Goodbye Sweet Friend

It's early in the morning, I am sipping coffee and wrapped in a warm blanket. One thing is missing, one constant by my side is not this morning. Instead, he is another room unable to get up, unable to eat, and at the end of his life. Our poor sweet puppa- Tigran. All pets die and they die before us and that is what we know going into the relationship. One question you have to ask yourself is: Are you willing to love something with all your heart only to lose it? I guess that is the question you must always ask yourself before you love at all. Is it worth it? 

 I naively went into dog ownership, but Pete and I were engaged and my in-laws just bred their dog, so why not?  He is a beautiful dog, and as a puppy he was just so cute. Puppies are hard and there was a moment when Pete thought we should give him back, but like so many times in our marriage, when one of us can't do it or just can't manage the other seems to step in and hold the other up, and so I stepped up and said we could get through the trials of potty-training, dog-training, and furniture that was chewed through, and so we did.

I look back on the early years with Tigran and they are so fun: dog parks, walks, throwing balls, swimming in the pond, and then there is that side of dogs that know when they are needed to support you. Always right there when we were sick, when we were tired, when we just wanted to relax, when we lost Owen, and when the fights between husband or wife were more emotional than just irritating; Tigran was always right there.

When I was pregnant he always knew and he would become a guardian and would stay by my side, especially at night. With every new child brought into our house Tigran was there. He let those kids pull on him, crawl on him, take stuff away from him, and he never once did anything other than get up and move away. Once we had more than one or two kids having a dog seemed too much for me, and this time it was Pete's turn to step up and let me know we could do it. Maybe, I haven't been as available to my sweet dog over these last few years, but I guess this is because I took for granted he would always be there when I needed him, and he was.

Time has passed since I last wrote this. Now Tigran is gone. He is buried in Kentucky on the ancestral golden retriever hill, as Pete says. The kids have all responded differently. Jack is upset and has cried. Luke got a little teary eyed once but then seemed to move away from it. Thomas says he misses Tigran and thinks we should get a new dog right now. I miss him when there is food all around Robert's highchair. I am amazed at how much more I have to clean up.  Last night I caught myself putting a pan on the ground for Tigran to finish off. I also miss him at night or when I am alone in the house and I miss him when I sit down on the couch and he doesn't sit next to me. He was a wonderful dog. I know Pete misses him more than any of us, and it has been the hardest on him for sure.

Goodbye my sweet friend.

From Our Family to Yours

Wow, hey it has been awhile. I thought I was going to be on this kick where I tried really hard to write more often, and I did, like twice, but then nothing. Sorry. Sometimes I feel like I have everything and nothing to write about all at the same time, and that makes it hard to siphon off what I want to say. I am not sure that I have it figured out now even so you might have to just bear with the ramblings of a crazy stay-at-home mom.

Plus, there is now the expectation of some type of Christmas card letter thrown in here too-AGGGHHH!!!!! Ok, I think I can I think can…

This time last year we were hoping and praying and begging on our hands and knees for a post-doc position for Pete, and that did not happen. We were left wounded in our faith and wondering just where we would end up because it could have been literally anywhere. Pete applied to jobs way out west, way up north, way down south, and out to the east. We ended up just a couple hours from Purdue in the suburbs of Chicago. Do you like it? This is obviously the question we get asked the most. Pete is definitely feeling at home here. He feels like he can relate to the energy and personality of Chicagoans. I like it- I do. I haven’t met anyone who wasn’t nice or helpful or kind. I had high hopes of one day getting closer to KY, not further away, so I am adjusting, but it hasn’t been a hard or depressing move, so that is great news all around. 

How are the kids doing? Second most asked question. They are doing well. I think. I hope. Knock on wood. Jack has always been Jack. He is a bit much and he continues to be. It has always been hard for him to make friends and this is still true. He plays with kids at recess, we have him involved in Tae Kwon Do and Boy Scouts, and so as much as we can help him find friends we have. My kids have never been huge let’s have people at our house kids, I think this is because there are so many of them that adding extra people is just too much. *Maybe it is too much for me. He has had some issues with discipline at school, but this school is nothing like I have experienced before. They have a social worker, an occupational therapist, a psychologist, differentiated learning specialists, speech therapists, and I feel like the list could go on. They have two recesses and PE every day. There is a standing desk in his classroom he can use, there are ball seats for kids who need those, there is so much ability and willingness to pull a kid out to help them- I can’t believe it. So Jack is getting help from a large support team who are willing to help him learn how to take care of himself and hopefully postpone any need to medicate him, plus give him tools he can use now and later in life.

