2 weeks of "vacation"

I know that these 2 weeks will be filled with good times and great memories, but, looking forward, I am left with a bit of anxiety. I absolutely LOVE my children and think they are just fantastic. HOWEVER. As some of you have heard me describe them before, they are like living with creatures that can morf from great Danes to octopus to locust in an instant.

We live in a humble little story and a 1/2 in a beautiful neighborhood in St. Paul. When Rick and I moved in, it was the 2 of us and the cat. Not only have we (Rick and I) gotten larger, but so has our family. With the addition of the zoo, a cat, and a dog, we added 3 precious children. After deciding to feed them and cloth them, they grew and are still growing.

Now, 2 are close to my same height and 1 is getting there. They are in fact people. We have 5 people that live here. 3 bedrooms, 1 an 1/2 bathrooms an unfinished basement, a 8x6 TV room and a super small living room dining room combo, and lastly a strip for a kitchen.

So here I sit.

5 people can reach everything, get into everything, and mess up everything. Coats, boots, mittens, scarves, hats, clothes, socks, undies and so on thrown willy nilly about the place. Food consumed like a swarm of locus on a farmers field. Space taken up with toys, stuff, drawings, yarn, good metal, a pool table, cars, Lego's, stuffed animals, clothes, and so on.

When the 3 morf into Great Danes, they trample everything in their path. They sniff and eat everything. They knock things over and kick things around. Then in an instant, they morf into the octopus. What seems like thousands of arms and legs go flying around the house. Touch, touch, touch. Spill, spill, spill. Hit, hit, hit. Squeeze into places they don't naturally fit.

The din is deafening. And I suffer from hearing loss already. I can't describe the din very well. There is always a din with bursts of LOUD noises. Sometimes words, sometimes screams, sometimes laughter, but always loud. And yet, they are extremely hard of hearing themselves. They can't hear warnings. We give them warnings, we do not attack unannounced. But alas, it is of no use. They react as if we (Rick and I) are the crazy irrational ones.

To top it all off, it is bitter cold out....BELOW ZERO. So my job is to hide as much as possible. To overlook the mess, the din, the crapelanches, the fights, the spills, the non stop hunger. I just keep going.

In the midst of all of it, I craft, I fold clothes and refold them, I do the dishes again and again and again. I am still washing what seems like an unending pile of clothes. I pick up the pieces of paper snowflakes. I pick up the shredded book the dog ate. I pick up the stray Lego piece, game piece, Pokemon something. I make dozens of cookies, read my blogs, have my coffee, and smile.

It isn't that bad if you look at it in a kind of blurry way, and for Heaven's sake, never stop and write it all down!!

Have a happy 2 weeks off.

K~