobby waiting at the front desk with the concierge. He had taken the elevator down by himself. I asked him how he knew which button to push. He said he pushed "Go, it had a  G on it" That would be ground level. He also said he pushed the "Bad" Button. That would be the "B" right next to the "G" button. Luckily the first stop was Ground level, not basement. Then he would've been running through the parking garage. I hate  those kind of panicky 10 minute moments. I have them way too often.


  He really is becoming extremely mischievous just as you would expect a little boy to act. A house full of sisters hasn't prevented a thing. He loves that we live on a hill and all he has to do is find something and get it to the edge and then, "Whoopee! Watch it go!" So we are always finding stuff down across the street. Yesterday he grabbed the lawnmower out of the garage and rolled it over. We found it in stuck down in the woods across the street. He is always so sorry for his actions, and it is actually hard to discipline because he is so repentant. . . until he does it again, you know.


  I watched him yesterday take the helium balloon he had got at the church the night before into the sun room. The next thing I knew he had opened the door and just let it go smiling into the air as it floated off. I went rushing in and said, "Marcus, you can never get your balloon back, why did you do that?"


"That's not my balloon, Mom. It's Caroline's." His was safely stored in his room.


  The last small catastrophe I wanted to mention Candice swears had nothing to do with Marcus, but was all her daughter Laura's doing. She noticed Marcus has bath toys and she doesn't and now Candice says she insists on putting all kinds of random stuff in there with her so she can take a bath like Marcus. So I put the two of them in the bath as usual when we got done painting. It gives us a break and Laura had paint all over her. She tends to strip quite often and her little bum was covered in white kitchen cabinet paint.
  I was in the living room making little checks on them here and there. . . well, I thought I was. Apparently my time in between checks had gotten a little spread out because the last time I went in, I was shocked to see the entire bath filled. Laura had made a lot of trips into Caroline's room and had hauled out all their stuffed animals and dumped them in. Then she had gone back for the dolls. Three American Dolls along with all their clothes and accessories were in the tub too. Once she was out of toys and stuffed animals to dump in she had started adding Caroline's shoes.
Unsupervised baths are a very bad idea with Laura in the house. That was not a fun bath to clean up from. And Marcus had three very upset sisters.