The kids started the day at 7 a.m., which is better than their usual 5 or 6 a.m. wake‑up.
Yesterday clearly tired them out.
Luckily, they stayed in Raven's room.
With the kids here, getting a turn in the bathroom feels nearly impossible.
It seems like the three boys never have to use it until someone else is in there.
A one-bathroom house with nine people really and truly stinks. Around 8 a.m., Heron pushed open my bedroom door and called for his dog, who had spent the night curled up at my feet.
I didn’t move.
I played possum and pretended I was still asleep.
After he grabbed his dog and left, I stayed in bed for a while, scrolling through social media, catching up on the news, and checking the weather, before finally deciding to get up and start the day around 8:15.
I needed to take my medicine, which I keep in the living room.
Raven and the kids came into the living room around 8:30 am.
They were noticeably rowdier today, and Vier insists on racing through the house.
With my hardwood floors, I’m not kidding when I say she’s noisy.
I wasn’t angry, and I didn’t raise my voice.
I just asked them to keep their voices down and stop running through the house.
Cowboy and Badger like to sleep late on the weekends. Not everyone enjoys being awake at the crack of dawn. I get that little kids are full of energy and can be noisy, but parents should teach them that when visiting someone’s home, they need to use indoor voices and not behave like they’re on a playground.
Sound travels easily in my house, as the bedrooms are located directly off the living room.
Raven probably got tired of me saying, “Hey guys, a little quieter, Pappaw’s trying to sleep.”
Around 9 a.m., he took the kids out to get something to eat.
I didn’t have any extra snacks or drinks this time, and he wasn’t too happy about it.
We always have the basics, oatmeal, peanut butter, and chickens in the backyard pooping out eggs.
Nobody’s going hungry.
I just didn’t pick up a bunch of extra food for the kids this weekend.
Since they’re his kids, it’s his responsibility to take care of them.
Lately he’s been taking the kids out to eat twice a day instead of buying groceries.
That’s going to catch up with him.
There’ll be weekends when he doesn’t have the extra money, but the kids will still expect to go out.
That never goes well.
I feel for him, and I know paying child support for four kids is a lot.
But he’s not paying rent, he’s not making car payments, he’s not buying groceries, and he’s not covering utilities.
At the end of the day, they’re his kids, and it’s on him to make sure they’re taken care of, not me or Cowboy.
This weekend with the kids was actually one of the easier ones.
Kids are noisy.
That’s normal.
I’m not looking for quiet like a church, just indoor voices, especially when Pappaw’s worked all night.
Drei’s medicated right now and mostly sleeps, so he’s easier to handle.
Eins and Zwei did great, while Vier was simply acting like a typical toddler.
It helped that Raven took them out or kept them in his room whenever he could.
Raven took the kids home at 12:30.
He was grumbling about the three‑hour drive, but he knows Hawkins County and Knox County are nowhere near each other.
I guess he’s like many divorced parents who didn’t have much say in where the kids ended up living.
After they left, we headed to Morristown.
We only needed a few groceries since we won’t be back in town for a bit.
Badger ordered two cameras, cancelled them, and the charges are still sitting on my account.
Peacock said they might not drop until Wednesday.
I moved some money from savings to cover things.
Now I’ve got to see what I can put back once the bank sorts it out.
I can totally speed things along.
The rest of the evening went like it always does.
Cowboy went to morning service and then evening service.
After evening service, he came home and settled in to watch TV.
Badger stayed in her room.
I put on my noise-cancelling headphones and spent time with Cowboy while I played on the computer.
Heron had been fishing all day, came home, and was in and out.
I guess I'll be heading to bed soon, though.
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