Saturday, July 26th- Today we cleaned at home. I'm afraid most of the days in this letter will read like this. I'm on a whirlwind of lysol and Mr. Clean erasers around here. I'm trying hard to finish the whole house before we leave, but as you know these things always go more slowly than I hope, and my kid help is in Ohio, lol. Dad helps with the kids when he can, but he has his hands full chainsawing broken trees right now. I worked on the playroom some more, and here's a picture of Mary Claire putting her baby doll to bed.
I am moving furniture around and rearranging some things. It's driving Tess insane. She does not like what I am doing *at all*. And she comes back into the room later and rearranges things to her liking as best she can.
Cleaning and organizing means finding fun stuff sometimes though. Here's Tess in a nightgown I dug up from some Too Big Clothes Boxes. She loooooves this nightgown!
Sunday, July 27th- I've ordered the last of the school books! I wanted to get things ordered in time for them to arrive before we leave.
Today we went to mass of course, at St. Stephen's since Dad is working this weekend. Jack came too. He is doing a lot better, though still coughing.
Here's Henry reading an I Spy book. Whatever room I am cleaning in is THE place to hang out!
Monday, July 28th- Jack and the gang spent the day digging up the backyard. He says they are digging to Canada. I ordered some assorted clothing to, to make sure everyone has enough to get through a week of camping. In a weird, random find, I got the girls two long old fashioned white nightgowns on a great sale. They can wear them for St. Lucy's feast day in December! I tried to find some last year, but they were pricey.
Tuesday, July 29th- Bowling today. Jack just loves bowling day. He takes it very seriously. Here's some bowling pictures. Isn't Tess cute in her pigtails?
Keeping Mary happy with M&M's...
Wednesday, July 30th- Kid quotes...
Jack to Tess- "Can you make a snowman come to life?"
Tess, laughing- "No, Jack! You know you have to have a magic hat to do that!"
Today, therapy for Jack, and cleaning cleaning cleaning.
Thursday, July 31st- I begged Dad to take Jack, Tess, and Henry to the library before he left for work, just to get them out of the house for a while. They have been left to their own devices, entertainment-wise, all week so I can clean, and I planned more of the same next week, so I thought it would do them good to go do something.
Here's Mr. Squirrel! He was watching me in the bathroom. Like, really close by, just watching for a looong time. Frankly, it was a little weird.
Friday, August 1st- Stair guy!! Big excitement! The stair guy came and broke up the front stairs with a jackhammer! He was actually supposed to come yesterday but it rained. Here's a before picture, just so you can remember how bad they had gotten. See Henry in the door?
Saturday, August 2nd- Broken up stair rubble.
This was *after* he had taken a load to the dump. It's amazing, really, how much there is! Dad is off this weekend, and I am....cleaning! haha! Finally finished upstairs. Here's a picture of my big helper. He lost his pants.
He is really a big help. He vacuumed all along the baseboards for me, and was cleaning windows and such. He's a good little worker! Do you know I am STILL finding dried beans up there from when that room used to be our schoolroom and Jack was a toddler and dumped his beanbox all over the floor?
I have also finished the kids' bedrooms. We moved Tess's bed and made room for moving Mary Claire in at some point.
I had Jack climb up into your bed and strip the sheets and blankets for washing. Good thing, because they were dusty! He also found Henry's missing water bottle and a box of cheezit's, Miss I'm Not Eating in My Room.
I cleaned out your nest. I didn't bother with your stuff in your cabinets and all, but I moved out the furniture and swept it all out. I emptied your closet and moved the stuffed animals out. Don't worry, your bunnies and tigers are still there. The others have moved out though to the playroom. I should warn you now about the closet. A while ago, one of the big closet shelves fell down in the laundry room. It's the one that held my clothes and some of Dad's. Dad has to get some bigger toggle bolts and put it back up. In the meantime, I moved my clothes to your closet and some of Dad's to the boys' room. It is very temporary. Dad will put the shelves back up when we return from camping. Also, we moved Tess's dollhouse to the playroom and moved the dress up clothes in. My plan is to make a nice little dress up area in there...install a low rod to hang outfits on, some cute baskets for playsilks and such...and I want to get some nice baskets for the top shelf for your things.
Sunday, August 3rd- Latin mass and potluck today. Also, cleaning was planned. Yes, on a Sunday. It has become necessary. But, on the way to mass I started feeling badly...very nauseated. Lasted all day. No, I don't think it's what you are thinking, lol. But, that combined with the fact that Mary didn't sleep well and so I only got five hours of sleep...I was not in good shape for cleaning.
Today is Monday, August 4th, and I'm getting ready to mail this letter. This will be our last one! I thought of sending one right before we left, but this one is going out so much later than I thought, and we will see you in person soon, so I think this will be it. This week will be pretty much me trying to get as much cleaning done as I can before time runs out on me, bowling on Tuesday even though I don't have time for it, therapies on Wednesday, packity pack, pack on Thursday. Friday, we leave, bright and early! We're all very excited! We usually arrive sometime right around time for the Saturday mass...we have never gone to the Saturday mass because, well, I think only once have we gotten there before it starts, and even that was just barely...and I was always afraid how Jack would take, "Ok, we have spent two days driving here in the car, now get out and go to mass!" lol. But, probably while you all are at mass we will be checking in and eating dinner and just getting settled. Can't wait to see you!
All For!
