Wednesday Afternoon:
I babysat the old neighbor's of the family in Ashland. They had a baby girl born the day before (a home birth) so I got the meet her.
I left their house and went to Mrs KBL's. I explained to her how she won't see me for a few days. We flipped through new pictures that one of her sons sent her. We said a rosary (I have got to get better at the Apostle's Creed!!). Then we were looking pictures in her room and just being friends. We are the strangest pair. After about an hour of our great time together I peeled myself away since I still had to pack. Man, goodbyes are hard. (this was our third "long" break of not seeing each other.)
Thursday Morning:
I went to mass and then babysat like normal and my sister brought my youngest brother and sister. We left Madison just before 1 with a 5 hour drive ahead of us.
I had never driven more than an hour straight before, and I really didn't know what was ahead of me. I had my spotify all loaded up with even more songs. And I did a lot of eating and listened to music the whole way there. We were really jamming out. We took 2 stops. The farther north we got the more snow we encountered. I recognized some of the towns from going Rabbit/hare hunting with my dad. We made it to the house just after 6. There was a lot of excitement when we entered the door. we got the grand tour of the house--it was so big and beautiful. It took me a few hours to get oriented to the structure of the house. They had new things in this house that wasn't at their other house. One thing I was excited to discover was this picture because Mrs KBL has the same one on her mantle.
Friday Morning:
the older kids went to school and their parents left with the baby. While the kids were at school, my siblings and their kid #4 went out to adventure around Ashland. Our Grandpa (Dad's dad) grew up in Ashland but we had never been there before--I had never been that far North. We went to the Lake, 2 cemeteries and drove around town for a little.
It snowed most of our trip there. The kids came home from school, and the craziness began. I was watching 6 kids (my sister-11, my brother-9, their girls- 8 and 9, their boys-4 and 6.) We busied ourselves with lots of things--dance parties, playing outside, going to Kwik Trip, a Baltimore Catechism quiz, playing games, going to the play room at the library, perlor beads & such. It was crazy. I felt a little insane.
My limits became obvious early on--like I have endurance for 9 hours of babysitting, I had a headache on Saturday and I realized that I need to find something to do when I have a headache so that I am not so out of commission when I have a headache, you don't actually get a full night of sleep when babysitting overnight....
I learned more "large family logistics".
6 kids!
(Friday night we did an early dinner, clean up, and a rosary; then I let them watch a movie. I snapped this picture real quick before I ran upstairs to shower.)
Friday night I was so proud of myself--After the kids went to bed I wanted to wait downstairs for about 10 minutes before going up to bed myself. I thought for a minute or so of what to do. I heard the ding that the dishwasher was done running--I love dishwashers so, I lived my most glamorous life, at 8:56 I started unloading the dishwasher for the next day.
Their parents came home just before 6 on Saturday. We all had a big, loud, joyous dinner. Then we all went to a real, authentic Native American Pow Wow at the high school. It was really fun.Back at the house, we said our rosary and sent the kids to bed. Then, their mom and I stayed up until 12:20 just sitting and talking. This was extremely late for me but I am so glad that she and I had that time together.
I learned so much about her/her family/her marriage, Mrs KBL (who is her godmother), the Latin mass, recent church history, the SSPX, St Therese's, and lots of other things.
Sunday Morning:
we woke up and went to mass with them at our Lady of the Lake church. It was a pretty and a not pretty church at the same time. Right after mass, we jumped back in the car for the 5 hour trip home. the pressure was on to get back home since I had to babysit at 3:30.The ride home was more snow filled than the way there. And it was just mentally harder for me than the ride up. I got the kids home at 3:08, checked on the steers and was back on the road to babysit. I babysat from 3:30-7. Everyone wanted to know about my trip but I could only stand around for so long--I hadn't seen Mrs KBL in 4 days!!
Sunday Night:
I got to Mrs KBL's at 7:45 and she was SO excited to see me. It was amazing! I told her all about everything that happened and I heard all the new goings on at her apartment. (her caregiver has gone from a Walmart lover to a St Vinnys lover) It was a joy filled time.
Its 10:30am on Monday and I am still exhausted from all of that.
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