3 years 7 days

Day 1102. It was 2 am before I went to bed last night. Of course they were up at 7 am this morning, and I was pretty tired. At 8 am I got up as well. After breakfast I went downstairs with them, where we read a Bible story. Then I returned upstairs to work. I had a new student from 10 to 11 am.  I was sure tired before and after the lesson. Just after 11 am I went downstairs to get Sammy who had been crying for quite some time. He wants Randy to hold him all the time and cries, when he puts him down. Because I took him upstairs with me, his siblings wanted to come upstairs as well, and so they all ended up listening and watching kids' songs on the Alexa device in their bedroom. Just before noon I went to the kitchen to warm up leftovers for lunch. It was quite a fight to get Tammy to eat, and I lost it. I finally put her straight to bed. Sammy ate the most, and Emmy I ended up feeding so he'd eat. The boys both had icecream, then I cleaned them up and put them to bed as well. And that's how they already ended up in bed at 12:45, half an hour earlier than usual. And nobody even protested. Surprisingly they were all asleep by 1 pm.

I returned to my computer, but instead of sleeping I ended up working for quite a long time, even though I was really tired and needed the sleep. At 2:15 Sonja arrived, and just asking Randy to let her in was enough to wake up Emmy who greeted her at the door. Together they went downstairs.  A few minutes later Sammy woke up. I picked him up, and Randy got him ready to leave, which they did just after 2:30. By then Tammy was up too and joined the others downstairs. I gave them their shoes, as they were gonna play the game with Sonja that she had given them on their birthday last week. They went outside, and Sonja ended up sticking the pole with the cord and ball into the sandpit. Then Emmy was the first one to play with her, while Tammy was more interested in the sand. I looked down from the balcony to watch them for a few minutes. Then I just had to lie down and close my eyes for a few minutes. I set an alarm for 3:40 pm and ended up being really happy that I did, as it woke me up - just in time for my 4 pm class.

I got up and tried to get myself awake enough to teach for two hours, and it worked out just fine. I heard Randy and Sammy come back while I was teaching, and they joined the others outside. At 6 pm I was done, and really tired, and went to the kitchen to start making their food. At 6:30 we sat down at the table to eat, and Sonja joined us so we could finally talk a little bit. Then the kids went into the water, and Sonja left us. They ate some more there, then we got them out and ready for bed. It was 7:45 before they were all in bed, and so there was no time for me to sit down by them. Randy sat down by them, while I took my computer and went downstairs. Surprisingly there was no crying tonight because of me leaving, thank God. I started my business English lesson with an adult couple, which lasted until 8:50 pm. I did some more work, finishing up and preparing the lessons for tomorrow morning, then I went back upstairs. It was 9:15 pm. I got myself something to eat and sat down to eat. Then I went back to work. Time just flew by, and so it's nearly 1 am and time to clean up the kitchen and then hit the hay.