Pay biz bills, my to-do list says.

Someday, that will mean sitting down with a cup of coffee, a roll of stamps, and a book of checks.

But it is not this day.

Today, I let Emmett stay up a little extra because he’s playing nicely with his brothers, and I flip through the bills that came in the mail, pulling some out to pay right away, putting others in a stack to pay next week.

I stand at the counter, pen in hand. The boys are completely silent, all three of them. I know they’re playing Baby Robin though and assume it’s nighttime and that all the little birds are sleeping.

I pay a little something to Alec’s school and write a check for the one pressing “came in the mail” bill. Chaos breaks out in the back bedroom. I go get Emmett and put him to bed.

Obligatory playtime with the big boys commences once Emmett is asleep. We take a little walk, pick a few blackberries, have a swing ride, and jump on the trampoline. I find many, many eggs in the chicken house.

I am so confused about the eggs and suspect there’s something fishy going on. Once the boys took at least a dozen eggs out of the henhouse and buried them in a hole they dug and covered them with grass and leaves in hopes that they’d hatch. I don’t think that’s what’s going on this time, but I only have six chickens, and there weren’t any in the chicken house yesterday, but then Alec brought me five this morning, and then I found another eight in there this afternoon. Something doesn’t add up.

But that has nothing to do with paying bills.

We go inside. Alec drinks milk; Sebastian drinks orange juice. I heat up my coffee and open my email. Emails from Eric these days only mean one thing: another bill to pay.

The boys are too rowdy for having a baby asleep in the house. I am not patient enough. I write a check, tell a boy to be quiet, grab a stamp, tell a boy to quit stomping, enter a payment into Quickbooks, tell a boy he’ll have to go back outside if he can’t quit being loud.

They retreat to the back bedrooms. I feel bad for being impatient.

I get literally three bills paid before Emmett wakes up from his nap. Prier Pipe, Petro Card, Rapid Soil Solutions. The others will have to wait. King Emmett gets to watch videos when he gets up from his nap.

We’ve been trying out Bentkey. Emmett likes it. The big boys complained yesterday; today they’re enthralled and protest when I turn it off.

While they watch funny little trucks with a funny little truck grandpa, I take the bills I did manage to pay to the mailbox. Then I water trees and bushes and scoop dog droppings.

I’m hot when I come in, so I sit on the couch and delete emails and check Facebook.

The boys get gum when they get off the computer; Sebastian doesn’t want any. Alec and Emmett chew “watermelon gum” happily.

I reheat my coffee. I pay two bills. Star Rentals, South Valley Engineering.

A fight breaks out between Sebastian and Emmett. They both want the same garbage truck; Sebastian had it first. I offer to read to Emmett instead. He happily goes to find a book.

Have you ever seen a two-year-old looking for a book while chewing gum? It’s the cutest thing.

My coffee languishes on the counter, getting cold again.

I read five books to Emmett. While we read, Sebastian comes to ask Emmett if he wants to go outside. “No, I just reading,” says Emmett.

All three boys go out to play with the hose. I reheat my coffee and pay one last bill. Metrofab.

I started paying bills around 11:30am. It’s almost 2:30pm when I finish.

Someday, I will sit down and pay bills, and it will only take half an hour, and I’ll miss these days.

So here they are, for me to remember, and for me to realize how special they are.

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Yes, I know this is the second time I've posted today. My earlier post was written yesterday, and I thought about saying something silly like, Maybe I'll write a blog post every day in August! But of course I won't, so I didn't. 🙂