The older girls ... A1 (17), A2 (14) & K (12)... get home before I do. They get E (6) & M (5) off the bus. C (17) has a weird schedule right now that maybe I'll get into later. I usually get home around 5:30, and T (my honey) beats me by just a few minutes.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of leaving work early. I stopped by the grocery store (trip number 36 for the week, I'm sure of it)....fresh uncooked pizza for dinner it is. After grabbing a few other must-have's (bagels, eggs & womanly products if ya must know), I went home.
M & K melted my heart with this (mixed with laughter from A2 & E & a puppy's antics coming from the living room). It was her dishes day (today will be A2's turn), and I didn't even have to ask for them to be done. M hasn't yet learned it isn't "cool" to be a helping volunteer, and she allowed his "help".
Too bad half the dishes need to be rewashed because K rushes & is too preoccupied with her current "non-boyfriend" to see the crusted cheese or stubborn chili left-over specks on every dish she gives M to rinse....and he could care less either way.
With a now-clean kitchen, I am free to bake the pizza (after topping rearrangement), and head to the deck with my camera, a drink & TJ.
He loves my now dead herb "garden"....
I think I've made mention of our basement remodel...? In order to move in, and not feel as if we're sardines, we added 3 bedrooms, a soon-to-be family room, and a will-be-bathroom to the basement. Effectively, it doubled the house size, and the tax bill. We painted the bedrooms, in reds, pinks, greens, zebra stripes, and chalkboard paint....(I have pictures somewhere..are you surprised?) The rollers have been salvaged to the best of my ability for the project's completion (some day other then today)...
Yes, we have a purple wooden deck swing. With a broken seat board. I'll strip & stain it, some other day.
Oh yes, my drink...
By this point, the smoke detectors are going off, reminding me that pizza is ready, and T is walking in the door. The rest of the evening dwindles away into homework, (MORE?) laundry, puppy, teen taxi-ing, and stories of The First Break-Up of 7th Grade. (because he was a jerk face Mom!) Phew...so glad you ditched him then ;)
Later in the evening, T asked why we weren't following the laundry plan we envisioned...the one where each child has a basket, and fills it with dirty laundry, then bringing it to me to be washed, dried & returned in all it's unfolded glory. Instead, there is a never ending mountain of needs-to-be-folded clothing, and need-to-be-matched socks & who's-are-these undies on the love seat. And it's like, really? Who knew this many people could possible wear enough clothes to fill a thrift store in 2 days? Sigh.
To their credit, A1 & A2 have faithfully helped almost every night. Without the cami-identification abilities their teen eyes possess, I'd be lost in the avalanche of socks, yoga pants & undies. I'm still not sure how they do it...I mean one size small, black cami from Deb's looking strikingly similar to another Deb's brand black cami size small...to me anyway. Oh well, if they are happy about who's clothes pile gets which one, then so am I.
Oh, and back to my original thought...we *will* be going to the one basket per load plan...soon. And I won't have to match socks, ever again. #dream
This morning, I again took time to just capture the moments. After making 4 breakfasts, and three lunches, I drove C to school while A1 drove herself & A2, then TJ & I watched K head off into her day.
I quickly got dressed, made two more lunches, threw a pork roast into a crockpot with garlic & bbq sauce, and proceeded to enjoy the "quiet" of E & M.
This was actually a true quiet moment....atypical of their normal atomic bomb-like version of "shhhhh". I <3 Mario Kart sometimes.
TJ, while still pretty camera shy, was a bit more subdued for a few moments....
And we had no puppy accidents stepped in this morning.
We got the boys into their school clothes (without a fight! Yippee!), and onto the bus, and then TJ settled in for his alone time, while I took off to start my day in the real world.
Things are going semi-well in the land of blendedly blissful, for today......and that's all I can ask for.
I need to revisit the method with which I refer to the children...I feel a bit like I'm talking about robots or scientific specimens. I don't plan on making them aware of their existence in this blog-world. If anyone who's reading this has a teen daughter, they'll probably agree to do so would be potentially hazardous to my health. Perhaps this is why most of my photographic ventures are inanimate objects or animals who can't say no?
For now, please know that no matter what I call them here, teen girls can be a lot more helpful then I expected, and that, in this (bio/non) mom's opinion, is a pleasant surprise. In fact, many things about this whole blending thing have not gone the way I thought they would...and that is both good, and not. And a subject for another day.
Happy Hump Day!
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