Well gosh, I have no IDEA how that happened !

Humph. This blog says I haven't written anything since last Tuesday.

That's ridiculous. I mean, really.

So in order to move past this hiccup, I am sitting here in bed, with my legs dutifully raised to minimize the swelling and aching in my calves.

From working on my feet all weekend.

Why else would they be raised? You people and your dirty minds.

We are now in full summer vacation mode - a change that is less pronounced when you live in Hawaii and the weather is pretty much the same all year round. The only real difference in our days is that I don't have to get in the car in my bathrobe at 7am and drive around the block to drop Max off at school.

That, and the fact that these children are here with me all the god damned time and I think I might be slowly or not so slowly losing my mind who the hell came up with the idea for summer vacation anyway this sucks.

They fight. They talk. They shout. They whine. They beg. They fib. They eat.
(Repeat ad nauseum)

I am at the end of what is already a short and extremely frayed rope.
I would drink, or smoke, but who has the time with these kids all around you (gestures wildly, flailing arms about the head).

So I do the next best thing. Mandatory Quiet Rest Time.
Every afternoon, when it starts to get really hot, I make liberal threats about spankings and taking away toys, swear everyone to silence, and climb in bed.

They don't have to sleep. But they do have to go to their own rooms, and read or play quietly.

Sami is not really a party to our agreements, which is why on weekends quiet rest time is non-existant. The children are jubilant (translation: standing in the yard outside my bedroom window screaming and throwing things at each other) I am the bad guy, and no one gets any quiet rest time.

I miss quiet rest time.

So rejoice, tomorrow Sami goes back to work, and I return to my regularly scheduled program of sleeping in (waking briefly only to turn on a movie for children that get up painfully, unnecessarily early) eating a leisurely breakfast at around 8am, and figuring out how to distract them for a few hours before quiet rest time.

Last week we took the dog for a hike in the pine forest, we went to a movie, we went to the gym, we ran tons of boring errands, we went to the aquarium, and we ate out. It was very satisfactory, actually, if not for the aforementioned fighting talking shouting whining begging fibbing eating cycle that is so hard to break.

So tomorrow, we shall make a concerted effort to avoid falling into such unbecoming behavior.

Maybe even sit down and plan out our week, ahead of time.

The suspense must be killing you......what will they DO ? What will she DECIDE ?

I think this calls for a photo essay. Stay tuned.