My husband made a proclamation this morning after ignoring the alarms and dragging ourselves out of the bed. “One day this week, we are going to bed at 9:00 PM “..No movies, just music and sleep.”
Why, you ask? Because frankly my dear, this "life race", has us absolutely exhausted. We feel exactly like "Erik" looks in this picture. For example, On Saturday- My Husband’s schedule: Waking at the crack of dawn to go to training then back home to pick up children for drop off at a rehearsal then heading to the store to get items needed for band camp then back to pick up previously dropped off children.
For me, it was mopping the ½ bathroom, loading the dishwasher, dropping yet another child at a birthday party, shop for a dress and shoes. Then we both got dressed and went to a black tie event (thank God we could sit long enough to eat a great meal) only to head home at around 10 PM long enough to change clothes and for my husband to head back out to the store for more band camp items. For me, I started Sunday dinner in a crock pot, headed out to pick up one child from work, and another from a girlfriends’ house who did her hair for her. We met back at home around 11:30 PM watched a Star Trek movie and collapsed. But then Sunday, its back up and rolling…My husband is up at the crack of dawn to drop off a child at the meeting place for band camp then we headed out to morning services that didn’t get out until almost 2:30pm.
We finally make it home at around 3:15, sit for about 20 minutes while the girls clean their tornado affected bedroom, before we discovered that we don’t have the energy necessary to finish dinner. So we pack up the van, head to a restaurant around 4:30 pm, and muster up the strength to eat. We go back home, it’s around 7ish now and see that the computer is on the fritz. My husband works on that while I work on my weekend project which was to get my old jewelry boxes cleaned out and all my jewelry transferred to my new boxes (that I bought over the weekend) while watching the movie “Mars Attacks” with my daughter (I promised). We finally finish up our projects and its now 9:35PM. We leave the house to go to ColdStone Creamery (which we have been trying to do for months), we get an ice cream, sit on the bench for a minute and talk. We head back home, and the computer is still tripping, so my husband works on that while I get ready for bed. I put on the movie I was supposed to watch earlier while I wrap my hair, get clothes out for today and straighten my dresser. We finally both make it to the bed, and I fall asleep before "Kirk and Bones make it back to Vulcan to help Spock", geez I hope they made it :-). Which brings us to this morning…and my husband’s proclamation “One day this week, we are going to bed at 9:00 PM “..No movies, just music and sleep.”
Not sure what day its gonna be..but he’s right. We are a tad exhausted. Funny thing is, we were three to four kids short this weekend (three were over an aunts house and one was spending the night over another relatives house.) Every weekend is not like this, but most are. It comes with the territory of having a large family. We don’t have drivers, or nannies, or housekeepers, or babysitters or maids or butlers or administrative assistants ready to jump in and pick up the slack…we have well….US! Yet, we get it done through super endurance, super patience and super support for one another. Oh suuuuuuuurrrrre we could buy all the kids that can drive, "cars" ! We could get insurance, help with gas and send them on all these errands. However people, "here on earth" those things cost money-and with teenagers, lots of money. Actually, some are working toward taking care of these things themselves. THAT's what we'd rather see, them becoming responsible young adults and then we'll help. That means that as parents,we are not raising helpless whiny brats and punk lil' girly men who can't manage to work toward anything successfully or have the patience and endurance to work and wait. If it means we run around in the meantime, yeah well, our super cape will fly in the wind and we'll do what we have to do. (ok, sorry if that was harsh...i'm sleepy remember?-but its still the truth)
Sometimes we need to plan better, we’re learning and we’ll work on that. I need to exercise more for more energy-yeah right...hmmm ,where do fit THAT in? Sometimes we need to learn to say NO. There is some cutting away from activities and obligations that we will have to decide on for the good of the group, especially when school starts again. If you can believe this, there are some things we need to add, to make sure that the kids are taking advantage of prime opportunities. I am sure we will find the time to figure that out in between pick ups, drops offs and scheduling time to brush our teeth…But you know what? If sleep is our biggest issue with a family of 13, Praise God-we’ll take it GRATEFULLY and without complaint.
Alot of people ask me...oh my GOD I bet your house is loud all the time..and the answer is 93.4% of the time yes, the house is loud. The TV's are going, the computer is going. The kids are talking, laughing & screaming. The washer machine is humming the dryer is flipping. Cars are coming in and out of the driveway and doors are opening and closing constantly. The dishwasher is swishing and we have a revolving door of visitors that add tremendously to the volume level. But on a rare occasion-like this morning it wasn't loud at all. There was quiet...which has a new definition for me-The absence of chaos or unnecessary noise. 