Luke is in Kindergarten! He is being being pulled out as well for different things like— how to hold a pencil correctly?? (I guess there are studies connecting correctly holding a pencil  to better reading), speech, and extra help with letters. He likes school and the kids. He is different from Jack in that he really wants to hang out with friends more often. I need to work on that. I haven’t been the best at making that happen. He doesn’t have much to share at the end of the day. He says he forgets. He gets frustrated when I try to push beyond that. I try to make him tell me at least 3 things that happened- sometimes it is as simple as telling me he ate all his lunch because most of the time he can’t finish it all! He hasn’t been signed up for any extra stuff yet, but in January he will start with basketball. I am interested to see how that goes. At the moment he is looking forward to it.

Thomas decided he would go to pre-school or bust this year. So pre-school it was. His birthday is just a few days shy of the cut off here in IL, so he will be 2 years behind Luke in school instead of 1. (They are 17 months apart). We have talked about petitioning to have him go earlier because if ever a kid was ready our Thomas is, but I don’t think we will. There is no harm in waiting, and he can just do pre-school again with the same teacher that he loves so much and already knows. He has made a couple friends and just beams every time he walks out of the school. He is in heaven.

This leaves Meg and Robert. I guess this time last year Robert wasn’t born. It seems like he has been part of the family for so long now. Meg is starting to talk now, she definitely communicates her wants, needs, and dislikes. She is testing boundaries and can do everything herself. She loves cats, Daniel Tiger, and boots. She hates skirts and dresses and being told no. Robert is pulling up, cruising around, and is so close to standing without holding on to anything. Meg loves Robert and already you can tell they are gonna best best friends (maybe worst enemies too). For anyone keeping track they are 13 months apart.

We added a cat to our family. I don’t mind Quantum near as much as I thought I would. If we had to get a cat, and I guess we did according to everyone else, this was the right cat for us. Tigran, our golden, turned 11 and suddenly got much older. He hurt himself in KY over Thanksgiving and didn’t really recover- he got much worse actually. It has been very depressing to watch. He stays on the floor in our bedroom almost all day, he can’t climb up stairs or get onto the couch without either help or a lot of effort (so much so that he normally doesn’t try), he stopped eating for awhile, not even to steal food from the table!!, so we took him to the vet. He is on pain meds right now but they want to do an X-Ray at the beginning of the year. He was born at my in-laws house to their dog so we’ve had him for his whole life, and I hope he has a few good years left.

These are the basics of our year. There have been highs and lows. So it goes with life. We get by and manage, sometimes barely, but we do. We also laugh, tell stories, and love each other a lot, so I’d say overall we are doing well. I never have expectations about the New Year, I don’t do resolutions, and in keeping with that tradition I will just say- I hope 2016 goes well. I hope we are given all the tools and resources we need to manage and survive any difficulties or sorrows that come our way, and I hope we aren’t too busy focusing on the negative to miss out on all the positive.

This super cute sleeping baby is definitely a positive.

A plethora of adventure

I woke up today with a cat licking my face. I threw that cat at my husband and told him, probably pretty grumpily, to remove the cat. Shortly after I woke up again because a small baby began to crawl on me, hit me, and make lots of noise. I should have known then that this would be an eventful morning. One thing I noticed was the lack of other children. Usually, Meg just sort of appears in my room because once she starts crying the brothers get her out of bed, but today Meg is still in her bed crying but no brothers. I go up to get Meg, and peek in the boys’ room where they are all asleep. What?!!! This is like an early Christmas miracle. 

Jack is the first to come downstairs and he is complaining of these symptoms:

-headache

-sore eyes

-muscle weakness and aches

-he has a slight fever as well

Luke is next and he says

-headache

-slight fever

Nice. Great.Fabulous. We normally get flu shots, and we were still planning on getting flu shots, but we just hadn’t done it yet. Things have been busy.  Now they are sick and it sounds like the flu to me. Only Robert has had a flu shot. I don’t think this is a good thing.

