Chaos Expanding

Things I should have though about more before I said yes to watching my brothers 3 small children for 2 weeks:

1. A not-walking almost 11 month old is more work than I recall.

2. Feeding 8 children and trying to get 3 out the door for school in the morning is a lot harder.

3. I did not know anyone could walk slower than Delaney!

4. A baby that sleeps through the night is not necessarily a better thing if she wakes up well before my alarm goes off.

5. Coordinating the convoy to get 8-10 children (I usually pick up the neighbors 2 kids as well, and they are not a problem) home from school requires more energy, patience and finesse than I seem to have. Plus, I only have a double stroller and 5 children under 5.

6. Bedtime with this many children .... yikes!

7. Of course, Andy's baby has molars coming in right now.

8. Of course, Rylee suddenly has a runny nose and Marian just started coughing. Let's hear it for a houseful of sickies, cuz its a-comin'!

9. Who knew little kids could eat so much?!! My children are light breakfast eaters, but Andy's are little piggies. Matthew ate 3 bowls of cereal!! Marian, Joshua and Delaney barely ate one today. (I will have you know I do make a real breakfast, but Charlotte wanted to be snuggled and I wasn't going to make breakfast one-handed.)

10. 3 kids in diapers, plus 2 more in bedtime diapers ... nuff said.

It's not all bad. I did know what I was getting into, I just carefully did not think about any of the details. I did stock the freezer with dinners and I planned to just stay home for 2 weeks and never go anywhere. The only thing I HAVE to do is pick kids up from school. My lovely neighbor takes them to school, but she has a brand new tiny baby, and she's not actually suppose to leave the house. So I pick up her 2 children plus my 3. And right now, that means I take 5 small children with me on the 1/2 mile walk to fetch them all.

Charlotte (almost 11 mos) and Rylee were happy to hang out in the stroller to go to school and back. Charlotte is 6 months younger and nearly the same size as Rylee. And Rylee is a bully.

I did let them play at the playground for a bit. Unfortunately, it had rained the day before and Callie and Rylee went down the slide and got wet pants. Plus, I discovered it is reeealy hard to keep track of that many children!

Charlotte sure is a cutie-pie!

Delaney cried the whole way home. That was a lot of fun! Surprisingly enough, Matthew walked even slower than her whiny, crying, refusal to walk.

One of the things that IS a lot of fun is Callie. She is so adorable. When Emma was crying for her Mommy, Callie was able to go to her and cheer her up. Soon Emma was running around having fun again. I was grateful to Callie since Emma just screamed for her mommy when I tried to comfort her.

Callie also managed to gather all the younger children in the living room and she "read" them bedtime stories. It was cute to see them enjoy it, and super-cute to hear her interpretation of the story as she told it.

Emma is 2 and she's pretty quiet so far. Isn't she cute?!

Matthew is 4 and he and Delaney seem to either play really well together or really not. Sometimes their ideas of what to play differ, and then there is such drama!

I have not yet figured out when shower time might be for me, and it is a little crazy, but I expect we'll settle into some semblance of a routine and it will be fine. Dora may become my best friend!

When kids have the Camera!

I took the good camera with me when I went to Kenya and left the not-as-good camera behind. I instructed Joshua to make sure there were pictures of the 2 important things that occurred while I was gone: His Pinewood Derby Race, and them playing in the snow. I finally discovered the file where that camera downloaded into and this is what I found!

Joshua's car did okay in the races, and it won the "X-Factor" award. He was pretty pleased with it.

Callie and Delaney at the Derby. I am glad that Dan took them all. I thought he might just send Joshua and stay home with the little girls. Look at Callie's hair! Isn't Dan a great dad to do her hair so nicely?!

Rylee is wearing my favorite shirt! Apparently she did not miss me at all and barely noticed I was gone. Okay, Dan said she was fine and didn't seem upset or anything that I wasn't around.

This is one of the 2 snow shots. Yep, this is the snow that grounded the plane and kept us at Dulles an extra 24 hours. Joshua said they built a snowman or fort or something, but they didn't take any pictures of that. Slackers.

I don't know who is taking all these pictures. I know Delaney loves to get her hands on the camera and I know she loves getting her picture taken. She is such a ham.

Ah, a lovely self-portrait. Joshua must be the official photographer!

Ha ha ha! I took this one before I left and Delaney was wanting pictures of everything. She took a picture of me too, but I didn't have a head.

Hammin' It Up!

Delaney and Rylee are a lot of fun to hang out with all day. And more fun to be with when they play nicely together! Lately, Delaney has been asking to have her picture taken. since she's been trying out new faces, it has been entertaining to do so!

The new "game" is to pretend they are going to bed. I like this game. sometimes Rylee is a good sport, and sometimes she's not. Today they had a good time. Check out Rylee's cheesy grin!

I love it when they get along and have a good time together.

Somebody had a birthday! Delaney turned 4. She said she wanted a pink cake with sprinkles. I can do that! She was thrilled with the cake.

She was so funny blowing out her candle, and so cute!

Somebody has had too much cake!

Opening presents was interesting. She actually got most of them open without any assistance from her older siblings who were just dying to get their hands on her loot!

More "Take a picture of me!!!" from yesterday.

And here is today's must-have shot! She likes to get her picture taken, and she's such a silly ham!

Priorities, priorities.....

This is me. I had a good day today! I got 6 meals in the freezer today! I made and froze: White Chili, Corn Chowder, Tai Chicken, Sunday Chicken, BBQ Cups, and Cheesy Italian Chicken. Yep, I feel pretty proud of myself.

Then I look around and see that there is laundry from 3 days ago still on the chair. I need to fold it and get it put away. But let's be honest here.... We both know I'm just going to pull the clean clothes out of the pile until the pile is gone and all the clothes are dirty again.

While I am feeling impressed that I got all my dishes washed and the sink is actually empty for once, I am not impressed with the rest of the house. The kids had a lot of fun playing and it seems to have involved a lot of blankets and toys, which are still on the floor and attached to the elliptical machine and card table. Sigh. I may just move into the kitchen and stay there.

And on a cute note, here is a picture of Rylee. The sad thing is, this was taken just before I left for Africa, and she has a crusty nose again today, and looks about the same!

Motherly Joys

I made the kids walk home from school. I usually do. The Kiss and Ride is too annoying and its probably faster to walk. Plus, I like making them get 15 minutes of sunshine and exercise. And I like getting my own 15 minutes of sunshine and exercise.

These wonderful perks do not come without a price. On a really good day I try to see how many kids I can make cry in one afternoon. Yesterday Rylee cried halfway home because I stuffed her back in the stroller after a mere 20 minutes of playing at the park and she didn't want to go. Callie wailed the entire walk home. Yes, wailed like a banshee because I would not let her ride in the stroller. Ironic sine she was the only one who did want to ride.

Delaney had a terrific time running around, but suffered several episodes of tears, usually when she thought I was going to keep walking and leave Callie in a crying heap on the trail. (I was.)

I nearly had a full sweep, since Joshua was distressed over the breakup of a friendship. He was very manly and did not imitate his sisters, just looked very sad and walked home. Marian was delightful and laughed at all her sisters' pain. I'm not sure if that is better or not.