A Full House

The last couple of weeks have been quite the adventure! Our 4 nieces and our nephew came to stay with us for ten days while their parents celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary by going on a cruise. We loved having them! G is the oldest at 8 years old, followed by M who turned 7 recently. Then E who is 5, H who is 3, and B who is 1. With our little A we had six kids under 8. (Which is exactly like my family growing up)

They arrived late Saturday night. We got them all settled and went to bed. Allan and I got up extra early Sunday morning to get ready for church. We had to leave at 7:00am to go to my sister's ward. She and her husband were blessing their baby that day and they live over an hour away. Everyone did great that morning. We hustled along and were miraculously in the car ready to go at 7:00!  Their parents had provided breakfast to eat in the car on the way their which was extremely helpful! That day went so well. The kids made friends with my sister's neighbors after church and played with all of the dogs.

Monday we walked to the park to play. By the time we got home everyone was exhausted and either took naps or read books. We had a fun family night, had home made ice cream sandwiches and played outside.

We put B in little A's room since they are on a more similar schedule. It made nap times easier. Little A was SO excited to share her room with B. We could often hear them in there giggling and squealing at each other before they fell asleep.

Tuesday we stayed home, and they played in the kiddie pool and sprinkler. We made fairy crowns and read all about flower fairies. The girls were especially excited to see if they could find any fairy rings in their yard at home.

Wednesday we went to story time. They had a firetruck there to look at. I thought H would be really excited about it, but he just stood back and looked at it in awe. He wouldn't go near it. The other kids had a blast though.

The also got some airplanes and treats to take home. There is a small war memorial at the park as well with this gun. They allow the kids to climb on it, so they enjoyed climbing on that as well. H wouldn't go near this either, just stood back and looked at it in awe.

We ate lunch at the park and then each picked out some books to take home. On the way home we stopped at Arctic Circle for ice cream. The kids loved that!

We did some painting on Thursday. They painted rocks and logs, and they painted with sidewalk chalk paint. They had a lot of fun. Little A and B covered themselves in paint. I wish that I had gotten more paint though, it ran out pretty quickly.

Home made popsicles, yum!

On Friday Allan took the older kids to the mine to see the big trucks while the babies took a nap. The girls really enjoyed seeing the big machines, H was terrified (he liked the picture of the machines in Allan's office, lol!), but Allan said the highlight of the trip was seeing all of the cows in the field nearby. They mooed at the cows until all the cows moved further away. Ha!

Aren't they darling!

Climbing up onto one of the trucks.

We got kids meals for everyone and had dinner at the park that night. The kids loved that! Little A and B pretty much just drank the fry sauce. They were both covered in it.

We took them all out for ice cream again on the way home.

We had a movie night that night as well. They watched Spirit and had popcorn.

We took them all swimming on Saturday. The kids had a blast, but I was stressed out of my mind worrying that one of them would drown. We had originally planned on staying in the kids area, but it was really crowded, so we bought some floaties and headed to the bigger pool. M wasn't quite tall enough so someone loaned us another floatie for her. We were so grateful! The bigger pool was a hit. They had a blast floating around in it, splashing, and doing tricks. They were much easier to keep track of too!

Sunday the kids were done. Everyone was exhausted and wanted their parents. We made a welcome home poster for their mom and dad that day and played in the basement.

H had a ball sliding down the stairs in this box. It was also a tunnel for cars among other things.

Monday little A woke up with a fever. She wouldn't really let me put her down with out breaking into hyperventilating cries, so we watched some Daniel Tiger and Odd Squad. The older kids and I had a lot of fun playing puppies while the babies napped. And then we watched some more movies. Kind of a lame end to the trip, but that's okay. We were planning on having a dance party that night and doing water balloons the next day, but it rained, A was sick, and both babies cried most of the day, so movies it was.

Everyday during the babies' nap we would get out stickers, felt, coloring, stamps, and sewing things, and the girls and H would sit around the table and do some crafts. They made some cute things for their parents.

G made an apron for her bunny.

E made tags and collars for her dogs.

M made a tag for her dog and a witch costume for her doll.

We really loved having the kids here and were so sad to see them go. Little A cried and cried. Partly because she didn't feel good, and partly because they left - she was so confused as to why she wasn't going with them. We said our "I love you's" every night, and every night H said he loved little A, and little A said she loved B.

A and B were something else though. They would either play really good together, or push each other down and occasionally smack each other. H pretty much did his own thing and stayed away from all the girly drama, ha! The older three girls reminded me of my sisters and I. They fight with each other constantly, but love each other fiercely and will do anything to protect and help each other.

Allan and I have wondered if we could take on a large sibling group. It gave us a chance to see what it might be like. Of course there would be some HUGE differences, but it gave us a chance to see how we might respond to that many kids at once. We learned a lot about some things we need to improve upon, but we also learned that we could get through. We really loved having the kids here and have missed them a lot!