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10/20/00
Today was our first debate tournament of the year. Dad had
stayed home to get ready to go to Kazakhstan, so Mitch had
taken over at school and drove us up on the bus. There were
seven of us,and we shared buses with two schools, so there
were about 40 teenagers, and Shealynn, Teresa, Chyou, and
Dyami. We got up to the tournament and, as the only member of the
presidency there (since Mitch was out in the bus and Dad
hadn't shown up yet) I had to get everyone registered,which was a
major PAIN. We had one drop, and in order to keep from
having to pay drop fees I filled in for them. It was insane.
I was doing my own event (student congress), the other event
(impromptu) and trying to act as coach since Mitch was busy
with the kids and Dad didn't show up until half way through
the tournament.
10/27/00
We started today off on the wrong foot. Dad left for
Kazakhstan yesterday, so we had to drive to school with Mitch at 7
AM. We got to school and spent all day there, then I took
the bus home, which is not any easy task. I got home and had
just started taking care of the kids (had just gotten Chuthi,
Cadao, Mitchie, Jose, and Allison up from their nap and was
getting them changed) when Melissa got a phone call. Nuria
had been in a car accident on her way home from school, with
Gerri, Ashley, and Bobby in the car. Melissa was frantic, and
left right away. I kept things going smoothly, finished
dressing the babies and stuck them in their highchairs with some
cereal, vaccumed the house for Melissa's meeting (even though
the good vaccume is broken, and the head on the other is
clogged, so vaccuming consists of getting on your hands and knees
and covering every square inch of the room), and I even had
time to "help" Alexander and Oliver set the table (they're
more of a hindrence than a help, but at least they try) and
unload the dishwasher (which was not my job). Melissa got
home when I was trying to feed the babies. Nuria and Gerri
were being BRATS and Melissa was really ticked off and yelling
at everyone. The babies were making a huge mess, and the
kitchen was covered in food, and Melissa came in and yelled at
me. I told her to deal with it herself and left. Walked the
property for an hour, and went home, and she was apologized,
was really good about it, and I went back to running the
household. Got everyone ready for bed, fed the babies again (I
had assumed Melissa had finished feeding them and gotten them
ready for bed, then she told me she hadn't fed them so I had
to undress them to feed them and dress them again), I gave
the babies their bottles and put them to bed, helped Melissa
get set up for her meeting, and read stories to the kids to
get them to be quiet while the meeting was going on. It was
an insane day!
10/27/00
I've got a debate tournament tonight, so I don't know if I'll
have a chance to write later. I'm going to be the only one
there, Mitch is driving, and we're taking Juan, Roddy,
Chandler, and Ian along. It's a new school, so we want someone
there to represent our school, and I'm the only one "free".
10/28/00
Spent tonight playing with Juan, Roddy, Cheri, Mani, Dyami,
and Chyou. Not often I get these little groups, but the other
kids were busy elsewhere and the above named got together for
a great game of duck duck goose, followed by hide and seek.
By then it was bed time, so I herded them up to get their
jammies on and told them to come downstairs and I'd read them
a story. It was chilly, so we all piled into mom and dad's
bed (minus Mom and Dad, who are in Kazakhstan). They have a
king size bed, but even so, seven people in one bed is a tight
fit! I didn't mean to fall asleep, but it was dark, it had
been a busy day, I was tired, so I did. Finally woke myself
up (after I was nearly shoved out of bed), everyone else was
asleep, but I straightened things up (so nice to clean when
everyone else doesn't mess it up right after), then I sat on
the coach and tried to read "Great Expectations" for English.
Managed to get to Chapter 8 before giving in and falling
asleep. Woke shortly after midnight and drug myself to bed, the
coach was too cold.
10/29/00
We had two birthdays today, which means a birthday lunch and
a birthday dinner. Not much fun, at least for the people on
lunch and dinner! Anyway, the boys (Clyff and Benji) opened
their presents (walkie talkies and basketball cards), Benji's
Grandma came and brought presents for both the boys ($5 and a
camera), we had dinner, and I fought HR for the computer, and
finally gave up and took this slower one. Church was very
dull. Kids screaming, temper tantrums, nothing of interest.