Moving In

We've been working on FINALLY moving in the last of the boxes from the garage. In the last two weeks, we've been able to park the van in the garage. Moving in the boxes and going through them has been fun. It's fun to go through old stuff, and of course we love finding "gifts" for the Salvation Army. Also, it's nice to have the garage relatively cleaned out. Now, all that's in the garage is bikes, balls, bats, bubbles, and other outside toys along with tools, cleaning supplies, paper towels, and toilet paper.

However, because we've been moving more stuff inside, the stuff that was already inside has felt neglected at best. Each day, as I choose what task to tackle next, I leave several other tasks "waiting" for my attention. The big job of keeping everything running seems impossible at times. I've done pretty good this week at not getting frustrated and overwhelmed and totally stressed. It's a good thing that we're doing the cleaning out and final moving in stuff in the summertime, because when I felt this overwhelmed feeling during the school year, it was a lot tougher for me.

I've been trying to make sure at least one twin learns how to do a cleaning job each time I'm doing something (putting away the towels, washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, etc.). They are both very good with the vacuum cleaner, and we take turns with vacuuming up crumbs after we eat if there's a big mess. The "new" has almost worn off of the fun, vacuuming job. I always want to get a chore list together, so that it's written down what each twin will do to help out around the house for each day of the week. I can't seem to get this done because there are so many things to do and I don't know which chore will be most pressing for each day. I think once school starts, I may try to figure out some generic chores that will always need doing no matter what day of the week it is.

Picture Progress...We did get a few pictures hung up, which makes it feel more like our home. We got all the peach pictures hung in the kitchen. We also got our big "It's A Wonderful Life" board hung and the pictures hung all around it. I went all through our mess of mixed-up snapshot pictures and tried to organize them. I'm going to try to put them into albums next week.

Our time is drawing nigh as August 18, our first teacher workday, seems to be rapidly approaching. If it doesn't get done prior to August 18, it being anything that needs doing around here, it may not get done until Christmas or even next June. Here's what we're doing with the rest of our time. Today after church and naps, we're leaving for the beach. We're visiting with our cousins there. I'm excited about going, but the packing task overwhelms me. We'll come home on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, Jimmy and the twins will leave with Mama C (JR's mother) on a trip to Florida to visit Jimmy's sister, TT. They'll be gone until the following Thursday. During that time, I'm going to visit with some old teacher-friends, spend time with MaJe and Papa J, and watch The Cosby Show every weekday from 12:00 to 1:00. This is one of my favorite TV shows, but I've only watched it twice this summer because I'm usually busy doing something with the children. The baby girls may be asleep and I may have a bit of old-fashioned TV time. I love the Cosby show because it makes me laugh. When the rest of the family gets back from Florida, we are going to have a birthday party for Birdie, who turns one year old this coming Wednesday.

That following week, we may send the children to daycare so that we can tie up loose ends around here and get things "livable" for the coming school year. I always go back and forth about sending them to daycare when I'm not technically back to work yet, but I really feel that getting the house to a more manageable place will make the whole school year smoother. Also, it seems impossible to make lasting headway on any project here while they're all four around all day long. When they're here, I want to do fun stuff with them rather than fold clothes, organize pictures, organize music, plan church music, etc. Oh well, feeling guilty about my decision certainly doesn't help anybody. Even the children like it better when everything's straight, so I guess it's worth it for them to spend a few extra days at the daycare. By the way, the daycare's a wonderful place. It's just not home with me. Anybody else would say, "Don't worry about it! You deserve a break!", but I'd rather take a break WITH my children.