Imperfect day!

The girls have been working hard all day doing nothing at all that looks like school and yet the learning is plain to see. It has been an awesome peace filled busy day. Late last night I got around to something Jenna has been asking me to do for a while - post up some of her artwork for sale online.

This morning she had orders, and commissions, and was totally thrilled. So she has been painting to order, and designing stationary, not to mention the maths she has been doing to work out her profit and pricing and so on.

Then the two biggest ones set up a cafe upstairs, made some dishes in the kitchen (a foraged wild salad, biscuits with chocolate spread, a dish of marinated olives, some very pretty drinks with umbrellas in) and wrote a menu... and invitations to their grand opening. I have been kept busy facilitating like mad! On call for help reaching things, finding things, suggesting ideas, helping them to evaluate their "work" and decide how to improve, doing the online stuff, checking prices.

The house started off tidier than average today. We were expecting a visitor, who was then busy and is coming next Monday instead. I was up very early with Talia and Morgan awake with the sun, and had one load of laundry done and away before the others even woke up. I feel like I have barely stopped. I've had moments to check in and chat with friends, time to do one whole row of knitting ;) and a long cuddle with Talia when she fell asleep on my arm and I elected not to try to put her down.

And yet, and yet... The house looks like a bomb hit it in spite of the cleaning this morning. The gymnastics the girls have been doing for weeks resulted in two injuries in the last hour alone. I haven't had enough water today and my head is starting to ache. Rowan has cut her hair (again) and is really upset, saying she wants it to come back. The children fought.  I didn't feel like getting up to fetch more cordial, and I didn't like having a conversation interrupted by the baby's urgent need to pour her sister's drink out and paddle in it.  The tendency to panic when things doing go how I want them to is still looming. I am cheery and contented one moment, and miserable the next.

I find myself usually telling half a story, when I sit down to write about our lives. Either I need to vent and can only see the hard work and heartache, or I want to dwell on the positives and find myself looking back at a record I can barely recognise as our actual real messy life. It's both. I had a great day today - and a terrible one - all at the same time.

(But yes, biased mama has to say, the kid can paint beautifully.)