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Good morning! As I suspected, the past couple of days have been busy.

Tuesday we got some onions planted in milk jugs (four gallons) and I did some planning for the garden. According to my figures, I need twelve four by ten foot raised beds. A couple more than that would be nice so that even squash can be in raised beds but the twelve includes two for corn. I would love to plant a whole field of corn, sort of, but so far the rodents have had more of the corn we’ve planted here than the humans have. I expect the rodent population to be somewhat diminished by Kitty but there is no way she can get them all. The twelve is not counting any for the garlic I plan to plant in the fall because I figure by October there will be empty beds OR I will just plant it around the edges since garlic is a good thing to do that with in order to keep buggy pests away from the other plants.

Tuesday  evening was the Pack 12 Leadership Meeting. It was interesting and informative. And kept to about an hour. And funny, at times. Especially the comment made by one leader about eight years of diapers is enough. I had to laugh at that one. Eight years of diapers is NOTHING! One of the other leaders had to agree because he and his wife have six.

That got me to thinking on the way home. Bill Cosby said that if you only have one child, you are not qualified to know what it’s like to have children. I agree. Child does not equal children. Child is not plural. I would go so far as to say that having two children doesn’t really qualify you either because although having two is more of a challenge than one, almost everyone is born with two hands. It is when the third comes along that we begin to understand what it means to have children. And every one beyond that adds to the chaos (I do understand that having only one or two can be somewhat chaotic—I once had only one child and then, for a time, I had only two children) and changes the family dynamic in ways that people with fewer might be able to imagine, especially if they come from larger families, but do not actually know. By the way, I have great admiration for anyone who has more than I do. One of my favorite people has eleven and she is an incredible woman.

Yesterday was another busy day. It was an early release day (which I don’t mind but really wish they happened on Friday) and I really wanted Joseph and Seth to be done with school by recess time. Backing up a bit, I got up, washed some dishes, got the goats fed and watered, waited until Amena and Cedric were both gone or at least on the bus, and went for a walk. I needed to do that and would love to go out at 5:00 but it’s not light enough. So I went at about 7:45. It’s a good time, too, it just doesn’t give me time for a shower when I get back before school for the boys.

They did get done by recess time and I was able to shower. Julia arrived as I was cutting my toenails so I only got one foot done (the other had to wait until I was going to bed). Emily was a bit late but that’s the way it goes when you have a youngling (but imagine how it would be with two J). We talked about Laura’s reception since it is going to be at the West’s house. Just FYI, Laura, as long as someone is willing to help with last minute preparations (I’m thinking Aunt Becky—heads up—and maybe someone or two else) she (as in Emily) is willing to follow you around and take pictures.

While they were still here I cleared the table of school stuff and other odd and ends because I really wanted to get more things planted in milk jugs and made a sack lunch for Joseph. Joseph needed to be delivered to the Foley’s by 12:15 when Jack and a bunch of other cub scouts would be arriving on the bus. The plan was to eat lunch and get ready to leave on a field trip to Worcester at 1:00. Julia and Emily both needed to get going at that point so we all left just after Cedric was dropped off.

I came right home and Cedric, Seth and I got ready to go to see Furious 7 at the theater. Seth really didn’t want to go but I wasn’t comfortable leaving him home alone for three hours so he got to go. Since he saw the trailers, he now wants to go see a few other movies but so does Cedric. And, honestly, there are some I wouldn’t mind going to see. When we got home, I got the message that Joseph would be later than expected because the tour was still in progress. I don’t remember when he got home but I think it was between 5 and 5:30.

We all needed to be at church at 7:00 and Amena and I both needed to stop somewhere on the way. Since Walmart had what we both needed, we stopped there rather than having to keep looking for what Amena needed.

Church was good. Amena, Seth and Joseph all had fun. I’m not sure about Cedric. The rain that had started before we left for church had turned frozen by the time we were done. I had Amena and Cedric with me, Paul had Seth and Joseph with him. When everyone was home, Paul said that the roads were slick. I know they certainly had to potential to be—the car was covered with a layer of ice—but I didn’t have any trouble slipping on the way home so I’m not sure if he was referring to the roads in general or specifically on the way to church from work.

Once we were home, Joseph started talking about the field trip. He had such an attitude about going. He did not want to. I think he wanted to stay home and watch Chima or Ninjago with Seth but because Seth had to go to the movie, he didn’t get to watch much (he wanted to stay home and watch Chima or Ninjago). As I was leaving, I told him to have fun and he turned around and said, “I’m not going to!” Well, ha, ha. He had fun. He didn’t want to go to bed he was telling us so much about it. He got to bring home a couple of pieces of the cable that they make and he told us about a building inside a building (“like a tree fort inside”) and what they use the cable for and on and on and on. It was already late so I had to shoo him off to bed but I’m really glad that he had a good time.

Today is going to be another busy one, I think. It’s colder and everything outside is covered with white icy snow. Should be fun. I wanted to go out for a walk but I suspect, and will know once I’ve fed the goats, that the white is concealing the ice. I might have to start a fire early because it’s rather chilly in the house. Or do a bunch of laundry and some baking. We have the sisters coming over for lunch today and the Petzold’s for dinner. And I need to do Cedric’s lunch still.

Have a fantastic day!