Look closely at the woman in the corner. See her yawn?
See why?
Christmas vacation here was pretty crazy. You know the movie with Chevy Chase where the weird relatives come to visit? We ARE the weird relatives. We spent a lot of time in our Sunday clothes at the funeral, viewing and a family baptism, and just church. The rest of it, we pretty much spent in our jammies. We drank out of bowls alot. I have a bunch of cups, but everyone takes one to their bedroom and then comes back for another, and pretty soon, we are drinking out of bowls. Sigh. Then we take a safari into the bedrooms to find the cups. The wild animal noises are provided by children because I said we would have to CLEAN UP. These are the code words to signal the wild behavior, and loud wailing.
You know the mental and emotional steps you go through anytime you have to defer to someone? I do that constantly. There are enough people in this house, that compromise is the way we function. After I do this for two solid weeks for 7-8 other people, well, lets just say I'm a little crazy right now. I don't care what anyone else thinks, or wants or needs. Talk to the hand! It might have something to do with my Suburban being dirty. You know how you see cars that say "wash me" written in the dirt? Mine says e=mc2 (squared). Caleb keeps writing it. If they were to dig my Suburban up in an archeological site, they would find such layers of detritis that they would dedicate entire teams to deciphering our culture. My family room is a jungle, my laundry looks like Everest. I'm sure I'll get altitude sickness when I tackle that one.
What I am trying to say here, is I need a vacation from the vacation! Monday was back to school. Every one of my kids had an emotional melt down of some sort. So Tuesday was my turn. (We try to take shifts.) I left the kids with frozen pizza for dinner and ran away. Not far, maybe not far enough, but I am back today, and the laundry that I woke up certain to do yesterday is still sitting there. I have more command of myself today, the tic has subsided into a periodic twitch, so maybe it will get done.
I feel bad. I usually welcome the break and the noise and fun of having my kids all at home. I think it is the added sadness and emotional work of comforting everyone that has taken the real toll. It has been hard. I say it here, because I realized last night that I haven't taken opportunity to talk about it much. Nathan has been gone from home alot, to be with his family, which is as it should be. But I haven't talked at length with anyone about my own emotional struggles. Lucky you!
My sister gave me a tile for Christmas that says "The only normal around here is a setting on the washing machine." This is accurate. If you see me in the near future, and my car is clean, and I have my make-up on, congratulate me, for we will have found our new normal for a moment. :)
Camille had her 12th birthday this week!! I can't believe how time flys! She made her own birthday cake, designed, baked and decorated. :) It is a garden theme, with chocolate cake to represent dirt, green frosting for grass, yellow "flowers" to hold the candles and gummi worms, you know, for worms.
This is Camille modeling a couple of presents. The pink apron is for her new found love of the kitchen and the cute blue hat was made for her by a girlfriend. Super sweet. She is really excited to join the young women's program. She played in her first basketball game last week and they won. :) Love you, sis! It is fun to watch you grow.
