24 hours in Kirsten's shoes...

So, Steve & Kirsten went away to celebrate their anniversary this weekend, and those of us left behind got to take turns hanging out with Eleanor, Elijah, Silas, Annelise and Jocelyn. My shift began at 6pm on Friday night as I took over from the Coffeys. Obviously, everyone had had a lot of fun with David, Emily and JoJo...if the colored construction paper strewn all over the living room wasn't evidence enough, the gray dust that coated everyone's skin and clothes from the construction project they were working on in the back driveway definitely betrayed oodles of enjoyment.

Frozen lasagne and cauliflower were on the menu for dinner, which at 6pm in a house of 5 children is definitely the first order of business. Water boiling, microwave ticking away...about 10 minutes into it I was informed by Silas and Elijah that they would not be eating cauliflower. A few more ornery comments, and we had to have a family meeting to discuss how we could work together and respect one another so that the time would be more fun.

The evening progressed without much further incident...chores done (after a bit of nagging), baths taken, teeth brushed, jammies on, and the house was quiet. Until around 8 o'clock when I heard from the other side of the house Annelise yelling..."Where's Tata Margit? Time to wake-up Margit!" I guess sleeping in any longer on this Saturday morning was not going to happen.

Soon after breakfast the kids were off playing...some to the construction site outside, others wanting me to play Mancala with them. The day was peppered with endless questions (Kirsten says she gets the same questions 5 times over, every 5 minutes throughout the day). At around lunch time, we realized the electricity was off...none of the breakers seemed to be off, so we waited to see if it would come back on...6 hours later, we finally discovered that our neighbors all had power, so we called the Electric Company. Finding the information they required took a bit of searching around, and finally a phone call to Stephen, but finally an electrician came out, and of course it was a simple problem of a switch that was unmarked and not even near the breaker system.

With the power on, our peanut butter cookie making project could continue. Yum, peanut butter cookies and milk make a wonderful gouter (afternoon snack). Then it was time to clean up and get the house ready for the Kimmons, who were picking up the next leg of the relay.

Oh, I almost forgot, there was the incident of Jocelyn's nap with the markers. She woke up from her nap and came out smiling...at first glance I smiled back, then did a double take...her white sear-sucker dress was covered in blue marker! Upon further investigation, Silas' bed, on which she had been sleeping (at least, we thought she had been sleeping) was covered in marker, bedposts, sheets, pillow case, duvet cover...nothing escaped! The McKenzies will be living with me in about 6 weeks, and the kids were quickly informed that any coloring device has been completely outlawed.

There is nothing left to say but that I was happy to see Karen and Rob, and glad that God doesn't usually drop 5 kids of all different ages into our laps all at one time!