9 Hours Spent At The End of The Cul-Du-Sac

I spent all day in an old old house, with termites and milk spills, and broken windows. There was a dead bird laying in the grass when I got there, and two kitties that "aren't related, and aren't spayed", so perhaps next time I go there, there will be more kitties. But anyways, there is a turret that functions as the "schoolroom", and I read alot outloud up there, even until my tongue got sore, as the children did their quiet-work and listened, surrounded by posters of Egypt and Mother Goose. Then, the kids took turns reading, and I kinda got caught up in the wonder of the miracle of them all being at different stages. Like butterflies and caterpillars, each one was changing and growing and beautiful. It was fun afterwards, to go outside and make blind contour drawings of each other, even as the dog would steal our pens, and try to sit ontop of us. But there was much laughter. Blind contour drawings are always fun. Not all of the children did school. One was sick in her bed with the flu. One was filming a commercial in LA. One wouldn't come out of his room. But such is life... and other four did well.

We made quiches, and the baby really wanted to help with the pie-crusts, and she tried her very hardest, not getting her sleeves all in everything, but she's only three, and that can be very hard sometimes. The kids found my ipod and were listening to songs on it, and came across one I'd recorded a while back. They played it on repeat and started singing along, and kept telling me how much they liked it. Teddy even said in his raspy little accent: "Wow, you sing even better than Toby Mac!" How could I ask for a better compliment? We made obstacle-courses for each other. We played some games and sat under the trees. We climbed on the roof. Margaret stepped in dog barf. And we unsuccessfully tried eating a very unripe avocado. That is what I did today, in case anyone was wondering. It was a good day. It wasn't perfect... But maybe it was, considering, the day started, driving deep into the sunrise, emersed in a very good song, and ended, coming home, headlong into the setting sun, bookmarked by that same such pretty tune. That sort of has a way of making up for all the dirty cheeks, and crusty old sponges.

M and E, hard at work.