Ummm, just a few extras these days.
I told my husband today that with all our visitors, he'd have to change his name to Kevin...so that we could be Cari and Kevin, Plus Seven. (You have to have watched John and Kate Plus Eight to understand). He didn't think it was a good idea.
In addition to Cameron (age 7), Max (almost 4) and Ella (2 1/2 and such a terror these days), I have my four nieces who are visiting from Detroit for a couple weeks. They include:
A soon to be 7th grader...Elyce(who is incredibly helpful. She even cooked fried chicken today...without any help from me!).
A soon to be 3rd grader...Philyce (who is a very sweet girl who likes to read).
Her twin sister...Philicia (who is very helpful with Ella and likes to write).
A soon to be 2nd grader...Ajah (who loves to be hugged and can make up a great story if you let her sing it).
I quickly learned on the car ride here that the girls are very sweet and loving...to me...but not always to each other! But today was much better. Probably being cooped up in the car for 12 hours didn't help very much.
Sara took the girls clothes shopping today. They insisted that she go with them...I guess they think she's got more style...okay, she definitely has more style....even 6 months pregnant. Sara came home and said, "I'm only having one (kid)."
Things were much less chaotic today than I thought they were going to be, with so many kids in the house. It was actually kind of fun. I just figured that I'm going to have to stick to routines and develop rules that keep some sort of order.
The first rule I developed:
One cup, per child, per day. If you lose or trash your cup, you get nothing to drink!
Tomorrow I'm creating a new one. You'll eat breakfast when I serve it...not whenever you're hungry. Because I am not serving food in the morning from 5 AM (Ella) to 10 AM (Elyce) again.
Any other tips out there? Please feel free to post!
posted by Undomestic @ 9:22 PM
5 Comments:
You need to contact your grandmother and see how she handled 14
The most important coming: CLEAN UP YOUR MESS! HA! HA! That is my tip. Everyone can participate in clean up time. Because I am confident that with a house full, clean up time will be a necessity.
P.S. I may have to borrow Elyce. Who know she could fry chicken? Then again, look who are aunt and grandmother are. LOL....
Enjoy your time together.
Wow - what an adventure. You will need to consider water consumption with five little ladies in the house (counting Ella too).
Did you add them to the chore schedule?
Sounds like a fun few weeks. I'm guessing nieces are like grandchildren- it's fun when they visit and nice when they go home too.
Great rules...They are already in place at our home, with four kids! Otherwise, I am loading and unloading the dishwasher three times a day. Another great rule...during the summer, all snacks are to be eaten outside and a pitcher of water remains outside for drinks (no going in and out all day).
I am not sure how Tom's brother did it...They had six of their own and four foster children! Now they also have a grandchild (age 1) and they still have several kids of their own at home (their youngest is 13).
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