And Then There Were Seven

Alyssa x 3
Ethan saw this picture and told our neighbor "3 Alyssa's came to our house last night." Mike made this composite for last week's photo challenge.

This week has been busy with piano, scouts, cub scouts, piano, watching kids, and trying to help out our extended family. Mike went with Jon and picked up Ruth's twins to stay with us for awhile. While they were gone I went and took portraits at a Valiant Girls' Activity and helped out. We hired a neighbor boy to watch our kids. Saturday I took the kids over to Home Depot for their Childrens' Workshop. The kids made trinket boxes. Rebecca was anxious to get hers painted after we got home. I finally pulled out the paints and let them have at it.


Last night Mike pulled in with the girls and Jon. The girls were so sweet. We had a short video chat with Ruth, then baths and bed time. Kirsten was so excited to have her cousins to visit that she laughed and talked. Haley sang and Shanna talked. After awhile Mike had to get Kirsten and put her on the couch so the other girls could settle down to sleep.

Today (Sunday) Shanna and Haley were the easiest ones to get ready. They ate breakfast really well, put their bowls in the sink, then went and got dressed. Shanna watched me fix Rebecca and Kirsten's hair, and then allowed me to put a little side pony tail in her hair. Haley was busy elsewhere and wasn't as easy, but I got her hair fixed too. We were going to get a picture of all the girls with their matching hairstyles, but we ran out of time. We finally managed to get everyone ready, including ourselves, and out the door we went. We drove the van and the car to church. I played the organ. Shanna came up and said "hi" to me before church started, Mike got her back to her seat. She and Haley did really well in sacrament meeting. I came down to our seats after the sacrament hymn. There wasn't room for me, so I put one of the girls on my lap. After I took the sacrament I took Alyssa and headed for the mothers' room. I was followed out by two little girls. One of the young women came out to help me with the girls. They were fine, until I closed the door to the room. Then they started to cry. Lacey came and asked if she could help. I ended up not nursing Alyssa like I wanted and handed her over and took the girls back in and sat down. We got everyone coloring with colored pencils while we listened to the speakers. I then played the intermediate hymn. Kirsten had to use the restroom, then Ethan piped up that he needed to go too. Mike headed for the door with them, and was followed by two little shadows. One of the sisters behind me whispered, "There goes super dad." After Mike came back I had three girls (Kirsten, Shanna and Haley) that tried to sit on my lap. I then had to play the closing hymn and a bit of postlude. By the time I did that, my family had dispersed and I went to check that everyone was where they should be. I found Alyssa and took her back and finished what we had set out to do in the first place. We had ward conference today. Sharing and Singing Time went really well. I played the piano for senior primary. After church I helped Mike shepherd the kids out to the van. We switched carseats around and a neighbor took Jon home. I stayed to have lunch and a meeting with the Stake Primary Presidency. The meeting went well. I got home and Mike and the kids were just getting their lunch. The kids were all sitting down and the table was set. Very impressive accomplishment for a guy with 7 kids. Mike made some brownies for a Scout Court of Honor and then had to go to the Stake Center to help translate for some ward members. He went from there to the Court of Honor. I made rice pudding for our treat tonight. We watched Elder Quentin Cook's talk from the Sunday Afternoon Session of Conference. That went pretty well.

Putting the kids down only took 2 1/2 hours. Shanna and Haley were pretty tired. They didn't really have naps today. I took them one at a time and rocked them, thinking they would fall asleep right away individually, but I was found by other children and had to set them down in their beds. Haley learned to climb out of her crib today. And she learned how to open the door. So both girls can get out of bed and out the door. I kept putting them back to bed. I finally herded all five girls into the bedroom and stood there with Alyssa and stuck kids back into bed each time they tried to get out until they fell asleep. Rebecca was a trooper. She lay quietly in bed while a cry-fest went on . After the girls started falling asleep she started talking to me and telling me about different things at school. By the time Mike came home from the Court of Honor things were pretty quiet around here. He missed all the fun. Well, not entirely. Jon and Ethan were still up. He was able to go in and talk to them and he sang Ethan a song.

Here are some pictures of our sleeping girls.

Ruth has the sweetest little girls. Too bad I can't keep them! They are very obedient (except for wanting to climb out of bed) and very neat and tidy. They like to put things in their proper place. My kids love having them here. Thanks Ruth for letting us help you out! Tomorrow will be a fun day. We will play outside and maybe make some cookies for Family Home Evening.