Saturday, August 6, 2011

Home Alone...

...sort of...

Bill took Mary Susannah and Beau off to a Rock the Desert Christian concert and then to Big Bend for a short vacation, and I was left home alone with the three little kids.

Which is fine, except for one thing:  Mary Susannah keeps her scatterbrained mother grounded.  I don't know how I managed before she became a teenager.  I do remember struggling to keep the house clean.  And I'm not sure if it's just that as I got older, I learned how to do it to a degree, or - and I think this is what really happened - Mary Susannah wanted it neat and clean, and so, because it was actually important to someone, we figured out how to do it.  Not that it's clean all the time - it's not.  But it's so nearly always in order, that we can get it neat pretty quick.

Then she went off, and I woke up in the morning with the full responsibility on my shoulders, just like it was for years and years and years before Mary Susannah turned teenager.

I sure miss that girl...

The last thing she said to me as she went out the door was "Take care of my kitchen!"

Baw ha ha...

Well, I did sort of have good intentions.  I thought it would be fairly easy, anyway, with half the family gone.  So I started to do the morning dishes, but I got distracted by my chickens when I went out to get them into the coop to lay their eggs, and I decided to put some of the chicks into an outdoor pen.  Came back in a long time later and started again, but Tommy needed help getting dressed.  Started again, and Igor called and said the car was ready.  And wow, it has been a while since I had a car that didn't break down every few minutes.  And yeah, this was Bill's car, but still, it's mine until he gets home, right???

I left the dishes, grabbed up the kids, and off we went!

A very sweet Nanny had given us a gift to buy what ever I wanted with, so our first stop was the shoe store, where we spent it all on new shoes for the little ones.  Angel-Leah was the main one, but Nanny didn't want the boys to feel left out, so I got them flip flops and sandals, too.


 New shoes on our feet, we headed off for Home Depot.  We had a party to get ready for, and we needed sand for the sand box.  We loaded up four big bags into the car...well, actually, the man that worked for the store loaded it, and I began to worry how in the world we would ever get that sand out of the car and into the sand box.  But Luke has had good teaching by his big brothers, and by the time I had gotten the sacks we got at Walmart unpacked in the house, Luke, without my knowing it, had unloaded the sand from the car into his wagon, ready to haul it to the sandbox!  I was very impressed!



 The sun was glaring in my eyes, and I didn't realize I actually cut the sand itself out of the picture, but doesn't Luke look proud for doing such a man's job?  I've worried every time I go into the chicken coop, wondering what I will do if I find a snake in there, and Beau isn't here to help me.  But it won't be long until Luke will take over that job too, I guess!

 Hot and sweaty, the kids put on their new bathing suits and headed out to play, only to find the dog in their swimming pool...They didn't seem to care too much...



The heat is terrible here in Texas this summer, 115 degree days have wrecked havoc on everything.  The cracks in our yard are so deep, I joked to an email friend I would need to tie a rope around Tommy so I could haul him in if he falls into one.  She said she would like to see that, so I took a picture!!


Anyway, the dishes are done, the house is clean, even though we just had a birthday party with Tommy's birth family over.  My daughter Rachael took pictures for me since Mary Susannah took off with my camera, so I'll write about that when she sends them to me.

In the meantime, my next few days should be pretty relaxing.  I have lots of things I want to do, most of them require quiet time to think.  I did stay up extra late last night since the house is quiet after 9 o'clock, but I sure will be glad when my big kids back!

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