Monday

Paul, Will, and David are watching the season finale of 24 right now. Will has been so excited about this. He wanted to have a party to celebrate - seriously. He asked me to buy a 24 pack of pop (24 - get it?) but I told him no way. But I did buy him the hot dogs he asked for. I can't believe he actually has room for beans and wienies (on the stove now) since we just finished a big supper, not an hour ago. David is warming up hot dogs to eat, too. Where do they plan to put it? Of course, that's a silly question, I suppose. They are boys!



I made fried chicken tonight. I have avoided making this for years because it never turned out well. But I found this recipe and did it tonight. Oh, it was good! I did half in the deep fryer and half on the stove in a pan of oil. I wonder if it was the msg in the batter that made it so good. It's definitely not health food, but good, nonetheless (or probably because it's not health food!).



I just gave Sam his bath. That kid! He normally loves bath time. All we have to do is say "bath" and he's streaking towards the bathroom, tugging his clothes, trying to get them off. Well, today, I bought a mat for the bottom of the tub because we've had too many instances where he has slipped under the water. He saw that in there and he absolutely refused to get in that water. I tried forcing him in and he dug his little claws into my upper arm (I really need to trim his nails). Finally, I got him in there and he wailed the entire time. I sure hope he gets over this. It's soft - what's not to like?



I had a fabulous weekend with just Sam and me. I spent Friday evening cleaning and alternately watching "Mamma Mia." What a great movie! Well, it had kind of a faulty moral premise, but other than that, it was good! I just love musicals. I actually went and bought the soundtrack today. Saturday night I was trying to fall asleep and I couldn't because the song "Super Trouper" kept playing in my mind! I enjoyed my Bunny Tracks ice-cream and made a sundae with it. Sam conked out around 9, when I put in "Baby Mama." It was an ok movie - cute in many ways and no bad swearing or any sex scenes. But, it was nothing I could let the boys watch, if they even wanted to, because it's operating from a totally immoral premise.



Sam woke up around 11:30, when I was ready to go to bed, so I just laid him down with me. Bad idea. All my other kids were cuddlers and when we'd sleep together, they'd just fit into the curve of my body and it was so cozy and peaceful. Of course, that's probably why I had a hard time getting them out of my bed when they got older! From the very beginning, Sam has preferred his own space. I remember when he was a very tiny newborn and I would finally collapse in bed, needing sleep so desperately and I would put Sam in bed with me, hoping he would fall asleep too. The only way he would was if he was face down on my chest, which wasn't all the comfortable for me. Plus, it made me too scared to actually sleep, for fear that he might slide off and fall on the floor! Time hasn't changed anything. All Friday night he tossed and turned, putting his elbows in my eyes, insisting on having his head on my shoulder - it was awful! I don't know why I didn't take him up to his own bed. I guess I was too tired. At 8:30 the next morning Sam was awake so I stuck him on the couch with a bottle, his blanket, and the cartoons turned on. Then I went back to bed. That probably wasn't the smartest move - he could have gotten into anything. I didn't wake up again until 10am! When I went out to the living room, Sam wasn't on the couch and I had a momentary flash of panic until I saw him laying face first down the on the floor, sound asleep. I guess we both needed to sleep alone!

I spent most of Saturday painting the living room ceiling. That turned out to be a bigger job than I had anticipated. I paid extra and bought the Dutch Boy purple ceiling paint - it's supposed to dry white. The idea is that then you can see where you have painted. That's fine and it worked, except it dried so fast that I still couldn't see where I had already painted! I should have just bought the regular ceiling paint.

Paul and the boys got home around 7 Sat. night. They had a wonderful time - even Ben! David hated the zipline. I don't blame him. That thing scares me because it is SO high! But Ben loved it! Paul injured himself playing basketball. I tried to feel sorry for him, but couldn't. You just can't play with teenagers with an almost 40 year old body and expect things to go well!

Yesterday Sam started sneezing like crazy and dripping all over, on the way to church. So I thought it best to keep him out of the nursery so he couldn't infect the other babies. I was trying to be nice, but the other moms scolded me and told me they put their babies in when they're dripping, so maybe it's ok. Silly me, I thought I could just take Sam to my own SS class and he'd sit quietly on my lap. He made it until prayer time - and that was after I'd exhausted his bottle, his toys, and the chewy fruit candy I keep in the diaper bag for emergencies. So we went out to the van and I got frustrated trying to keep him from grabbing the gear stick and turning on the wipers and lights. So I finally strapped him into his seat and we went and got gas and a paper. During church I sat out in the foyer and he did fall asleep, thankfully.

Oh, during the morning service, the Patch Kids did a little performance and Ben had a speaking part. He even got to dress up. Anyway, he did so well and so many people complimented him afterwards - he just beamed whenever anyone said anything to him!

After church Will had to work with puppets all afternoon for our upcoming VBS and David had a SS party. So we went and grabbed some lunch with the other boys and then went home and fell into bed. We both slept for 3 hours! Paul stayed home with Sam in the evening because I had nursery duty and a VBS meeting. Despite that long nap, I didn't have a bit of trouble falling asleep last night.

Today was my shopping day, so I did that with Ben and David. It seemed like I had to go everywhere! And now I'm home. I think I'm going to go clean up the kitchen and start heading towards bed myself. It's been a long several days - I need to slow down and catch up. To that end, I have decided to drop one of Ben's social skills classes. I feel kind of guilty about that, but it's just too much to be going in twice a week - too much in terms of time and gas money. Dropping the Thursday class will mean that most of my Thursdays and Fridays will be days where I don't have to anywhere, which will be wonderful!

Gotta scoot and shoo Ben towards bed. He's getting weepy again, talking about camp. I hate seeing him so fearful of going. I told him it's a necessary part of growing up and he has seized upon that, thankfully, and mentioned that several times. I think I am going to be a nervous wreck that week he's gone!