Don't tell Justin but...

>As much as I hate to admit it, I have a pretty great husband.
rom the beginning he has stepped up to the plate. He took on the challenge of a single woman with 2 daughters without batting an eye. He didn't just tolerate those daughters, he loved them and cared for them from the very first day. Just over a month after taking on that challenge, he was right there with us when we packed everything up and moved from Texas to Maine. He went from a bachelor with no responsibilities (except to make his bed every morning), to a committed father of 2 growing girls, providing for them both financially and emotionally. Our family grew, and so did the challenges that come with being a reaponsible adult and a productive member of society. But Justin never flinched. Every addition, whether it was furry , feathered or other, he took in stride. He attends every parent teacher conference and every school concert. He didn't just watch in the bakground when Leah started playing hockey, he volunteers, got certified and helps coach. When Natalie wanted to try field hockey, a sport neither of us knew anything about, he spent several hours on the computer learning the rules, strategies, game play etc. He kisses boo-boos, drives kids to friends houses, grocery shops, endures the eye rolling of a certain pre-teen, and still makes sure to kiss everyone goodnight. If you point it out to him, you will mostly receive a shoulder shrug and a "whatever" in response.<br>
And his secret greatness doesnt end with the kids. He tells me I am beautiful when I am in my pjs and a ponytail. He laughs when I act goofy, but doesn't ever make fun of me for it. He surrenders the house twice a week (at least) to the Odyssey of the Mind teams that I have decided to coach. He tells me when I am taking on too much or going too far with something, but never tries to stop me from doing things that make me happy. He buys me great gifts every year and doesn't complain at my complete and utter ineptity when it comes to buying him gifts. Every Thursday he brings me home a Pepsi. He washes dishes, folds laundry, balances the check book, rescues us from bugs (though that he does make fun of us for), ties little shoe laces, wipes little noses AND little butts...I really could go on and on. But my one favorite thing about him (besides his amazing blue eyes) is that he does all of these things every day because he loves us. He's an amazing Dad and husband, though he never HAD to do it.

I'm an evil mother

Yes, it's true. I am an evil mother. Atleast according to my children. I am full of rotten deeds, like making them shower, brush their teeth and go to bed at an hour that will ensure they get an adequate amount of sleep. Some nights I even make everyone sit at the dinner table, AT THE SAME TIME, and eat all together and talk to each other. But my ne'er-do-well ways dont end there! I also break up arguements, punish them when they do things that they have known for years that they are not allowed to do (ie- "hey, I am mad at my sister, I think I should punch her."), and try to make sure they have something to eat for dinner every night (the evil part of this one- I dont always serve everyone favorite dish every night! Sometimes there are things on their plate they don't like.....so I ask them to just leave it and keep their oppinions to themselves! MUAHAHAHAH!!!!!). I am sure that my evilness is causing them years and years of trauma and that some day they will have to  invest thousands of dollars in therapy because their wicked mother wouldnt allow them to sign up for too many extracurricular activities so that they wouldnt wear themselves out and miss out on the limited amount of time they have to just be kids. And they will pour their hearts out to said therapist, weeping about how awful it was to be forced to play outside, without ANY electronic devices, every summer.  They will lament the time spent without cable TV because Mommy Dearest wanted them to actually interact and do something useful with their brains instead of letting them rot watching episode after episode of Disney shows that stress to young girls how important it is to have the biggest, nicest, newest stuff so that you can be a better person.
But what would happen if they saw all the evilness that goes on behind the scenes? I mean, many of my best evil work is a result of extensive planning! Those dinners they are fed so evilly every night? Those are the result of a carefully planned menu, done monthly and a few well-orchestrated grocery shopping trips (and how I love those! Is there anything more enriching then spending 2-3 hours in an over crowded walmart with hundreds of strangers, digging through poorly stocked shelves?! HEAVEN!). Not to mention the time I actually spend cooking those meals- stirring, seasoning, baking...all while laughing at the genius of its sheer evility!! And to make sure I am able to punish everyone with showers sufficiently, I have to make sure not everyone takes a shower on the same night or at the same time. To ensure that everyone has their proper dose of warm water, I make sure they spread those showers out throughout the day (SOOO MEAN!!!!!).
Gosh, with all my evil, mean, nastiness, how will my poor children ever survive?

Doesn't Everyone?

Tuesday night I was enjoying a little hockey mom time, sitting in the locker room at Leahs hockey practice chatting with a couple of other moms, one of whom I didnt know too well. I was telling a friend of mine a story about my chickens, and trying to fill in the pieces of the story for this new woman as I went. I realized as I was talking to her, trying to make everything make sense, that the way we do things and the way our life is probably isnt what its like for most other people (a fact I almost always forget because it is normal for us).
First we had to get through the fact that we have 4 children, all of them girls. This seems to boggle many people. But it's true. We do have 4 daughters. And I know that they are ours for a fact because I was there for all 4 births.
So we start with 4 daughters and then move onto the fact that we also have 2 dogs. But I must point out that I DO NOT do little purse dogs. If the dog could be mistaken for a cat or small rodent, it's probably not the dog for me. I go for big dogs. Dogs that cannot be mistaken for rodents and prompt calls to the Orkin Man. I like dogs who one day may be mistaken for rabid bears by whatever boys my all-too-beautiful daughters may bring home. So we have a german shepherd and a newfoundland.
Well Anna, you may say, that sounds like a full house!
But we do not stop there. I also have a 12 year old, cranky lovebird who does not like my husband at all (although I would like to say, that may have something to do with the fact that Justin does like to taunt him through his cage about how he is cageless and therefor superior.). Tex and I have been a team longer than I have known anyone else in my house.
We also have a sugar glider, making us (as far as I know anyway) the only family around living with a nocturnal marsupial. Google them. They are adorable, very easy to care for, and very fun to have around.
And lets not forget that last spring I decided we needed something more. So we cleaned out the old shed, made a few improvements to it and welcomed our flock of chickens. We started with 5 hens, but were down to 4 within 48 hours thanks to a hawk attack. So we added a rooster to help protect the flock and were back up to 5. Little did we know that we had opened the door to a new obsession for me and I quickly had us up to 12 at one point. But we are back at 5 now, thanks to illness, dog attack, cat attack, mysterious disappearances and the rehoming of too many males. Of course of the 5, only 3 are hens and none of them lay eggs....So we have a non-egglaying flock of chickens.
Once the poor unsuspecting individual processes all that, I can go on to tell them about all the other little things that go on in our life. For instance, in the fall Natalie does cross country and field hockey so she has practice in some form every day after school and on Sundays too. Then as that winds down, we start Odyssey of the Mind for both her and Leah. I coach both of their teams as well as coordinate the program for Raymond. So 2 nights a week we have meetings at our house in the evenings. Then 2 nights a week we are in Bridgton for Leahs hockey practices. And atleast once a weekend, but usually twice a weekend, we travel for her games. Speaking of hockey, we are big hockey fans in this house and season ticket holders for our beloved Portland Pirates so most weekends during hockey season we are in Portland atleast once for a game. And did I mention that I also opperate a small home daycare? At this point the person I am talking to is usually either A) backing slowly away from me with an odd look on their face or B) laughing  or C) shaking their head and wondering why we do it.
To most, this sounds like some weird zoo or some tv reality series gone awry. There are days when I think it is just way too much and we must be nuts to take it all on. However, there are many more days that leave me wishing the day would never end and I could hold on to it all forever. Itis our life and I love it just the way it is- crazy, busy, at times filled with stress, but always filled with love. I wouldnt have it any other way.