Life in Kirksville

I try to stay in bed as long as possible because it is unimaginably cold. Then the kids come in saying they are hungry (Jeez, they are so needy). Rebekah has this talent for making a huge mess out of any kind of food she comes in contact with. It's really something you have to see for yourself. What she can do with a little cream of wheat takes my breath away. Then, after breakfast, comes lots of jumping, running, and screaming. Now the big moment we've been waiting for: the mail. Well, that is my big moment -- for the kids, it is the garbage truck. Wow, we've accomplished a lot today. Then Matt calls at lunch. For those of you who talk to me on the phone, you know what this means. It is time for the children in the house to go crazy. Roll themselves up in the phone cord (yes, we are ancient, no cordless), use it as a jump rope, whack me with it, bite it, and whatever else they can think of. The afternoon drifts on until it is time to make dinner. This always takes twice as long as it should. When Matt comes in and asks what he can help with I ask him to distract the leeches until I can finish (with a kiss, of course). Not that that is hard; they run up to him and ask him to read or be a horse or build a tower. More running and jumping takes place before bedtime, and then we can relax. Well, Matt will still study a bit, and I try to talk him into letting me make a dessert even though it is not a weekend. Oh, we have this rule because otherwise we'd weigh a thousand pounds. There isn't anything that a little (or a lot of) chocolate can't fix.