Where We Are

Well...it is six days before Christmas. Gladys came to clean the house today. I LOVE Gladys. While Gladys was cleaning the house, Tonya was catching up on LOTS of laundry, cleaning out junk drawers, other kitchen drawers, PANTRIES, and closets. Awesome is what that was. At the end of the day...there was this TOTAL cleanliness. I cannot even begin to describe what that feels like and the price I attach to that feeling. When it's all done and Gladys leaves, and I look around and see the whole house is clean...THE WHOLE ENTIRE FREAKING HOUSE!...and that the laundry is done....the clothes are sorted, folded and put away, the drawers are neat and clean and various other projects have been tackled...well....it just makes my heart smile. Literally....my heart just smiles. Getting this entire house clean is NO small feat. Not with my three current children. (any day now I am hoping the aliens will return the REAL Roberts children...the ones who clean up after themselves and feel a need to help accomplish tasks around the house....but in the meantime...it's rough going with the alien models!). But somehow, Gladys manages. And my heart just soars to be a witness to it. And at the end of each cleaning I pat myself on the back and simply marvel at my astounding spanish skills! It's pathetic really...but I truly do marvel and congratulate myself on carrying on full conversations (and while they lean fairly strongly to one side...I DO manage to get the gist of the topic of conversation!). I freely admit that I enjoy having Gladys here and practicing my pathetic spanish on her. And can i tell you...today we had a whole conversation about cleaning with ONLY water and a microfiber cloth?! Really, I simply posed the question..."es solamente aqua?" (Is it only water....) and she kind of took it and ran with it from there. But she definitely started it with "Si, Si!" And then there was whole bunch of other stuff that just went like way right over my head. But yes...it was only water and the magic little microfiber cloth....which apparently you have to wet....and then wring practically, but not quite dry. Anyway. Big spanish fun here on cleaning days!

While Gladys was here, I got to bond with Maxwell. Ben had a birthday party to be at and Clara elected to stay with her Gigi and get lots of one on one attention, while I had Max at home with me. He was actually a delight. He was helpful and really pitched in and did everything that I asked, and then some. I can actually say that I enjoyed his company...for once! I was careful NOT to get too sucked in to his charms (because my Max can be OH so charming...and I am NOT kidding). I still made another appointment with the pediatrician for a follow up visit to further discuss the ADD possibility. Max has had a few days to chew on this now. Well....a couple of weeks really. He was supposed to "show us" in this time that he needs no help and that he has everything "under control". Yeah...not so much happening. Always a wild ride with that son of mine. He has NOT had it under control. He has NOT remembered things he is supposed to remember (namely...turning in his danged assignments!) and his organization has been ATROCIOUS! And so...after a nice conversation with him today....and a bit of skillful bribery, I THINK I might have convinced Max and struck a deal with him, to at least TRY a course of the ADD medication and just SEE if it works. It might. Or it might not. In return for trying it...IF he comes right home and completes his homework, he can then earn up to ONE hour of t.v. each night. I figure either the medication will help significantly with the ADD issues and Max will become the sweet, orderly, manageable child I fantasize about him being...OR it won't help at all, and at least we will know that we tried what we could. And so....we head back again in a couple of weeks....and I daresay that I am hopeful that this might turn out okay for us. And that's what needs to happen. Seriously. Because boarding school costs $25,000 a year and quite frankly, Chris is more than a little reluctant to fork over that money in the name of my sanity! SOMETHING has GOT to give here!

Clara went to a birthday party tonight. So sweet. Six is such a fun age! It's so magical and silly and excited and dramatic. I just really enjoyed watching it all tonight. So many smiles and tickles and hugs and giggles. It was a grand time!

Tonight, when i got home from the party, I worked on my grocery list for the week coming. Big fun! I hate planning meals and what people will eat. And I am really struggling a bit because everything on my list has onions in it and neither Cindy or Kelly handle onions too well. And I LOVE onions! Grrrr, I think I can get it all figured outl And now...it is late and I am ready to collapse into bed. What a full and wonderful day!