Up to my armpits

...in kids, that is.

I haven't really written that much about Diva Daycare lately - I've been too busy! Notice how sporatic the posts have been? Yeah, me, too. It's called "I Couldn't Tell You The Last Time I Peed By Myself But I Can Cook A Meal For Eight Kids While I Bounce A Baby Like An Olympic Athlete To Keep Him From Busting A Vein Because Of The Screaming Emitting From His Tiny Little Body And Why Can't My Children Just. Stop. Fighting. And OH MY GOSH Someone Help Me I Am Starting To Talk Baby Talk To Grownup Strangers In Wal*Mart." Yep, it's a clinical term. Look it up.

The newest addition to the lineup is JackJack - he's tiny. So tiny that he'd rival Waldo in one of those crazy books obviously written by someone on meth. Not that I'm comparing him to Waldo because he wears funky striped scarves and a sockhat even at the beach or because I'm on meth - not at all. I'm just saying he's tiny. Tiny like a picture of Waldo in a book. Annnnnnyway. Just nod and smile - that's what everyone else does. (And by the way, his mother did not really name him JackJack.)

This summer has been more relaxed and more hectic all at the same time. There are less kids here some days, more here others. Some days are early starts, some days are later ends, just depends. I haven't gotten to lay out but once, so I have only a moderate start on my summer freckling. I don't usually leave my house except for Monday nights for Ladies' Night at Buffalo Run, which I thought was going to stop since my husband works The Shift From Hell now, but Bub kindly offered to watch my kids while he watches his own on Mondays. He's so thoughtful - he offered and when I said thanks, but no, he said, "Isn't Monday night your only night out of the house?" When I answered yes, he said, "Then you are not going to stop going." I love that man. My sister is lucky indeed.

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Last week was Paul's first week at his new job at Buffalo Run Casino. He had his 40 hours in by Thursday so from Friday to Sunday - including the 14 1/2 hour shift he pulled on Saturday - he was on straight overtime. WAHOO! He loves the job, loves the work, loves the people. He's happier, we're happier. He didn't get to meet Big & Rich, but then again the concert itself was rained out, so when they come back to do the concert he'll get to meet them, they say. He did get to meet the guys from Frank's Custom Cycles out of San Antonio and Franko himself said he'd build him the bike of his dreams (for the low, low price of only $30k *gasp*), gave him his card and made my husband happier'n all get out. Since he's in Security, chances are he'll also get to meet Ronnie Milsap, Dwight Yoakam, Lynard Skynard and Brad Paisley in the coming months, to mention a few. Lucky.

Last week they had him on the day shift to train him, so today is his first day on The Shift From Hell - 4 to Midnight. Bleh. This means that he's here during the day griping about the noise of the children, continually walking in and out of the daycare room door which invariably makes one or more of the kids cry, he doesn't like to eat Spaghetti-O's and peanut butter and jelly so now I'm cooking not only for 8 or 9 kids, but I'm also cooking our big meal at noon as well. It also means that once school starts he'll see our kids, the ones we created, only two evenings a week and during the day on the weekends. That's going to suck. The perk of the whole thing is that once the kids go to bed, I will have 4 1/2 hours all to myself. My mom says that when Tater and I were kids, my dad used to work that schedule and that she accomplished so much in the evenings; the house was clean, she cooked and did laundry......Me, I'm just hoping I can get 4 hours of sleep in the bed by myself.

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Abby's foot is healing fine. We're still a little leary to let her go swimming, but hopefully by the time we leave for Girl Scout Mom and Me Camp this weekend, it'll be fine. Because we all know how much I love swimming and can't WAIT to just jump right into the pool.