Well, it’s been a busy weekend for us!  Thankfully, my emotions are starting to normalize after last week’s trials.  David is healing and seems better every day.  Patches’ death is a little less hard to bear.  Having Rich home for a long weekend has been wonderful.

On Saturday, I made baked beans and a jello cheesecake for our church picnic and we went to the park for a little while.  It was very windy and almost down-right cold!  Strange weather, but it was good to talk to friends and watch the kids play.  I found David pushing his little brother on the swing. . .without being asked!  So cute.

This is what the boys were doing in the backseat of the truck on the way home from the picnic:

They were wild and crazy!~constant noice of laughter and squeals. 

David was all worn out by the end of the day, so I kept him home with me on Sunday to rest.  The quiet of having just one child around was almost like a massage for my brain.  I was outside for a little while, laying in the sun on a blanket, and I felt so secure. . I knew David was safe inside the house and I didn’t have to try to keep track of 4 other children.

I did have a couple of meltdowns this weekend.  The worse one was Saturday night.  All of a sudden, after dinner, when I turned around to see my kitchen a disaster yet again, I just could not do anything more.  I don’t know exactly how it happened but I ended up yelling, “I’m DONE.  I’m going in my room and you guys are all going to clean this house for me!!!” And I did, I went in my room, shut the door, locked it, and got into bed.  After a while, I started to regain my sense of humor so I went out to see how they were doing.  Jacob was the busiest. . . . .what a tender heart he has.  They all were working, but he ended up not only washing the dishes that were in the sink, but mopping the kitchen floor as well!

It felt so GREAT to put my foot down.  LOL  And I did get a clean kitchen out of it.  It was wise of Rich to just let me vent. . . . . .we had a nice laugh over it later.

Okay.  Well, today was busy again, but we stayed at home all day, which was good.   This morning I tried to do various other things but decided (after lots of interruptions) that my family needed me in the kitchen most of all. . .so I basically puttered around cleaning, organizing a couple of cupboards, cooking, and generally making myself available to anyone who might need me.  I made potato salad.  I already had made 3-bean salad and a huge fruit salad so, along with Rich’s grilled hamburgers, we had a very nice Memorial Day picnic outside at our picnic table.  The kids were so wound up, happy.  Caleb sat next to Rich and hugged his arm after every bite of his hamburger.  When he wanted a “peekle” (pickle) he said, “I want a peekle!” and put his whole hand in the jar to get one. Then, he dipped it into his potato salad before he took a bite. Ethan and Jacob were also silly. . .David was too cold. . .Grace was the only relatively normal one of the bunch.

I spent time after dinner, folding a gazillion loads of laundry and putting it all away.  I made David’s bed and cleaned up their room a little (picking up lots of choo-choos).  I made the older kids clean their bathroom.  Rich gave Caleb and David a bath.  All that cleaning added another gazillion clothes to the “dirty clothes pile”. . .

The children are all in bed now.  It’s getting dark outside, my windows are open and I can feel a cool breeze.  I can hear all kinds of night time creature noises. . birds singing goodnight, the peepers, the frogs, all those sounds.  It’s actually pretty noisy out there.

Rich just opened a can of soda.  He’s watching a baseball game.  Guess what he did today?  He took Jacob and Ethan for a bike ride.  The boys were so tired when they got back, but I didn’t think anything of it.  Then, after dinner, Rich took Ethan in the truck to go measure how far they went.

10 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I cannot believe my boys rode their bikes 10 miles!!

By the way, I didn’t just clean and cook all day.  I think my favorite part of the day was watching Rich and the boys all fish.  I sat in my chair in the sun, with my sunglasses on, and watched.  It was quite entertaining.

Here are some random photos from the day;

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I was sad this morning because I had to clean this quilt.  I keep it folded on the top of our armoir in the livingroom and it was Patches’ favorite place to curl up and sleep the day away.  Today I took the quilt down, aired it on the porch railing, and used the lint roller to clean off all the white kitty fur that she left behind. . . . .

Since I had the quilt down, I took a picture for my xanga friend Polly.  She loves quilts.  I think Hannah will like to see it, too.  It was given to me by Rich’s Grandma.  It is a family quilt, made in the 1800’s by one of Rich’s ancestors (I can remember just how many “greats” back she was.)

Grace picked me these lovely purple flowers, from down by the stream.  I promptly put them in my lilac fiesta disc pitcher.

I think this next series of photos is amusing.  I can’t seem to even take photos without a small someone coming along to “steal the show”. . . . .

You may think I was all alone, enjoying some solitude when I snapped this one:

But, no,

“David, David!  Back away!  You’re getting in my picture!”

“Oh forget it!  I’ll j
ust make him part of it. . .”

My little buddies are always seeking me out! 

This is my favorite picture of the day, of lil’ Caleb (my 2 year old):

“By golly!  My mama put my life-jacket on me, but I put my goggles on myself, thank you very much!!”

And he walked around like this, perfectly content!

In other news, David caught his very first fish!

See it?

As you may have noticed, I wrote a bit more tonight.  I sort of made myself.  I’ve been thinking and talking in fragments lately. . . .I thought it was time to try to be a little more descriptive.  I hope it wasn’t too boring or confusing to read.  I’m tired out so I’m off to get ready for bed and go cuddle with my husband. 

Good night~

Today is my brother David’s birthday so I thought I would take a nice picture of the kids for him.  We don’t live close enough to say “Happy Birthday” in person. 

As you can see, the children all had different ways of expressing their many happy returns of the day~

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And no, I did not tell Ethan to hang upside down.  But it seemed fitting.

I just never, ever know what to expect!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful brother, David, my very first best friend!  I love you~

Rich came home last night at 9 and I knew instantly that something was wrong.  He told me that our little cat Patches got hit in the road and that she was dead.

