Domestic Psychology

we gotta get out of this place

// June 19th, 2007 // 2 Comments » // summer

Maybe if we use this as our guide, we could actually afford a vacation somewhere.

via Boing Boing

one child is harder than five children

// June 15th, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Doug, me, summer

Doug and the older boys have gone camping for the weekend. Even though the weather is beautiful, they are having a fish fry tomorrow and he took my camera, Doug won’t have any fun. He is in one of his woulda, coulda, shoulda moods and will spend every moment thinking he should be doing something else. The girls are at my parents so they can spend their every waking moment at the swimming pool. Evan and I are going to sword fight, make car noises, watch The Upside Down Show and knock down blocks. Whenever he’s asleep, I’ll do laundry and clean. Exciting stuff.

I love summer vacation

// June 4th, 2007 // No Comments » // parenting, summer

I love that the mornings start late and I can still listen to the birds singing while the teenagers sleep the daytime slumber of vampires. I love the suspension of time as we live without the suffocating schedule of school, homework and bedtimes. I love listening to all of the children playing (and bickering) together as they and their friends wander in and out of the house. I love the way it stays light far past dinner hour so that the entire family can run amok in the safety of our cove. I love the giggling cooperation of dusk inspired firefly hunts. I love the late night movies with our horde of children piled into beds together. I love summer vacation. We may not travel or visit the beaches, but summer is our family time. As the teenagers develop more of their own lives, I try to hold tightly to the sounds and sights of our times together. If I’m really lucky, someday my grandchildren will read my old blog posts out loud to temporarily spark the flame of my failing memories.

Next week I’ll be posting why I hate summer vacation. It has something to do with Sarah and Amy attending camps the same week on opposite sides of town while I try to get all the children’s checkups and dental cleanings done before school starts again.

word of the day

// May 30th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // summer, vocabulary

Caveman Sunscreen – The layer of dirt and filth that covers my children after a mere moment outside.

Mom says: “I don’t care if it’s your summer vacation, you still have to bathe.” AND “Playing in the sprinkler is NOT the same as taking a bath.”

clone me please

// May 20th, 2007 // No Comments » // parenting, summer

This is one of those weeks that people without children just can’t comprehend. We have multiple events at four different schools every day and night this week. Monday’s marathon starts with the morning school bus shuffle and there is not an unscheduled moment until 9 p.m. Tuesday is only slightly less packed. I just need to survive through Noah’s movie and sleepover party on Friday. No school after Friday, hooray! Well, except for the summer school programs Tommy and Sarah are attending and the multiple summer camps that the four oldest are attending. Clones sure do sound like a good thing.

tmi

// August 3rd, 2006 // 2 Comments » // summer

The heat index is 105, so I think I’ll wear underwear with snowflakes on them. What? You don’t think it’ll help?

lightning bugs

// August 2nd, 2006 // No Comments » // summer

The lightning bugs are pretty much gone now, but a month ago the children were catching about 25 a night, just playing in our cove. Except for three that got set free in the house (to disappear) and one that got squished by a jar lid, we let them all go free.

the smell of elephants in the summer

// July 31st, 2006 // 1 Comment » // mail, parenting, summer

Since the heat index is around 100, I am giving in to Amy’s begging and taking the children to the zoo tomorrow. Did I ever tell you the story about the time I had a heat stroke at the zoo and ended up on a gurney in the medical room? Or the time Noah had a nosebleed at the zoo and after repeated efforts to stop the bleeding in the same medical room mentioned above, we had to take him to the hospital? I wonder what adventure we’ll have tomorrow?

because I couldn’t find a g-rated weather quote

// July 18th, 2006 // 2 Comments » // life, summer

“The weather out there today is hot and sh***y with continued hot and sh***y in the afternoon. Tomorrow a chance of continued cr***y with a p***y weather front coming down from the north. Basically, it’s hotter than a snake’s *ss in a wagon rut.”

be safe Sarah

// July 14th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Doug, life, summer

Tomorrow morning, Sarah leaves for 10 days at a Florida beach with her best friend’s family. Her friend’s father is a law professor at UT, but he’s not a blogger. I’m not very well-versed in Catholicism, but it seems that they have a point system in heaven which rewards compassion toward the poor people while on Earth. I hope they get bonus points for taking a teenage girl for 10 days. In the past 24 hours, we’ve had laughter, crying, dancing, sulking, anger, annoyance and a thousand other emotions expressed by the hormone princess. I’ll join the church that sends a crew to our house on a ‘mission trip’ to paint, build, plumb and wire this house back together. The sanity it would give Doug would be sooo worth it.