Schtuff

To do, to do, to do. I am going to type for a bit and perhaps that will help my brain slow down. It's all trivial stuff, but enough to make my head spin. Here is a dump of what we've been doing:

• 2 kid dentist check-ups. I wonder if I would spend less time crying at the dentist now if I had had the same non-scary and very kind dental experiences as a child as my kids have now? Our pediatric dentist is amazing.
• 1 extra dentist appointment to get a kid tooth pulled (I guess teeth die if bonked hard enough)
• 1 little Rand sporting a new gap in his smile and a sweet lisp to go with it (pictures to come)
• 2 adult dentist check-ups.
• 0 cavities, go us!
• 1 six-month well-baby visit, scheduled a week too soon thanks to a receptionist who wouldn't listen to me, so now I have to schedule yet another doctor visit in a week or so for vaccines she couldn't get this week.
• What? Is Clara really almost 6 months old?
• She weighs 14 pounds and is tall - unless they measured wrong, she's in the 85% - wowee! (We never see high percentages!)
• Halloween decorating.
• Baking. YUM
• Halloween costuming - 1 tutu made, 2 sets of wings bought, 1 black cape I should make tonight if I can force myself to...
• We are giving Lindsey a small-ish slightly spooky birthday party here at our house tomorrow since the kids have a day off and Lindsey's real birthday is a school day. It's safe to say I'm not ready for it. Somehow, party preparations have made for the busiest couple of days. It's ridiculous how many trips to the store I have made. But Lindsey is soooo totally excited! I hope it's fun! I'm glad Randy will be taking off early to assist in partying.
  
• What? Lindsey is almost 7? Remember when she was a 5-pound preemie?
• We have been listening to Anne of Green Gables on cd in the car with all the kids, but Lindsey loves it most of all. It took a while for her to get into the story, but now she just loves that Anne-girl. She asked me, "Why is that lady who owns Anne so grumpy?" Ah, Marilla is the best character. As soon as we finish the book, we need to watch the movie together.
• Amelia has felt the stress of all this running around and has been muy emotional today between super cuteness. Poor girl. She cried and asked for Cafe Rio in the most pathetic voice (have we gone there much?) as we left our 2nd visiting teaching appointment this afternoon. If only Amelia. If only.
• I visit taught 2 ladies today, then went grocery shopping all before lunch time. See? Too much running around.
• Randy has had a big exciting work project and hasn't gotten home until late every night this week. No one misses that guy more than me during those critical evening hours. This place becomes a circus and I have just barely managed to keep everything running smoothly. Splitting bedtimes between small ones and big ones has helped. I don't pretend to know how my sister and sister-in-law handle looooooong deployments. They are heroes and made of tougher stuff than me, that's for sure!
• I took L and R to a family fun night at their school the other day while Randy stayed home with the babies. The activity mainly involved a smelly gym full of elementary-aged kids hula-hooping, limbo-ing, and jamming to some rad music played by a very enthusiastic dj. I'm afraid Lindsey has inherited my dorky dance skilz, but none of my inhibitions. That girl is all confidence and lives for an audience. She kept checking to make sure I was watching and her smile was enormous. It was heart-breakingly sweet. Rand ran around with a bunch of kindergarten kids who all call him Randall, and busted out some break-dance moves I never knew he had. How is this "Randall" such smooth operator? Must have gotten that from his dad who has his own inner backstreet.
• A friend I visit teach (who I did not visit teach today) came over and did a bit of service for me this evening and though I have only known her a short time, I love her for it.
• I have killed roughly one big black spider a day for the past several weeks (2 today though). My mom and sisters and I have been exchanging spider stories. Mom wins! Shudder.
• The laundry pile insists on growing. Thanks to diaper blow-outs, random bed-wetting incidents, a really fun and muddy backyard, and the normal wearing of clothing and using of towels, things keep needing to be laundered. When I had Clara I told Randy my only goals were to keep up with the laundry (I did not include folding in the goal) and to sweep somewhat regularly. I even stopped making my beloved to-do lists for a while. Sweet bliss. I set the bar low and have mostly succeeded in these mediocre aims. But not this week. If you come over, keep your shoes on. And just go ahead and pretend you don't see the gunk on my shoulder Clara left there sometime this morning, because I can't bear to wash yet another article of clothing today.

p.s. We do not do extra-curricular activities of any sort, unless you count going on bike rides to the park. How do you all do after-school stuff? (Wait, did you even read this far? Sorry) Anyhoo, the thought of anything extra makes me want to cry.