5 kids under the age of 7

The last weekend of June, Sarah and the kids came for a visit.  When she left a few days later, she was missing two kids.  Paisley (6, same age as Annalee) and Ginny (3, same age as Vander) stayed behind to spend a week with us.  Sarah left a cute note and pictures on our darkboard and Paisley decided to color them in.  My sister is such a talented artist!  (She entertained me all the time when we were kids with her pictures and poems.)

We had a very busy week!  Paisley was determined that we would have a Pajama Party, so we did on Monday.  We painted toenails (Vander too) and watched a movie while we ate popcorn in our pjs.  I made scrambled eggs with red bell peppers and cubed potatoes for dinner.  Paisley LOVED it, and kept commenting, over and over, how good it was, how I should have my own cooking show because I was so good, and could I give her mom the recipe?  Haha, you are welcome at my house anytime!

(I did point out that her mom is a much better cook than I am.)

Most everyone else liked dinner that night too.

Most everyone.

Even though we were going through a horrible heat wave, we took the kids out to ride the Jeep.  What is more fun than driving a car when you're a kid? But it was just an oven out there, over 100 degrees.

 

We slathered on the sunscreen and lasted as long as we could.

On other days we played at the park, went to the movies, played video games, and did everything fun we could think of.

 Friday was the 4th of July.  Aunt Michele and Uncle John invited us to go to Melba, which is famous for its Independence Day celebration.  It's only a city of around 500 people, but on the 4th it swells to 5,000!  We have avoided it in the past because I wasn't feeling up to big crowds when I was pregnant or had a new baby, but the week had gone so well that I decided I could go with the 5 kids, especially if I had my aunt and uncle's help.  Unfortunately, on the way there I realized I had left my cell phone at home.  If we went back for it we would miss the parade, so I forged ahead.  Besides, we knew a general area to meet them in, so I thought we'd be okay.

I failed to realize just what 5,000 people in a 500-person town looks like. When we got there we were in a long line of cars and were forced to drive by our rendezvous point, not being able to park for another mile.  We found a spot and got back to the main road right as the parade started.  (The picture above shows us watching the parade.)  I spent the first half of the parade lathering sunblock on my 5 pasty-white kids.  Then I stood back with an umbrella for shade while they scrambled for candy.  Knowing there would be tons and tons of candy, I gave each child a ziplock sandwich bag and told them they could only keep what would fit in the bag. There was still more candy being thrown at us after the bags were full.

After the parade we walked to the area that had all the food and game booths.  The kids each got some tickets and I let them run loose within the small area of the games.  Pretty soon, I realized that Paisley was missing.  I went back and forth, double- and triple-checking every booth to make sure she wasn't there.  Nope.  Gone.  I tried not to panic.  There was no main event area with a loudspeaker to report her missing.  I didn't even have a cell phone.  I imagined having to call my sister and tell her I'd lost her child.  Leaving Annalee in charge of the other kids and the stroller, I ranged farther and farther away in search of her.  (I couldn't push the stroller very well through the grass.)  Finally, I decided to calm down and think about it logically.  Where would she go?  I walked toward the Bounce House and found her gleefully jumping inside.  I'm not sure how she slipped in because it cost $1 per jump and it wasn't one of the things you could use your tickets for.  She must have just gone in with some other kids, oblivious.  It turned out that she hadn't understood where the boundary of the ticket games ended, and had innocently gone to do the thing that looked the most fun.  (Gray haaaaaaaairs!) 

 

I had done the girls' hair in pig tails that morning but forgot to get a picture of it until we got home.  I asked them all to turn away, but Paisley whipped her head back around just in time to photo bomb my shot.  She thought she was pretty funny.  I was not pleased at the time (probably because I was so hot and tired) but now that I look at this picture, it's my favorite one of all.  What a turkey she is!

 

I looked and looked for my relatives in Melba but never found them.  I found out later that they'd gone back to someone's house for a few hours to cool off so there's no way I could have found them!  Maybe I will be more organized next year!

Thankfully, they stopped by to visit us at home, where everyone enjoyed the air conditioner.  Here is Annalee holding her second cousin (my cousin's daughter) Lila, who is just a month younger than Bellana.

 

 

That night we continued our tradition of watching fireworks from our roof.  We take the screen out of Vander's window and climb out on the garage roof.  We can see the fireworks in Caldwell and another town, but even more exciting, we can see all the illegal fireworks our neighbors shoot off!  Seriously, it pays to live in a nice neighborhood on the 4th of July because these people spend thousands of dollars on fireworks that explode right above our house!

We could even see some floating paper lanterns that someone south of us was lighting.  We watched as they floated over our subdivision and then burned out.

I told the kids that the only way they would get to watch fireworks with us is if they went straight to bed at 7.  The three girls in Annalee's room quickly obeyed, falling asleep in minutes.  Vander was a royal turd and kept getting up and coming downstairs.  He is usually pretty good about going to bed, but I think the excitement was too much for him.  I warned him that if he didn't go to sleep I wouldn't let him watch fireworks.  He finally fell asleep at 9:40.  Despite my threat, I couldn't bear to make him miss the fireworks.  But when I tried to wake him 20 minutes later,

 I couldn't!  He was completely exhausted.  We were in his room, with the light on and the window open, climbing in and out on the roof, waving glow sticks and laughing as ten thousand fireworks boomed in the night.  But he slept through the whole thing.  The next morning he suddenly said, "Hey, what about the fireworks?"  Oh, it was a sad, sad lesson.

The trip back was the maiden voyage for our van.  It was the first time we'd take it on a trip and we were packed to the gills!  Everyone did pretty well, though, and we got to Grandma and Papa's house with little drama.

Whew!