On the bright side I received the new Adele cd last night, and it has been playing as the background to our day. Meg, Thomas, and I made cookies. They didn’t turn out too well, way flat. This may be because I left the butter out all night or just because my baking is totally hit or miss. Whatever. There were chocolate chips involved so everyone is happy.

At some point there was a yell of Yuck! Gross! Thomas was staring at the rug under our table. Turns out that our lovely mouser had once again been successful in his nightly hunts, but this time instead of a mouse there were mouse bits. I won’t go into more detail, but Yuck! and Gross! were apt exclamations.

Toilet time was next on the list of events. Thomas had some issues with the upstairs toilet not flushing properly and the water coming to the brim, so I spent time with the plunger. My life is so glamorous ya’ll. In the downstairs bathroom I was met with Robert in the middle of dog food and shredded up toilet paper. Nice. Sure. Whatever- I always bring my dog food with me when I am about to rip up some toilet paper.

Time for a diversion so let’s watch Rudolph. I put on my Bumble jammies to help set the tone and for a bit it works, besides the normal bickering about blankets, where to sit, and Meg always wanting to sit one everyone or stand directly in front of the tv. I never realized how short that movie is compared to well-movies. It was over too soon. Inner dilemma going on here— do I let them watch another movie or try to let them play together before I demand naps. I went with play together, which was stupid. The game was fight with each other. The other game was sneak the iPad and then tattle on each other about it and steal turns. So fun.

Somewhere in here I thought, oh this is a good time to pray my rosary. Not sure what my logic was,  perhaps it was something like - I can nurse Robert to sleep while I am doing it. Robert is teething, cranky, and at this point overly tired so he won’t just nurse. He is crying, bobbing his head all over the place, chewing on wires, falling backwards on the bed, and crying some more. Also, this is when all the iPad tattling began to happen. Do I keep praying or stop and maybe not get back to it? I decided to keep going-not sure I got a whole lot out of it.

Robert finally falls asleep, and I go check on Meg. She is playing with the Advent candles and wants juice. Ok. I pour her juice, but not out of the bottle since there was a glass in the fridge from last night that someone made but didn’t drink. She doesn’t know this and thinks I have pulled some sort of mean prank on her or something because she begins to scream and cry, and throw things. Oh yes, she is my daughter. She won’t even try the juice. This tantrum lasts about 5 minutes. Finally, she drinks the juice and is happy.

 Wow. Now I have a headache. It is time to force naps on everyone. The boys don’t really complain because they are tired and sick. Meg is trapped in her crib so yay. I come into the bedroom, and lo Robert decides that even though it has only been like 15 minutes he is going to wake up and crawl on me and cry and bop all around. He is bopping a lot— what is going on with this? Anyway, this means I have a small child kicking me as I write this. He is not asleep. He wants to chew on the zipper of my pajamas. It is only noon people. Noon. I still have the whole afternoon.

Brush your teeth son

Mornings are a crazy time for every family. There are so many parts that must be put together so that everyone can get where they need to be. Some mornings it seems people wake up screaming, crying, yelling, rushing, and returning to the house more than once in an effort to start the day. 

My oldest son operates on his own time. I tell him he needs to brush his teeth and this results in eye rolling or being told that he brushed his teeth last night, so why does he really need to brush them again? When I remind him that the last time he went to the dentist he had 6 cavities because of this mentality and he says, “But I don’t have 6 cavities anymore.” Yes, because I spent a couple hundred dollars having them filled, so forgive me if I won’t let you skip out on brushing them this morning. He walks into the bathroom and closes the door, which worries me after the conversation we just had. I go and check on him - turns out he has just been staring at himself in the mirror. Again, I remind him to brush those teeth. About a minute later he walks out, which is too soon to be done brushing teeth, and I never heard the water turn on. Hmm… I ask him if he brushed his teeth and he looks at me and says, “Oh no, I forgot.” I mean WHAT?! REALLY?! How do you just forget that? We had this whole pre-toothbrushing conversation that involved him getting annoyed with me, there was that whole hey open the door and brush your teeth episode that literally just happened, and you forgot. He gets so irritated with my constantly reminding him to do everything, but obviously I need to. 

