tricks

Here I am, a mission trip "widow" for a week...left at home with four children ages 7and under!!! It's a good thing that I have a few tricks up my sleeve for when things are getting a bit crazy around here. Things started unraveling during naptime when nobody wanted to stay quietly in their beds. Since I don't sleep well while Miguel is gone, rest time is rather imperative for me! I finally took Jojo upstairs with me after running down a couple of times to deal with him...and by then the baby was awake. Sigh. So I nursed him and rested some more, but then he got antsy in the bed and I had to bring him downstairs and that was the end of my rest time. While the kids were watching a movie in the living room, they found a spider under the coffee table and took it outside using one of Jojo's plastic Easter eggs (camouflage colored-what will they think of next!). I was busy writing a letter and vaguely heard Jojo talking about washing his egg, but it wasn't until I started smelling a very strong shampoo smell that I realized that Jojo was in the bathroom washing his egg unsupervised. It wasn't a pretty sight...water and soap everywhere and he got one of our books all wet (that Micah had left next to sink). I envy babies, because, as you can see, when they are upset they can just let it all out!

Okay, well, I will admit to a teeny, tiny tantrum and then I put myself in time out to calm down (any ruining of books is a BIG deal to me! otherwise, water on the floor and sink is just another day). The kids kept squabbling, being loud, not watching their movie so I finally had enough and threw them out of the house! To play outside, that is. And that's when I remembered one of my tricks! We have a large van and the back seat makes out into a bed, but the kids have never seen it down. So I went out there and put the seat down and now they are happily playing and they are OUT OF MY HAIR. :) I can't even really hear them! It's wonderful...a few minutes of peace. haha Now they want to sleep in there tonight, which they could if the van was pulled into the garage, but I will be very surprised if they actually do! I think they will be too scared and there's NO way I'm sleeping out there with them! I love my own comfy bed too much for that!

Miguel is, BTW, in Mexico. He went as a translator for one of the youth teams and I'm sure they will have a great week. They left Thursday night on a chartered bus and he called me about an hour later to say that the bus had already broken down...then I got a text message yesterday afternoon that they had made it to El Paso. That is one LONG trip and I'm glad I'm not on it! It made me tired just thinking about 24 hours on a bus. With 10th through 12th graders, no less! Miguel will do fine, he's still a teenager at heart anyway. heehee But I'm sure he will be happy to get back home to the fam by next Saturday!