A "Normal" Night

Last night was kinda normal -- which for us isn't. I had a speaking engagement over dinner, so I had asked John and Rand to make tacos for supper. Bart had gone to chaperone the 9th grade choir trip with Leon and Tony and as I left for my meeting the rest of the children, along with John's girlfriend, were eating nicely together the meal John and Rand had prepared. When I returned almost 2 hours later there were no complaints about anyone. No fighting had occurred and everyone was fine.

I sat down to help Sadie with homework. She has all the sudden realized that if she doesn't pass her classes she might not be able to wear her new dress for 8th grade graduation and so suddenly she is eager to catch up on homework. Which means that we have done a LOT of homework. It seems as though all quarter she hasn't turned anything in as we did 5 English worksheets Sunday night, 5 math assignments last night when I was way too tired to be figuring it out, and she worked 90 minutes on a powerpoint for Ancient Civ. It's nice to see her have some kind of motivation finally.... but it's a huge time commitment when she is playing catch up.

Since it was a late start this morning, we were kind of relaxed about bedtime and last night we found ourselves in the bedroom with Leon, Wilson and Sadie from 10 to 10:30, with others popping in and out. Leon and Wilson are simply delightful as you have heard, but is is just so different for us to have children without malice who are attached, comfortable in their own skin, and happy to belong to us. It is quite a different experience.

For those who thought that Kyle might be the one fathering a child early, let me explain that Kyle doesn't do things out of order. He orchestrates things perfectly so that he can have things work out exactly as he wants. He will get married in July and then have certain things that need to be done before they start having children. He has always been methodical that way. He knows what he wants and how to get it, so he plans well.

LIfe seems to be looking up a bit for all the "adults" in my world. Rand is doing very well ever since he found out that he has a summer job. His attitude has changed a lot and he is being much more helpful around the house. Mike started his job yesterday from jail and Bart saw him Sunday (his birthday) and said he seems more confident and hopeful than he has been in a long time. John even has an interview on the 22nd and has been better at communicating and helping at home. Maybe I should have blogged about my frustrations a while back -- it seemed to do the trick. ;-)

Even though late starts throw my kids off, lately they are old enough to sleep in. That means that I have a full two hours where I just might be able to get something done before they wake up.

I am sure you won't be surprised that the second I typed that I heard someone moving around in the kitchen. And next door. Oh well.