He likes to use the whole ‘but I did that yesterday’ excuse when it comes to getting ready in the mornings and not just with his teeth. He isn’t sure why he needs to change his clothes everyday. I admit that I am not a strong advocate of daily baths, so there are more than a few nights when he goes to bed with his clothes on( all that he ever wears are athletic pants and a t-shirt) and then wakes up thinking he is already dressed for the day. When I tell him he can’t wear that outfit to school again he just doesn’t understand why. He looks down and says, “There are no stains on it.” True, but you wore it yesterday. “What are you telling me, I have to change my clothes EVERY day?” Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you. 

These are basic things I am trying to teach my son before he leaves my house- you need to brush your teeth and change your clothes everyday. I won’t even get started on the fact that sometimes he won’t change socks until I lose it. I am not sure I will be successful, so to my future daughter-in- law, I am sorry. I did try.

Pokemon Conversations

My 8-year-old son is into Pokemon. He has the cards, watches the show, has stuffed animals, and through osmosis I have a general idea of what this world is all about. I must say I have never understood the appeal of Japanese animation, even as child when these cartoons would come on tv I was baffled by the large Bambi eyes, the sweat drops which appeared on the forehead, the way the facial expressions were over-exaggerated, and I would quickly change the channel. I am now paying for this as a mother, now Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball-Z, and Digimon are almost always on multiple times a week. My son likes to draw the characters, read the guide books, and form battles in his head. It should be noted that my son is a talker and will talk and talk and talk even if you just walk away from him, he will continue to talk. So one day I am just minding my business in the kitchen when he comes in talking about Basic Pokemon like Gyarados, Bulbasaur, and Weedle, and I know this is important to him and a big part of his world so I look at him and listen, I nod my head while he is telling me about their energy types which in my head become Earth, Wind, and Fire. This leads me to start thinking about Earth, Wind, and Fire songs, and do I actually know any, are they good, maybe I should go and listen to one after this conversation is over. Oh crap, I am supposed to be listening to the conversation, I should ask a question so it seems like I am paying attention. So who do these guys evolve into? He needs to know I am interested in what he is interested in, plus I used a word from the lexicon- I am so awesome. Now he is talking about Venusaur and points and battles against Butterfree.I feel like this conversation has lasted long enough now because I don’t know if I can pretend to be this interested in Pokemon anymore. What if this means he thinks I want to play the game or watch the shows? Oh no, I don’t think I can keep this up. I am not that good of a liar. Hmm, how do I get out this without seeming like a totally horrible mother? What is he talking about now? He is talking about the top ten best basic Pokemon. *I should add that he likes lists and rankings so I should have known we would end up here. He is going to ask me what I think. I don’t know the names of ten basic Pokemon. Crap.He is looking at me now. 

Son: So mom who do you think the most powerful basic Pokemon is?

Me: So you want to know my favorite basic Pokemon? Um, well, uh, I really like (looking around the room and seeing a Pokemon stuffed animal on the ground ) Squirtle. 

Son:Yeah that is a good one. Why did you pick him?

Me: (Looking at the stuffed animal to get clues about what Squirtle does) He has a shell for protection like a turtle and he can squirt water. He has a good offense and defense.

Son:Yeah, I think you are right

If I were a character in Japanese anime right now I would have sweat drops and an exaggerated smile. I know I can’t fake this anymore. That was too close, so since I am ahead right now in the being interested in what my kid is interested in game,I better call it quits. 

Me:This has been a great conversation but I have some stuff I need to finish up here. (even though when you came in I was just flipping through a magazine) Why don’t you watch an episode of Pokemon or look through your book and come up with more battles?

Son: Sure and I can tell you about it later ok?

Me: Yeah that sounds great.

That was close. I wonder how much longer he is going to be interested in Pokemon? Can I keep faking it? Well, I am at least going to count today a parenting victory.

I have this hammer, now what?

This morning I felt like the walls were caving in. I felt all the emotions just flood me all at once. Our washing machine is broken, it has been broken for over a week now, and as a family of 7 this is no small thing. Currently it looks as though our house is sick and throwing up clothes. Everywhere you go, look, or walk- clothes. Some kind of dirty, some just plain filthy, and some kind of damp and ew, and sure maybe putting those in the dryer would be a good idea, because the dryer still works, but they are also dirty so I feel like why? The house has become progressively dirtier in all areas because of this. The laundry hampers filled up days ago so the clothes are living in piles in every single room, and what is the point of straightening up rooms when they will still be dirty because there are dirty nasty clothes all over the place? 

