Guest post by Katie

Hello, my name is Katie. As being the oldest of 4 others, things can get pretty hectic. Also, with me being in 5th grade, I have a lot of projects and homework "To get us ready for Middle School" as the teachers say. I do write a lot of books, half of the ones I think of I write. And yes, I am an elf. My address is 5116 Apple Tree. Look at 5116 closely, and you might figure this out. Give your guesses in the commment box. J.R.R Tolkien is my favorite author. READ THE LORD OF THE RINGS!!!! It's great, unless you HATE fantasy( shame on all that do).
I sometimes get breakfast for the girls, watch them on the bus, play with them, etc.

Now for my big annoncment.

October 13, or around then, welcome kid number 6!!!
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of activity for one day....

...considering the fact that I have been updating this so infrequently lately. The reasons are:

1 - I didn't work yesterday or today, which means I'm fully rested (aka coherent) today
2 - I'm sick, so lazing around more than usual
3 - I'm feeling alive because I just quit my job! (Well, mostly. I'll still be working until mid April, but at least there is an end in sight to the 4am-4pm shifts of doom.)


Also, you'll notice the new twitter feed to the left. I know that it is ridiculous for a woman to have a blog AND a twitter account when she has nothing to say, but it was the only way to enter a "meet Conan O'Brien" contest. So, there you go.

Unpredictable

We were in Target today when Lucy, suddenly and with no warning, began to publicly humiliate a random woman who happened to be walking slightly in front of us.

"Look!" She yelled out, pointing, "It's an old lady! That is a OLD LADY!"

I would guess the poor woman was in her mid-forties. At the most. She looked pretty spry to me.

"Look at that OLD LADY!" Lucy yelled out again, just as I clamped my hand over her mouth and swooped her into a side aisle to get her out of sight.

"Lucy," I whispered frantically to her, "we don't talk about people like that. It's bad manners!"

"Oh," she said, furrowing for a moment. "I'm sorry."

We began to make our way through the store (far away from where the woman - who may or may not have noticed the commotion Lucy was making towards her) when Lucy, who must have been thinking it over, piped up, "Mom!"

"Yes?" I asked.

"But that lady was old!"

Back to the drawing board with this one. I wish I knew what it was about this poor woman that left such a strong impression on Lucy. I also wish I knew how to predict and stop these kinds of outbursts before they happened. I have a feeling, though, that this is but a small hint of the unpredictable nature of Miss Lucy Anna.

Another mystery, another potential horror

Does anybody remember the time somebody puked in my bathroom and nobody would fess up to it? You can relive it here, if you wish.

Thank the laptop gods that I still can't upload photos, because we had another mystery last night and this one was of horrific proportions.

A very suspicious brown smear appeared directly in front of the toilet last night. There was also a partial brown handprint on the wall by the light switch.

Disgust, horror, and wild accusations ensued. Everyone was questioned, everyone claimed complete and utter innocence. Just about everyone also had their own suspicions about who it might be; it was kind of like playing "Clue," actually, except that the "weapon" was biological.

The investigation reached the following conclusions:

1 - The hand print actually appeared the previous evening, and is most likely attributable to the chocolate mint souffle we had for St. Patty's Day.
2 - Nobody used the upstairs bathroom yesterday. Not no body, not no how. The various people who were all seen either entering or exiting the bathroom were in there for reasons other than using the facilities. They'd like to see anybody try to prove any different.
3- The girls spent a lot of time outdoors yesterday, and parts of the yard are still very muddy. Thus, although no one admits to being anywhere near the toilet, if somebody had, the smear could have come from muddy shoes.
4- No matter what it was or who did it, it needed to be removed and there was only one person qualified to get the job done.

As I scrubbed the floor, wondering if I should be grateful for having a cold and being unable to smell or if I should be frustrated at my inablitity to use that sense to determine if I was cleaning up mud or....something much worse, Beth stood near the door watching me.

"When I see you doing things like this," she said to me, "it makes me think that maybe I don't want to ever be a mother."

You and me both, kiddo. You and me both.

