Thursday, January 13, 2005
But how many children do you REALLY have?
Someone asked me this the other day... we REALLY have seven children. 2 boys aged 7 & 13... and 5 girls, ages 14, 17, 19, 20 and 21. Five of them live with us right now. Hard to believe, right? In this day and age... people must think we are Catholic or something.
Plus we have this girl Sheena who is 16, who is staying with us right now... (friend of Amelia's) who showed up last week and doesn't seem to be going home any time soon ... she is really nice so I don't mind (I have talked to her dad in Toronto and her mom here in Ottawa... it's a long story...but the gist of it is she lived with her dad for over 14 years and decided to try living with her mom this year and it is not working out).
Plus my dad has decided to stay here for the winter... we have been thinking about building him an actual bedroom in the basement, as right now we have just made a "wall" with a sheet, some blankets and assorted furniture to give the poor guy some privacy. Poor dad.
That makes 9 of us at last count. Plus a dog, cat and two fish tanks. Basically you are lucky to get a meal here as food gets inhaled pretty quickly. And by the way, I don't cook dinner on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. They are my day off.
Eric is quite introverted... he asked me to stop taking in people... but when my dad came along, we didn't mind as he is a pretty easy going guy... and he can cook! Eric has developed some strategies to coping with all of the chaos around here.... and has taken to hiding at Tim Hortons for hours on end for some peace and quiet. His other strategy is to take off his clothes and hide in our room, where we have a tv, and after the kids have walked in a couple of times and seen him naked on the bed, they are scared to come in our room anymore after dinner.
Plus we have this girl Sheena who is 16, who is staying with us right now... (friend of Amelia's) who showed up last week and doesn't seem to be going home any time soon ... she is really nice so I don't mind (I have talked to her dad in Toronto and her mom here in Ottawa... it's a long story...but the gist of it is she lived with her dad for over 14 years and decided to try living with her mom this year and it is not working out).
Plus my dad has decided to stay here for the winter... we have been thinking about building him an actual bedroom in the basement, as right now we have just made a "wall" with a sheet, some blankets and assorted furniture to give the poor guy some privacy. Poor dad.
That makes 9 of us at last count. Plus a dog, cat and two fish tanks. Basically you are lucky to get a meal here as food gets inhaled pretty quickly. And by the way, I don't cook dinner on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. They are my day off.
Eric is quite introverted... he asked me to stop taking in people... but when my dad came along, we didn't mind as he is a pretty easy going guy... and he can cook! Eric has developed some strategies to coping with all of the chaos around here.... and has taken to hiding at Tim Hortons for hours on end for some peace and quiet. His other strategy is to take off his clothes and hide in our room, where we have a tv, and after the kids have walked in a couple of times and seen him naked on the bed, they are scared to come in our room anymore after dinner.
