Day 8

9:00 My alarm wakes me up, but only just before the 3yr. old enters my room. She tucks her baby doll under my arm and watches me as I stretch and try to wake up. Eventually I get up and follow her out to the kitchen. The 5, 7, and 13yr. olds are up. I get them breakfast and help my husband with the last of his preparations for work. He leaves and I start my own breakfast. My stomach is growling like crazy. That salad from last night was not enough.

10:00 I've eaten and read one chapter of a new book. It was difficult, with the 3 and 5yr. olds flanking me on either side with a barrage of "Look at this," and "See Mama," and "Where do you want to go on my maze?" and finally, "It's the Death Star Portal," but I finished it.

10:30 The 7yr. old and I go upstairs to read a story from his reader. I wake the baby up so she'll hopefully go to bed at a decent time tonight. Then I snag the 10yr. old to read a chapter in "Charlotte's Web." I keep falling asleep though so when he's finished, I lay down on the upstairs couch. It feels so good. I'm just going to lay here for 5 minutes.

11:30 My 15yr. old wakes me up, saying "Why are you sleeping?" My neck is sore from using the arm rest as a pillow. I've been asleep for about 20 minutes. Luckily the baby has been totally content pulling Lincoln logs from the bin that was sitting next to the couch. I call the 11 and 13yr. olds upstairs to read and ask the 13yr. old to also watch the baby while I shower.

12:00pm Lunch. The shower warmed me up enough to stop being so sleepy.

1:00 I round the older boys into the dining room for a "Charlott'e Web" lesson. Asparagus is one of their vocabulary words so I show them a bundle of asparagus. None of them will try it. I take a couple bites of a stalk and decide I don't feel like such a vegetably vegetable right then and hand it to the baby. She starts in on the spear end and decides she's not too fond of it either. I'll have to bake them later with lots of butter and salt.

2:00 The 7yr. old comes crying to me in the dining room right after the older boys have evacuated. I don't remember what it was about. I take the opportunity to sit him down and do a page of math. He asks, "Is this so I can get a turn?" He means on the computer or Xbox. I say, "sure," even though that wasn't my intention. "You can have it tonight when we go to scouts." The 5yr. old here's the word "turn" and comes running to do a few pages of handwriting and math.

3:00 I remember we have to leave early today for some errands before swim lessons so I wake the older boys from their TV trance (they put on "Puss in Boots," while I wasn't looking) and tell them to get ready to go. I get the baby down for a nap so my 15yr. old can focus whole-heartedly on her seminary while we're gone.

4:00 We head out the door. This is our last day of swim lessons for the year. We'll start up again in January next year. It will be nice to have our Monday and Wednesday  afternoons back (the only days we're actually home to homeschool).

6:00 We're home just long enough to drop off the 7, 5, and 3 yr. olds and grab a quick dinner. Our friends needed help getting two of their boys to scouts tonight so they've been dropped off as well. The older one is 16 and enjoys talking to my 15yr. old a lot. She turns into a much more friendly big sister and actually watches her younger siblings jump on the trampoline without making any of them cry or scream.

6:30 We leave for scouts and Young Women's. I leave the baby home with Grandpa. I've been taking her to scouts with me all along but her bedtime gets messed up each time so I'm hoping her bedtime will be better if I do this.

9:00 We get home and get almost everyone up to bed. The 3yr. old is wearing underwear again. Just two more days and we can start potty training in earnest (we'll be on Spring Break from our Parent Partnership). I let her go to bed with it. We'll see how she does.

10:00 Everyone's in bed except the two oldest and baby. The 13yr. old is still working on that case. He's varnishing it tonight. Maybe that means he's done! I think the baby is going to go to sleep but she perks up after a little snack. I put a couple of potatoes in the oven for our dinner and decide it's time to work on my blog.

11:00 My husband and the 13yr. old are doing push-ups together while the baby makes comments. The 15yr. old goes to bed.

1:00am The baby has finally, finally fallen asleep. She threw a fit just before because I wouldn't give my water cup. I gave her a sippy cup but that wasn't what she wanted. She's funny.