Guest post by Beth

The girls have suddenly gone blog-crazy, so I am allowing both Beth and Katie to write their own posts. Here's Beth's:

Hi! I'm Beth.Rebecca Mlinek daughter.(#2 out of 5.) Sometimes I pull Lucy around in a basket. One time I was cleaning my room. I put Lucy in the basket. Then I went to put clothes in the landry basket.When I got back Lucy was in the basket but sideways. "DADDY!" she cried.Yes,daddy.I've been known as daddy latley. When we play house I'm the dad.I found Lucy sideways alot.Finaly, I went dowstairs to put a toy away. Guess what? Lucy follwed me. Luckily, Katie was there so Lucy cried "MOMMY!" Yes, mommy. Katie is the mom when we play house.Lucy went with her. Free at last. Free to clean in peace! Only bad part is I don't really like to clean. I just like to play.(P.S When I wrote this so mom could approve it I was watching Dad and Uncle Andy play Modern Warfar 2 on the Xbox. Uncle Andy's broke.)

How Lucy dominates her father

Chris kindly let me sleep in this morning, and he most likely regretted it the moment he stepped foot outside our bedroom.

He found Lucy in the kitchen, meticulously strewing toilet paper around the table and chairs.*

"What are you doing?" he (sensibly) asked her.

She replied, "It's Lucy Anna's birthday!"**

Looking at his face as he surveyed the damage, she added, "It can be your birthday, too!"


*She also "decorated" the toilet paper with pink fabric glue
**It is not Lucy Anna's birthday

Irrepressible

Chris heard feet pattering in the kitchen after the girls had gone to bed. When he went to investigate, he found Abbie, who claimed that she couldn't go to sleep because Lucy was being, "crazy."

So Chris went upstairs to see what "crazy" meant.

Lucy had tossed her blankets around the room and was sitting on her bare bed, holding a clothes hanger and pontificating to her toys.

"Lucy," Chris thundered, "what are you doing?"

She turned calm and unconcerned eyes to him and replied, "Tomorrow, I need you to buy me some candy!"

She was actually surprised to find herself in trouble after that.

I've said it before, but it is really, really true: a worry and a wonder is what this kid is. In that order.

Word of warning

Katie has been reading my blog regularly for about three months now. She has decided that she should "give her perspective" in the comment box, and after thinking about it (I mean, this is my blog! I should be able to put whatever I want up here without an opinionated ten year old dogging my every move!) I decided to give her a go.

We'll see how this works.

I guess I'll have to stop writing posts about what a terrible, no-good loser my firstborn is. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. :)

(Also, another word of warning: I'm letting her read the blogs linked on my sidebar. She's mostly reading your blog, Vanessa - just to let you know!)

Our first neice!

We have a niece! Our very first!

If my computer would allow me to upload photos, I'd put one on here. Unfortunately, everyone will just have to imagine how perfect, and sweet, and utterly adorable baby Gianna is. It's easy - just picture the most adorable baby you've ever seen, and then kick it up a notch. Don't forget the soft cloud of dark hair and perfectly round, lightly pink cheeks.

She's really beautiful.

And now here is a funny story:

Chris and I have been asked to be the godparents for this particular bundle of awesomeness. We were only too glad to accept, naturally. Becky and Dante were both firmly convinced that they were having a boy, and we both had a little laugh over the fact that, although we collectively have 5 godchildren, this would be our very first male godchild.

So, two weeks ago, I ran into our parish office to get forms for the baptism. I was actually getting multiple forms, because I also have the honor of being godmother to my friend Monica's new baby, Cecilia. There was a crowd in the office that morning, and a few people commented upon how much they enjoy seeing our parade of girls every Sunday. I thanked them for the compliment, and then explained my errand to the secretary.

It took the secretary a few minutes to fill out all of the necessary forms, and as she worked on them she said, "You must be very popular godparents!"

Reflexively, I said, "I guess people just naturally think of us when they have baby girls!" and we all laughed.

As I said it though, I mentally chided myself because Becky was so very, very confident that she was having a boy.

Heh heh heh.

So welcome to little Gianna, such a surprise to her mommy (although not a surprise to her big brother, who insisted all along that he was getting a sister!) It continues to amaze me how very deeply I can be moved by other people's babies. You might think that, having had so many of my own, I'd be totally over the whole miracle-of-life thing, but it's not so. As I looked down on the peaceful, perfect little face of Gianna, I was absolutely overwhelmed with awe and love. What a miracle. What a blessing. What an honor to have some share in this little soul's life. Welcome, little one. May God bless you now, and always.