adventures in babysitting

Jack woke up at about 6:15 yesterday morning. Just as he was drifting back to sleep two other kids woke up, so we were up for the day at 6:30. Maybe that's normal for some of you, but for me it IS NOT. We got Lucas off to school and made pancakes for breakfast. Ana was crabby. Jack was crabby. He went down for a nap at 9, but only slept an hour because of a poopy diaper. My fuse was already short for the day.

My sister's play group is at their neighborhood church (literally in their backyard), and so I decided we would go over there when Lucas got home from school. Just as we were getting shoes and jackets on I got a call from his school. There was a mix up with his ride home, and he was still at the school. "I'll come and get him," I said, starting to feel slightly overwhelmed.

So I put 4 kids in carseats that weren't quite buckled in all the way. Then I tried to open the garage. I couldn't find the opener, so I started pulling on strings and whatnot. Finally I called my mom. "How do you open the garage?" She directed me to the switch, but it didn't open the garage. It made the sound, but the door didn't lift. All the while, Ana and Alaina are fighting over what carseat they want to sit in, Jack is screaming in his seat, and Seth was just walking around the van.

By then I was feeling a little more overwhelmed. I tried to think of what to do. Finally I decided I would take the kids over to play group, and then go and get Lucas in their truck. Just then the phone rang. A neighbor of my sister's was at the school and offered to take Lucas home. Phew... So we went outside to wait for Lucas and lo and behold - its snowing. Well, Ana was in capris, Seth was in sandals, Alaina was in flip flops. Lucas showed up a minute later in shorts. But we trudged over the church for play group anyway.

I was carrying Jack and Seth (who weighs more than Ana) and Alaina and Ana were crying about the cold and the wind. Man, was that a LONG 50 yard walk...

But we made it to playgroup.

No major mishaps have happened since, and I figured out what was wrong with the garage door and its working now. This afternoon I need to get a balloon for Lucas for school. That might be interesting.

Until next time...