Life is the same everywhere you go

Daily life here is just the same as anywhere else. People ask me all the time, "How do you do it?"

Well. Just like I would anywhere else. It's the same routine where ever you live with five young kids. There's A LOT of laundry involved, that more often than not is clean - but NOT folded or put away. I remember digging through laundry piles when I was a kid, looking for a matching clean sock. It's pretty much that same story around here. Last night I did stay up and fold ALL my laundry and put it away first thing this morning. You can put that on the list of miracles at this house.

There's a pretty big amount of yelling that goes on also. Mainly by me. I wish I wasn't such a yeller, but really, I ask them nicely over and over and over and over....and no one listens. So I have to pull out the big guns; or lungs as the case may be. And if you don't know, I have REALLY big lungs. I always feel bad and often go to bed saying this as I slump into bed: "I am the worst mother EVER." And that day, I probably was. I try to put the stops on this, and some times I'm better than others. I also try to hug as much as I yell. Again, some days are better than others. I think actually I don't yell as much as I am just crabby. I almost always start out the day with chipper happy hugs, loves and kind words. But by 5 p.m., okay, 3:22 today - my patience in gone.

I'm not bragging here. I mean. If it's a mean mom competition, I don't think I'd win. But some days I may be in the top ten.

Fridays, our Sabbath, are real doozies. Is it like that at your house? Yesterday Peter got on the kids and then said to me, "I felt really bad. I mean, usually your the one that yells on Sunday." Uh, thanks? (We usually still refer to Friday and Sunday. Sunday in America just MEANS church. I knew what he meant.) But after using all my patience for an hour and ten minutes of sacrament meeting by myself, which in a branch with only 20 adults can get pretty boring, then teaching three kids ages 2,3, and 4 for nearly an hour, AND then another hour of sharing time and music - I'm pretty much cooked by the time church is out. I'm sure you know what I mean. Uh. I HOPE you know what I mean.

There's also a whole heck of a lot of cooking that goes on around here. And being the chubba chub that I am - it's hard not to snack all day long. I recently discovered that seven days a week, I am responsible for 21 meals a day. Every one in our house is home for all three meals a day. AND, then there are snacks and what not. I've started making basic menu's for every day of the week, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Otherwise I wander around the kitchen 85 times a day, saying to myself "What am I going to make for dinner.." Over and over. Then shove snacks into my mouth as I wander. So I try to keep a two week menu taped on the cupboard. ALSO, it cut's down on the 'What's for dinner (etc)." I like it.

At any rate. I do the same things here every day that I would do any where else in the world. And every now and then we get a fun shake up. Some of which I have been trying to blog about, but the above mentioned items seem to suck every moment of my life. Anyway, in the month of January Peter and I went to Dubai for three days by ourselves. We took the family to Kuwait for a three day weekend, and we had the most amazing experience at a market in the desert last weekend, when a local family invited us back to their tents for the day. I'll tell you all about it. Sometimes I need fuel to feed my fire of living here, and they threw on a very big piece of wood.
Here's to hoping I'll get these things recorded soon. I don't even know if people read this any more, now and then I get a really nice comment - but I think I'm mostly on my own here. So, if you are reading this and want to hear about more about our adventures; let me know!