Parenting 101

We were asked by some very good friends to babysit their 6 adorable children while they scurried off to Mexico for some fun in the sun. Wonder how it is going?.....

Well let me just say---What a joy it is to babysit these kids---

They are so much fun and if you would like a crash course on parenting, these kids and the way this house functions is a great place to start. Michelle is always saying how hectic and crazy their life is and she has even mentioned that at times she hasn't quite felt up to the task and wondered if as parents they were doing a good job...

Our reply to those concerns would be ---You are doing marvelous! A great measuring stick for how well you have been running the house and raising your kids was to leave for a while and see if things went smoothly. The kids have been so adorable and obedient. They practice their instruments,play with my girls,help each other out and eat their meals ( except for our no holds barred, battle royal with Gabe and the half inch green bean:) they rub my feet and comb Kit's hair 70 times.....j/k

We have had so much fun so far. They laugh at my jokes and bear with my teasing although I am sure they are used to it with Erik. We just finished casting for our "Hairy" Potter movie. Hopefully we can get some good clean takes so we can whip it out as we only have a day and a half to get it done.

We decided to load up the whole clan( minus Ben and Stefan) and go cheer for Hans in his last Jr. Jazz basketball game of the year. They were playing a team that beat them before by one point. Revenge was in the air and Hans played awesome! He had some key steals,passes and rebounds that lead to his team taking the lead with a minute or so to go in the game. They ended up winning by two and Hans played great, it was a lot of fun!

We decided to celebrate by having breakfast for dinner-- OJ, waffles and Kit's famous cheese eggs. We topped that off with Kit's new----Nutella cookies and some milk. Mary said it best when she said, " I like these cookies they are like the one's in my dreams!" :)

Some other funny things the kids have said-----

Mary--"Do you know who George Washington is?" Kit," No, who is he?" Mary " He's the one who looks like a pirate, but he's not." and "It's hard to share a castle." When showing Kit that Xander and Gabe share a castle in their room.

Gabe--"I think Hermione's voice in the book is funny." I read Harry Potter to him at night and try and do the voices for the different characters and he thinks Hermione's is pretty funny. He also wanted to make sure I was comfortable while reading to him and shared his pillow with me. " Here you will need this behind your head." So sweet.

And my girls are in total heaven being here with all these brothers and sisters! When Ryn woke up this morning and saw Mary,Gabe, Xander and Hans she threw her hands up in the air and said, " Ohhhhhhh hi.......gook Marrry, and Gabe! You would've thought it was Christmas morning. Elle has a thing for Ben ,so Mary has competition now! Whenever Ben is in the room Elle will scurry over to him on all fours and then look up at him with outstretched arms, it is precious!

Just seeing how much pure joy having all these brothers and sisters brings to Ryn really makes me wonder why anyone that doesn't have fertility problems would want to limit themselves and their children to just none, one or a couple of siblings. What an amazing gift that we as parents can offer our children, to have each other. I know I wouldn't trade my relationships with my siblings for anything and it is unfortunate that both parents and children take this gift for granted.

If Adam fell that man might be and man is supposed to have joy and one of the 1st commandments was to multiply and replenish the earth ...... than I think having joy has a GREAT deal to do with having children! And being here in this home with all the different personalities of each spirit and seeing how each one makes up a HUGE part of this family, it's no wonder that it's hard to even imagine life without one or any of them. And it's that way for us too, with our girls. It's almost as if they have ALWAYS been with us and we are always catching ourselves saying," Oh wait 3 years ago it was only us!"

Families are amazing and so very cool! Stay tuned as I will be posting some fun news as we start filming tomorrow!