The pieces are easy enough to replace so we ordered them online and didn’t spend the extra $10 dollars or so for fast shipping because we don’t have an extra $10 for fast shipping, and they weren’t Amazon Prime eligible unless I wanted to put that $10 toward the base price, and I didn’t, so I didn’t. Then the pieces came and one piece I put in but the screws are stripped and I couldn’t make them tight enough. Fine, let’s move on to the other piece which would be even easier to replace, but I couldn’t even get the second screw out. I wanted to cry, to sob, to runaway and never come back because of laundry. Not having anymore clean underwear really does get to you. I used a rubber band over the screwdriver, I put a dab of superglue in it, I tried all of our screwdrivers, and in the end I just stripped them more. Seeing the pieces just sitting there and knowing if I could just get those screws out then I could wash clothes was heartbreaking. I could stop tripping on clothes, and I might have a clean dish towel. I got out the drill and nothing. So I grabbed the pliers and bent and broke the piece giving me trouble, the screw was still there but now I could get the pliers wedged underneath and just turn until it came out- and it did. Now, I still need to buy new screws because those aren’t going back in, but I won. In spite of all the hurdles, in spite of the anger, the overwhelming sensation of no control( as mirrored by the state of my house), and in spite of no clear vision on how to proceed, I did it.

My kid pooped in the tub, I spilled a full beer all over the floor when trying to straighten up a little bit, another kid basically told me I was ruining his life because I pointed out that his pants were too small, were actually his little brother’s, and he should put on his own pants, I haven’t had my car for 3 days(my husband has been using it) so I couldn’t get to the store to buy new screws or ask handymen what to do, Google’s ideas failed me, I have had 3+ kids sick at the same time( probably because germ clothes are just everywhere), and I felt like I was drowning.

 I wanted to have control of something-anything.  Now I could just stop. Leave it there. But the last few months I have been struggling, an unsettling feeling swelling inside, a shift in my normal self, and I don’t know what it is exactly or what it means, but I feel it must mean something. I wonder if my outside is currently mirroring my inside. I have a lot happening inside and it is tearing me up and just like with my washing machine, I can’t seem to fix it, find the right parts, I don’t see how it will get fixed, and it seems if I just had the right tool it would be so easy to fix, I just need an adjustment maybe to move an inch higher or something but instead of something that would fix that, I have been given a hammer. That is it, just a hammer, no instructions, no clues, no tips, just a hammer. Now I have been holding this hammer, I have sort of swung it in the air for practice, but it doesn’t feel right, and I just want someone else to come in and make it better, but I suppose I am in need of seeing I can do it on my own, there must be some personal growth lesson hiding in there, and one day I hope to see it, but now I feel so lost and like I know this change is happening or about to, but it hasn’t yet and it just frustrates me, and is not great for my anxiety. Some of it has to do with faith, some a sense of purpose and direction, and some of it is the desire to financially help my family, and at the root of it I am beginning to feel that they are all three connected but I don’t see how, I can’t see it, and I just have this stupid hammer. Anyone who has ever seen me angry knows I shouldn't hold a hammer when I am angry- it wouldn’t turn out well for the walls and dishes.

So in the meantime I will go to Ace and buy some screws, I will put my washing machine back together tonight, I will do the laundry, and maybe during the mind-numbingness that is folding clothes I will have some epiphany. I should probably pull out my rosary too because the last few mornings I keep seeing different statues of Momma Mary while going on walks, and perhaps she is trying to get my attention.

Fall Frolicking

We have been busy doing fall around here. After a totally boring and blah summer we are working to make up for it with an awesome fall. We started out in September by picking apples. We love to pick apples and returned to our lovely Indiana to do so. It was an apple orchard just outside Chicago, and it wasn't as great as our old apple picking spot, but it got the job done. However, next fall we will look for a different place. Maybe go more north?

We had been postponing signing Jack up for TaeKwonDo for various reasons, but after some behavior issues in school and then an email asking if we were still interested in the classes, I took it as a sign, and signed him up. He has been a bit nervous getting back into it, and the emphasis on certain aspects are different than what he is used to, but he is starting to get back into the swing of things.

We went to Lombard Fall Fest one weekend and it was a nice and fun diversion. They had a pumpkin patch, a decoration stand, games, pony rides, and a small petting zoo area. Each kid left with a pumpkin that they decorated. We came home and lined them up in a row-- our five little pumpkins.

