That Was Easy!

AH!  Peace and quiet at last!  :D  After everyone being up til 11 p.m. last and a few emotional moments today (due to being tired, I am sure), bed time was 10:30 SHARP tonight!!!  They are ALL out!  :D  And that is where I'm headed just as soon as I get this posted!

Poor Ryan has had Chance attached to his hip ever since he showed up yesterday!  :D  I don't think Ryan moved from this position all night as this is how he was laying when I kissed him good night.......probably because he couldn't go anywhere, LOL!  So, the sleeping situation changed tonight.  More about that later.

Ryan in the middle

Lots of pictures tonight!  Took the kids to Liz's to swim.  They had a blast!  We packed up their lunchables, some drinks and chips and puddings and headed out around 10:30.  We didn't eat until around 1:00, I guess.  They ate very well!  :D  Of course, on the trip to Elisabeth's house I realized that after packing the cooler for 6 kids, making sure they had their swim suits on and clothes packed, got the towels together, etc., that I did not pack myself a lunch!  Liz came to my rescue and shared a hoagie sandwich with me!  Thanks again, Liz!

I will just make a few comments before you scroll through all of the pictures.  You will notice, Jessica, that Thad started out with arm floaties, but quickly took them off "btuz I don't need dem!"  And, he really didn't!  He did GREAT!  Michael and Hannah helped watch him.  He scared me a couple of times, but other than that he was getting along just like a little fish!  He was just a little too short to touch the bottom and have his nose out of the water.  So, he would catch his breath, go down and touch the pool and bounce off to push himself above the water enough to breathe.  And he did that all the way as he worked himself to the ladder.

Chance

Ryan

Thad with floaties

Chance

Thad without floaties

Michael watching Thad make his way to the ladder

Abby is another little fish

Hannah

Thad and Chance jumped in then Ryan and Michael jumped in.  That was a pretty BIG splash!  :D

Chance

Ryan and Michael

Thad

Thad coming to the ladder after jumping in

Thad, again.....

and again!

Ryan on Michael's shoulders (standing!) 

Chance on Hannah and Ryan getting ready to get on Michael for a chicken fight.

and again!  :D

Triple Decker - Chance on Ryan on Michael! 

Hannah and Thad in Ryan's boat

Abby was content to play by herself.....until I got in the pool!  Then she was attached to me!  :D

CHEESE!

 The kids have been eating really well!  Probably because they are on the go non-stop!  Tonight I fixed sloppy joes, mac n cheese and baked beans.  And even though I treated them all to a Frosty on the way home from Liz's, they ate more than I thought they would!

Enjoying Frosty's on the way home from Liz's

After meals everyone is good about taking their (paper) plates to the trash and putting their silverware in the sink.  Papa said he would take care of the dishes this week to help out.  And I said I would let him!  :D  Michael has been helping, too, even doing the washing of the dishes the last 2 nights!  And he has been good about asking if there is anything he can do to help!  He even asked when he would be able to be a helper in VBS and I said he would have to talk to grandpa.  I mentioned it to Tim and he said Michael could be a helper next year.  Michael was thrilled to hear that!  :D

We got more rain this afternoon (after getting 2 1/2" during the night Sunday night).  It brought the temperature down 10 degrees this evening!  It was great, even if it made things a little wet for playing out during VBS.

We added a few kids tonight.  Here they are getting ready to hold the flags and Bible for the pledges.

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Every year we have a penny contest.  Last night the white team won and tonight the blue team won.

I am teaching the pre-primary class this year and for the craft tonight I made these cute headbands with cow and bull horns.  Since everything had to be hot glued I made them before class and just let them color pictures during the craft time.  They loved their headbands!  Even the boys!  :D

So, about the different sleeping arrangements tonight......Ryan mentioned to me this morning that he thought he wanted to sleep somewhere else besides in between Chance and Thad because they were on top of him all night.  So, when bed time rolled around, I asked Ryan what he wanted to do about sleeping.  He told me he wanted to sleep up in the formal living room.  Chance immediately said he was sleeping there, too.  I told him no and that he was going to stay with Thad where they had been sleeping.  And I went about my business of getting ALL of the beds made.  Earlier in the day Abby asked if she and Thad could sleep together, to which I said no because that would mean the same problem Ryan had.  Someone told me that Chance was crying because he couldn't sleep with Ryan.  So, the solution turned out to be Ryan and Chance sleeping together up in the living room while Abby and Thad sleep on the hide-a-bed.  Problem solved and no more tears!

We added Sarah Russell to the mix of kids tonight, so Michael is sleeping on the air mattresses (which he wanted to do originally, but I didn't want the hassle of it all week) and Hannah and Sarah are sleeping in the spare bed down in the guest bedroom.

Yes, it seems we are playing musical beds!  :D

Watching Spiderman before bed.

Hannah and Sarah.  They get along really well together.

So, all in all, things are going well with all 6 grands being here this week.  They get along for the most part.  They are kids, after all!  It isn't paradise, but that will come eventually!  :D  I've had headaches this week, but, praise the Lord, they have not been the debilitating kind that put me in bed!

The sink after kids brushed their teeth (not sure what they cleaned their teeth with considering it looks like all of their toothpaste is still in the sink!)  :D

We had a small incident this afternoon with the sponge bullet guns (if you know what I mean).....Ryan has about 3 of his here in the mix of Thad's 2 or 3.  Well, Thad's bullets went missing and he cried and wanted Ryan to give him back his bullets.  Ryan was sure he did NOT have Thad's bullets.  I told Thad to look in the toy pile down in Papa's room for his bullets.  The problem still was not solved.  So, I had Ryan start looking through his bullets, just to make sure he had all the right ones.  Turned out that Ryan's bullets were green like Thad's, EXCEPT that Ryan's had a zombie striker emblem (or whatever) on them and Thad's were plain.  And some of the plain ones were indeed mixed in with Ryan's.  To say Thad overreacted is an understatement, but I really think it had a lot to do with him being tired.  Another reason for the 10:30 on the dot bed time tonight!

OK, I'm done now!  Literally and otherwise!  :D  And, I think (I hope) I put Jessica's inquiring mind to rest, LOL!  The kids are doing just fine!