My week with five kids!

Today concludes my week of having five kiddos in my house! Whew, I made it! I'm alive. More importantly, so are all of the kids! My house is still standing, even if it is a total disaster. And don't even ask about my laundry pile that is nearly as tall as my washing machine. But everyone has been fed at breakfast, snack, lunch, and snack {and dinner, too, for my family}. We've had lots of fun and had minimal time outs! The week has gone by quickly, if not only for the fact that everything takes longer to do. I'm exhausted, but I've loved it!

Seriously, check out this face that I got to snuggle with. How could you NOT love this?!

So, here's what kept us busy this week!

Playing in the back yard

Walking to the playground, and climbing mountains.

And this girl. Seriously. No fear. I was on the other side of the equipment helping Jackson with the monkey "jars" when I look over and Belle is crossing this bridge thing BY HERSELF! I practically had a heart attack. 

We painted several times this week and it was a total success. 1) Jackson was actually occupied for more than two seconds... all of the older kids actually. And 2) He used colors other than black! Miracles on both accounts. 

One morning we walked over to the park, but not where the playground part. The instructions: GO RUN! They played with sticks, they petted dogs, the raced around trees. It was good for them to wiggle in big open spaces. 

During our walks, this girl was sleeping it up. Have I even mentioned how much I love using my moby wrap? Totally amazing.

And today, it's raining {yay!} so we couldn't play outside. We improvised and made a fort. 

Don't you love the front door?! The kids toys add some super cool elements to fort building!

Chillin' under the table. {and for the record-- I have no idea what Belle is doing. I said, "say cheese!"}

Edit: After I wrote this post and the kids woke up from nap-- they actually got to play in the rain too! It was the perfect rainstorm to play {i.e. no lightning} and they had the most fun.

{please no comments about Belle being in her jammies until 5pm. It was just that kind of day!}

So... am I opening up my very own daycare. Ha. Nope. For those who might be new readers, I used to watch Chacey full time before I had Belle {and her parents moved to Canada the north part of the city} and her and Jackson are basically BFFs. Tenley is her itty bitty newborn sister. I only had these two this week. And the little guy, David, he's a friend of Jackson's from church and now that school has started, I am watching him four days a week. Instead of feeling like an extra kid is extra work, he actually makes my two kids LESS work. So it's perfect!

The fun thing-- I went to high school with Elizabeth and I met Marena in college. If someone would have told me those many years ago that, "Your kids and her kids are going to be best buddies" I wouldn't ever have believed it! Life is so funny the way it turns out sometimes! I'm just super lucky that my kids have good friends that come from great families!