Jack wanted to sign up for Boy Scouts. He wanted to last year, and we didn't really want to mess with it, but since he wanted to do it again this year, we figured ok we will see how he does. We signed him up and before he even had any meetings he had to sell popcorn and meet fundraising goals, so off we went to Ace Hardware and asked all kinds of people to buy popcorn. Jack was so nervous at first, but then he really got into it and did a great job. By the end of the day he and his co-seller sold to more people than anyone else had so far. Way to go Mr. J!

I decided that it had been far too long since I had hung out with my siblings, plus my dad had not met Robert yet, so I figured it was time to go back to Kentucky. Pete had to work so I did it all solo! We spent most of the car ride to Henderson listening to Adventures in Odyssey. Honestly, they did an amazing job, and so did I really. We went to a pumpkin farm and it was a blast! They had ladder golf, corn hole, a corn maze, tractor ride, john deere kiddie cars, slides, water pump duck race, corn kernel pit, and of course a pumpkin patch.

Then we came back to enjoy Spooktacular here in downtown Lombard. It was fun. The kids wore costumes, got some candy, played a few games, we had some delicious pizza by the slice, chicago mix popcorn, and free cotton candy.

Thomas has been complaining that we don't get out enough to play while the boys are at school, so each week I have tried to do one thing outside with Thomas and kids. We went to the playground one afternoon and Robert enjoyed his first swing ride. I got to push all three kids at once. Lucky me.

The next week we walked to downtown, which is just shy of a mile from our house, and then walked back a different way taking pictures of all the houses decorated for Halloween along the way. A lot more houses here decorate for Halloween than any other place I have lived. It is pretty fun, and the kids love it!  

Most recently we went downtown with cousin Tricia. We were able to ride the train with mixed feelings from the kids: Luke did not like it, Thomas thought it was awesome, Meg handled it well for awhile but then wanted to stand up and move around, and Jack thought it was interesting but liked it better once Pete showed him the map and how he could tell where we were based on it. We went to Maggie Daley Park and on the way we ran into people handing out Kefir smoothies so the boys loaded up and then even went back for more. Once at the park they were having a Halloween parade and giving out sour gummy worms so the kids loaded up on those too. They are gonna want to go back downtown every weekend if they think they will be handed free stuff every time. On our way back to the train we stopped by the bean and saw the giant head sculpture.

We have been having fun for sure, but it hasn't been all mother of the year over here. I have struggled with my ability to parent Jack. We don't always see eye to eye, we don't always agree on the best way to solve problems, and I become very frustrated when he ignores me and continues to act like a crazy man. He has been having issues in school and trying to find a way to help him is frustrating. It gets to the point where he and I both feel like I am only reprimanding him, which isn't very helpful to our relationship, and makes him ignore me more because if he can't make me happy why even try? Luke isn't a traditional learner and it takes a bit longer for him to process and retain the information, and he is the exact opposite of Jack in that he follows all the rules and doesn't make a scene at all, which makes it easy to overlook him and see that he needs more encouragement. During these moments I wish Luke had a little bit of that crazy Jack in him. Pete and I are discussing various ways to help Luke have a more successful school experience. Pete is going to take lead on it since he knows what he wants and won't back down or be easily swayed. Meg is now a big girl and a handful. She decided she doesn't need a booster seat at meal time, she doesn't want a sippy cup, and she has finally started talking or trying to talk. She has also decided to throw herself on the ground and cry, take off her pants in public, scream loudly in protest, refuse to move, or (when it comes to Pete) say please and smile real big to get her way. She knows how to manipulate each one of us in just the right way-- TROUBLE! Robert is still very good natured, he can crawl and pulls up all the time, but he can't get down so he is in that 'just fall down' stage so there are a lot of tears. He has also developed a bad habit of being unable to sleep at all at night unless nursed to sleep and sleeping right next to me the whole night. If he is asleep and I move him he screams and cries, if he manages to cry himself to sleep it is only a short lived sleep that results in more crying until he is in bed with me again. I can't be too mad though because it is the only time he ever gets upset-ever.


We are just trying our best here. Sometimes we have lots of fun, sometimes we are totally boring, and sometimes there is a lot of screaming and fighting. I guess that is what happens when you live in a house with 7 people and 2 pets.