taken at the mall, inspired by Nancy’s picture of her ‘twins’ on flickr [more]

I am stricter than a lot of parents I know. But if I let little things slide, eventually I get an avalanche. Usually sooner rather than later. When you are dealing with a lot of kids [and seven counts as a lot!], order is the name of the game. When we were living in Chicago, Mike came home with a painted chicken that says ‘because I’m the momma, that’s why’. It has been hanging in my kitchen for seven years now. Mia bought me a sign on vacation that also has a place in the kitchen:

If I cook it…........................you eat it.
If I buy it…........................you wear it.
If I wash it…................you put it away.
If I clean it…...............you keep it clean.
If I say bed time…...you say good night.
If I say get off the phone…you hang up.
If I say no….............you don’t ask why.
‘CAUSE I’M THE MOM

Recently, one of the kids was being sarcastic and said ‘it’s a free country’. Not in my house it isn’t!

Butterfly’s first grade class is learning about the Constitution. She brought home a fill in the blank book she had made. One of the pages required them to write a sentence and draw a picture about why they liked being free. She wrote: “I like being free because I like to play with my dog.” I pointed out that we didn’t have a dog. “I know,” she said. “But that was the only thing I could think of that free people do. If I was free, I would get a dog.” I let that one go, because… you never know what they’re thinking. I’m still pretty sick, so I wasn’t ready to get into a full fledged discussion about freedom with a six year old. I turned the page and saw several pictures of signs: Women Vote! The right to go to school! No slavery! Freedom of Speech! Underneath was another fill in the blank section. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1701. I like having the right to lisin to my MOM. I started laughing. “You like having the right to listen to me?” She rolled her eyes. “That’s the only thing I can do. (sigh) I’m not really free.” Not as long as you live under MY roof, anyway…

Because we have so many kids in the house, things have to be organized. Routine is key. But that doesn’t mean that things don’t change. We have one set of rules during the school year and another during the summer. As the kids have grown, I’ve realized that change is good. There is no way I could run this house the same way I did five years ago, when I had six kids under ten and two in diapers. Now that school is just around the corner, it is time to reveal my new Master Plan for the school year. I will be building on things that have worked in the past and introduce a few new things. Stuff that hasn’t worked for me? Out the window!

Warning: long post ahead!

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Wonderwoman? I don’t think so! Today has been so crazy it isn’t even funny. At 7, Cindy dropped off her boys. We ate breakfast and then her younger son went to summer school. I spent the morning looking for airlines/hotels just in case Mia makes it to Nationals, doing laundry and washing dishes. At 11:30 we walked across the street to eat lunch at the school. At 12:00 Mike picked us up so that I could drop him off at work and use the van. Cindy was waiting for me when I got back home and stayed until 3:45 or so visiting. Right after she left, my sister and dad showed up with Jon. He spent the night with my nephew testing out their new trampoline. Butterfly and Jon had a t-ball game at 6, so I fed the kids dinner [posole] at 4:30, picked up my mother-in-law, stopped to buy snacks and dropped the kids off at the park with her. Mia had track practice at 6:00 so I drove across town to drop her off.

Mike called to let me know that Mikal had a game at 7:30 that I didn’t know about, so I went home and got her uniform and went back to tball to watch the end of that game. Mikal got a ride with her aunt, so when the game was over I drove straight to pick up Mia who was waiting and waiting and waiting [!] for me to show up. Of course, I started to run out of gas and had to stop at the gas station. My mother in law decided to use the restroom and buy water bottles for everyone and wasn’t that clerk nice? He helped her look through all the water bottles at the store to find the coldest ones…

Once I had Mia we drove back across town to get to Mikal’s game and it was already the 4th quarter. They lost, but Mikal was all red and sweaty so I’m guessing she played hard. My mother in law took Mica and Mikal to another baseball game but I wasn’t up to more running around. I’m hoping I don’t get a call around midnight asking for a ride!

I am exhausted, my house is a mess and I haven’t gotten a thing done.

My husband is watching a blackjack tournament on tv and dreaming of the day he can quit his day job and earn a living gambling.

My kids are dirty but happy and I’m pretending that I don’t notice the sand in their hair so I can take a break and write this.

How was your day?