FOOD! (and laundry)

Sometimes I feel like my life is being defined by food and laundry...the biggest tasks of my week! I don't even have a lot to say about laundry except that at any given time, it needs to be done to varying degrees. On good days it just needs to be done because, well, someone is running out of socks or underwear or some essential item like that. However, in this house its not just about sheer volume - its also about necessity... the pile in the washroom is too big. The washroom is where the "special" clothes go, the ones that have seen a little too much pizza or ketchup or paint, or markers or glue, or grass or dirt or yes, I'm sorry to say - or blood or snot or pee or even poop. I must remember to buy stock in spray-n-wash....

Somehow, though, I've managed to make peace with the ever growing mountains of laundry. There is a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from rising to the top and tearing it down, the sweet taste of victory when the clothes come out stain-free! Even when I taste defeat, I do not give up - there is always another load to try again. Once the mountains are conquered I get to have, if even momentarily, the feeling that my OCD is at rest - when all the clothes are neatly folded and put away and there now reigns organization where once there was chaos.

The food though, I'm still working on. It just doesn't seem fair, you know? It really doesn't. I have friends people! I have lots of friends with children the age of my children and we have had dinner with them! Their kids do not even come CLOSE to putting away the amount of food that my kids do. This does not make sense to me, it really seriously does not. My oldest, seven year old Trevor, is average. Of course, yes he's spectacular in every way but in terms of build, he's average. He eats like a camel drinks water. On the meals he likes (breakfast and lunch) he'll eat as much as I will let him - same if by chance we are having a dinner he enjoys. He is, my pickiest eater of them all. If he likes the food, he can really put it away! Then there is 6 year old BJ, built like a tank or at least a fine athletic machine. This kid LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his food! He has, on numerous occasions, snuck under our radar (like at a picnic) and eaten so much he vomits. Oh yes, he will literally eat until he is sick, if you let him. When I say he loves food, I mean it - while carbs and meat are his all time faves, he will eat a pile of veggies he doesn't even like if its the only thing you'll give him seconds on! Five year old Easton is my little man - seriously, he barely weighs more than his baby sister. He is the anti-BJ --- he hates all things meat but give him anything else and he will go to town!!! Kenzie, my not quite two year old is definitely opinionated and hungry. This girl eats more than her brothers combined -- and she especially loves it when her brothers are distracting mom and dad -- easy access to go help herself in the kitchen!

So, on a day like today, the reality kicks in! WHAT A LOT OF FOOD! Here's the thing too, we don't buy a lot of junk - there aren't a lot of fun non-essentials on my list. I shop from a LIST and try to make the food go far! I find myself making excuses. Easton was with us today and told the cashier at the grocery store all about the 6 people in his family and that we'd just come from Costco. Nice. She definitely thought we were all crazy for more reasons than I could count... Easton the commentator just being one of them! Then I realize that all the jokes we make about when they are teens are not very far from reality. I really will have to get a full-time job just to pay the food bill! While we don't really have the space to build a pole barn like we say and forklift in the food by the pallet-load, I really do think that we will have to kick my hubby's car to the parking pad to make space for a second fridge and freezer in the garage! Can you even imagine if we go through 2 costco loaves of bread and one regular size loaf each week, and 4 gallons of milk now, and the kids are 7,6,5&2....can you even imagine what it will be like in ten years????