07/24/2012

1.  Happy Pioneer Day!  We made "flapjacks" for breakfast in celebration.  I had grand plans for cornbread and homemade butter for dinner which didn't quite materialize.  Joseph tried his best for the homemade butter, but it was stubborn again and never quite developed into butter.  This happened last year, too, and it took about 3 hours of shaking before it finally turned.  I don't get it.

2.  Piano lessons in the morning.  Then the rest of the day was spent in preparation for leaving for CA tomorrow.  Brigham and Joseph (Brigham mostly) cleaned out and vacuumed the car (Joseph washed the inside of the windows).  And then there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, especially by 2 boys in particular, and so I sent all three of them to their rooms for an hour to lay down and "rest."  Joseph actually said he'd rather stay home and skip the vacation than do any of the list of things we needed to do before we left.  I'm not sure what to do about improving the attitude of some of my children when it comes to work.  I mean, it doesn't seem normal that kids my boys' ages should be reduced to tears over a list of things like "Bring dirty laundry down to laundry room.  Unload dishwasher.  Vacuum living room and kitchen."  I start to feel a little bit panicked-- one of my MAIN jobs as a mom is to help my boys learn how to work, and I'm apparently doing a pretty sucky job at that. 
However, eventually all the laundry got done (and is not sitting in giant piles on the living room table).  The dishwasher did get unloaded.  I vacuumed the floors myself, but whatever.  The oil is changed in the van.  However, the bags are NOT yet packed nor is anything loaded into the car.

3.  It's now 1:42 AM and I have a nine hour drive ahead of me tomorrow.  I need to get to bed.