First road trip with Amelia

   I just cleaned up vomit in a car seat.  At a gas station. Why do car seat covers have to be so complicated to get off? And how come there's so many nooks and crannies throw up can get into? And how come gas stations don't have plastic knives?  Fortunately, Alivia seems fine now.  Gotta love telling a bare child to stand still half a dozen times in a discreet place in the van so as not to expose her to unsuspecting gas pumpers. In my defense, I've had plenty of experience with sickies puking all over the fresh donned clothes after you get the soiled ones off.  So I'm learning, and I allowed her to stand there naked while I cleaned up the nasty car seat. But the crazy "sick" girl kept climbing all over the seats with newfound energy and freedom from the restraints of her car seat. I hope it's out of her system. And I hope we can get to our friends' house in one piece and have no other dealings of this nature with any other kiddos.

    We're heading to Ohio for the funeral of a dear sweet friend of ours. Her and her husband took us under their wings and included us in their family while we loved in Ohio while Louis was in seminary.  They were our people.  Our family when we had no one close. They included us at family cookouts, golf games, Sunday dinners, and football games. We got close to them and their kids and grandkids. Oh how we loved being part of their lives.  It hit me hard to hear Dixie had died. I know that there's better life waiting on us.  But man, it's so hard losing a loved one.

Measurements

Look at our van and you can measure how much we've been on the road lately.
Look at our laundry and you can measure how behind I am.
Look at our furniture and you can measure the time frame of the last time I dusted.

Other measurements under my nose:

• My weight today was 149.5 so I've gained about 19 pounds so far (with 7 weeks to go- oh boy). 
• My blood pressure was good at 112/70.
• Different from our last obstetrician's routine, is that our current doc doesn't measure my stomach each visit.  Today, he decided to measure my stomach and I measured 28 cm.  Not bad if I was 28 weeks pregnant but I'm 33 weeks along and the thought of adding 5 weeks to my due date just about made me throw up. 
• After an unplanned ultrasound, she's measuring at 4 pounds 13 ounces. 
• By her stats, she's measuring 33 weeks 5 Days. 
• He felt like my fluid might be a little low and that's why I probably measured smaller...but after some looking around, he saw several pockets of fluid so he wasn't too concerned. 

You might be on vacation if:

You eat supper at 10 p.m. when you come back from swimming at the pool.  

While on a toll road, you toss in your two quarters and drive on...because you don't know what to do when the light doesn't turn green saying you can pass.  

While returning on the toll road, you toss in your two quarters, wait for a green light that doesn't change, then drive on through while the alarm buzzes.  We probably got our picture made. We probably have a citation or two on its way. 

Your husband takes your older four girls to the pool so you and your 2 yr. old can catch a nap and returns to you asleep and your 2 yr. old watching "King of the Hill."

After laughing about it together, you leave it on long enough to finish theepisode and watch the next one too.  With each commercial break I was begging Louis to change the channel but neither of us had enough energy to get up and change the channel or find the remote.  That's what swimming and sun do to us.  Wears. Us. Out.

Descriptions

I was having Aliza blow her nose and her ears must have been popping.
"Mom, wait". She pushed on both ears with her fingers. "My ears were inside out".

The other day we stopped at Chick-Fil-A and as we were walking in, I asked the girls what they wanted. Adalyn said she wanted a cheeseburger. After repeating the options again so she could alter her request, she said. "Ugh, I guess I will just have a chicken cheeseburger."

Timely pictures of an untimely project

This shelf looks simple enough, right?  This was actually the last and easiest.

  

The crazy-can't-hit-the-studs-and-can't-find-short-screws-so-they-don't-poke-books shelves.  

Things that make me go ahhh

There's just nothing like:

• Windows open on a warm, breezy day. 
• Clean sheets on my bed.
• Towels folded perfectly and shelved with the soft bunchy side turned out.
• A knock-knock joke from the kiddos that makes no sense at all that you laugh at anyway.
• Turning out the lights in the kitchen at the end of each day.
• Watching 4 washing machines wash a week's worth of laundry at once (it's just too bad you have to fork out so much at a laundry mat for this "cheap" thrill.)
• The sound of quiet, but also the sound of giggles.
• Seeing her understand something in school after so long of it being a mystery.  
• Mulled cider candles
• walking across a bare floor and not feeling any particles on your foot. 
• Hearing your kiddo recite a memory verse. 
• Having Louis walk in through the door.
• Putting meals in the freezer.