I don’t really want to write too many details about how I feel.  It would be hard for me to write and hard for you to read.

I’m just so very sad.  I’ve been awake since 3 in the morning, thinking about Patches and crying.

When people think of Shanda, they probably think of a busy mom of five.  But my mom and dad know, and my siblings know, and now Rich is probably finally realizing, how much I deeply love my cats.  I may be busy, but I always have a peaceful content feeling when there are cats about the house.  It always feels right to pet a cat, and to have one purring next to me.

I’m going to miss my mighty little hunter, and the gifts she left me at the door.  I will miss her loud purr, and the cute things she used to do.

When the children are awake later on this morning, I’ll have to break the news to them.  David especially loved Patches, Patches was his very real friend.  Grace also will be very sad, Patches was her baby.

Pictures for the kids, because I know they will want to see them today~

She was born in our previous house, and spent every day of her life with us~

Patches is climbing the tree in this picture.  Angie is her mother (the gray one) and disappeared almost a year ago.  We still have Spot, he is outside right now, as soon as he comes home I will be comforted somewhat.

Patches caught a frog once, which disgraced her mother.

The kids all held Patches this way, which I thought looked so uncomfortable.  Patches was usually happily purring, though.  I used to say, “Patches!! Sit like a lady!” and the kids would laugh.

She was a patient kitty~I always think of pairs figure skating when I see this picture:

Patches left us a fish once~I still can’t believe she caught one~

She even wanted to catch a duck~this is why I began thinking of her as “The Mighty Hunter”

But most of all she was just plain sweet-as-a-kitten-can-be.

ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts.

EDIT******It’s now about 8:15 and I told all the kids.  I told each one separately.  Jacob took it the worse, he said, “What???” and cried that was it.  The rest of them didn’t say much.  I just talked to them about how I loved Patches, and we would miss her, etc, etc.

Turns out THEY are comforting ME.  I was actually chuckling a little bit over their passionate conversations over breakfast. . .not a word about Patches, instead they are discussing what kind of cat they will get next, what color, and what they will name it.  Everyone has their own opinion.  Last I heard, it was to be orange with white feet, and they will name it “Hobo”.  Although, Grace does NOT like that name.  And Ethan would prefer a Siamese, with blue eyes and long hair.

Now they are gathering up all their stuffed animals and playing with them upstairs.  They are dealing with it in their own way, and I’m sure I will find them in tears on an off throughout the day.

However, at the moment I am “left to weep alone”.  (I write, with a half-hearted smile). . . . . . and I’m thankful for my happy little gang of children.  They seem very secure and resilient, which is a comfort, and makes it easier for me.

Thank you for praying for David.  It’s almost hard to believe how NORMAL he is acting today.  However, the spot on his tummy is a little worse.  By that I mean bigger, and now it’s all blistered.  It’s itching him terribly.  I had to take him to the doctor’s this afternoon to get it checked.  Thankfully, the Doctor was really pleased with the way it is healing and the way David is feeling.  She told me to keep the spot covered now, because it’s starting to ooze.  So now we don’t have to look at it as much.

I’m much more at ease today.

No more resting for David!  I cannot keep him still.  He’s been catching frogs all day (taking a break for his appointment)  Just as soon as he was dressed this morning, he was outside, walking around the pond, catching them and putting them in a tub of water out on the lawn.

He was really proud of this big one~

He has his appetite back, too.  Last night he had a bowl of spaghetti for dinner and 4 pieces of toast as his bedtime snack.

Today he is enjoying watermelon, his favorite~

Ethan made brownies all by himself today and asked me to take this picture~

It seems like I have been busy non-stop.  My emotions have been up and down.  But we are simply praising God for the way He has taken care of David this week.

My biggest complaint, now that the tylenol has taken away my fierce headache?

My house needs cleaning. . . .again.

Help?

Oh forget the housework.  I think I’ll go crash on the couch and see if I can find a small boy to cuddle with.

Thanks again for praying!

Thanks for your prayers.  We are back home.  I’m thanking God for traveling mercies (the hospital is in our state capital and I hate driving through so much traffic). . and I’m also thanking God that David’s infection is only skin deep right now, just spread out pretty wide.  It looks so scary. . . but thankfully it should start getting better soon.  He is on strong antibiotics.  The doc. thinks it might have been a venomous spider bite.

He’s on the couch, very weak and quiet.

I was awake most of last night, worried about him.  He actually slept in bed with me, which I rarely do with my kids, so that shows how concerned I was. . .I didn’t want to be too far away.

Anyway.  My soup should be warm now, I haven’t had anything to eat all day but a piece of white bread!

EDIT-

These are pictures I took of David yesterday morning.  We were so excited that a “Davey” truck stopped just outside of our driveway, they were trimming the trees along our road.

It’s actually because of these workers that I first noticed how bad his tummy was.  I picked him up from behind so he could see better, and he yelled out in pain.  I was shocked when I lifted his shirt and saw how big it was, and that it was infected.

My brave little boy. . . .

And, here is his big boo-boo.  I took him to his regular doctors yesterday and the Dr. drew around in it ink so that we could see how big it got overnight.  The dark bruising developed overnight (it’s like a scab, with blisters forming on it) and it is what the ER people thought was a sign of a venomous bite.

See why I was (am) so worried?  It looks awful and his pediatrician said he hasn’t seen anything like it in the 25 years he’s been in the practice.

Keep praying!  We want that spot GONE!  And our Father in heaven is a great Healer. . . .

David has a very bad (infected) bite on his tummy that got worse over night.  He is in pain, has a fever.  I am on my way to the ER w/him.  Please pray for us.  Esp. Davy-do. 

Thanks!!!