A week spent being a parent to six kiddos




So this past week, Bryan and I became the guardians of six kids...my five Vettrus cousins and little brother. My parents, along with my grandparents, and two sets of aunts and uncles (including the Vettrus' parents) went to Hawaii for the week, and just got home last night at 1:30 a.m. In their absence, Bryan and I were in charge of all their kids, ranging in ages between 10 and 16.

While this might seem like a daunting undertaking with a full-time job and church committments, we had a blast. These kids are so easy to take care of...especially with Bryan playing right alongside them in their many airsoft battles throughout the memorial day weekend. The toughest part was cooking for all of them, and that was only hard because I didn't know how long to cook a frozen lasagna...or pizza. But they made it through, as did we. There were a few mishaps along the way...Bryan almost killed himself on the 4-wheeler, Jason (the 10-year-old) only showered twice in seven days (unbeknownst to me), we ate a whole box of corndogs, their dog almost got run over by a backhoe, and Shane (my bro) had over 50 airsoft pellet welts by the end of the week, but overall, no one died, so we deemed the week a success.
When we were packing up to go, Bryan didn't want to go. He loves the country (they live outside of Turner), and was loving being a parent. He was like, "I just like having kids..."
Oh, great. And I was hoping this week might have been a form of birth control.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hope

Image
I had a baby girl last Tuesday. There was no pushing. No pain. No first cry. I had baby girl last Tuesday, 174 days too early. For nearly 15 weeks, she was ours. We wondered if she was a boy or a girl. I dreamt up new names. I gained 5 pounds for her. I resisted extra caffeine, snuck in naps, and even made Mother’s Day coffee mugs bearing a picture of her 10-week-old ultrasound silhouette as gifts for her grandmas. My mom hollered when she saw the picture, which foretold that her 3 rd grandchild was due the day before Thanksgiving. Then, just a week later, I wept listening to my sweet mother sing to my sweet, breathless 1.5 ounce girl “your little tiny hands, and your little tiny feet…” How does this happen? How does a baby somersaulting in an ultrasound at 10 weeks now lie there perfectly formed, but without a heartbeat just a month later? -------------------------- “Let’s listen to baby,” nurse Glenda told me after taking my blood ...
Read more

Cayden Elizabeth Ann Bernard

Image
After 17 hours of contractions, 14 hours at the hospital and 1 blessed epidural 9 hours in, little Cayden Elizabeth Ann Bernard entered the world at 8:03 p.m. on March 7, 2011. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was 21 inches long. Daddy's hands. First bath. Grandma and grandpa Bernard had been waiting at the hospital for about 12 hours! Along with my parents, and eventually 7 other family members! They sure filled that waiting room! Sun came to see us the next day, along with about 20 other friends and family members! Lauren was away at DECA state when Cayden was born, but when we got home on Wednesday, she got to see her host sister for the first time. We are so blessed! More to come of course, as time permits! She sure likes to eat!!
Read more

Playing house.

Image
June 23 was a big day for us. Ironically, it was my cousin Blake's birthday, but that was the last thing on our minds. I had spent the day racing around, finishing shopping for the Arizona Mission Trip and taking Macie up to Salem to stay at my aunt and uncle's house while we were gone in AZ. Driving back to Corvallis from Salem (around 3:00 pm) I got a call from our mortgage broker that we were supposed to sign for our house today! So I called the title company, and they said if we could get there (Salem) before 5 pm, we could finish up the whole house-buying fiasco we'd been mired in for the past few months. I raced back to Corvallis, picked up Bryan, raced back to Salem, stopped at MaPS to get a cashier's check (which we were JUST informed that we would need) and then drove downtown to Ticor Title. By 5:45 we were house owners! Living room. apparently Macie likes to be in the pictures. I did not plan this. Kitchen/dining room/ stairs to upstairs on the right. With li...
Read more