Invasion of the Davidsons

We were thrilled when our friends Lori and Paul asked us to keep their kids while they went out of town. We don't get to see these guys nearly enough, and my kids are crazy about their kids. It's really not hard to keep extra kids when you genuinely love them all. And besides, I WANT 7 kids (even though that isn't in the cards for me) so I got to play-pretend "Mom with 7 kids" for the day. I especially felt like a Mom with 7 kids when my sister pointed out that my shirt was awkwardly stained when we were at the Jump Zone. (I'm not saying that's how my other friends with 7plus kids are...just saying that's how I would be all of the time.) Pretty sure I didn't look in the mirror before I left the house. But at least every single CHILD was wearing clean clothes and had clean faces and brushed hair. There was a lot of running around outside, and as usual, the roller coaster was a popular spot. Atticus (age 1) just likes to crawl up and sit on trikes. He would sit there for so long. He even sat on one that was facing the woods for a good 5 minutes before I went to push him around on it. Silly thing; wish I knew what was going through his mind when he is sitting there. I did NOT get any pictures of the 3 older boys outside because that would have required them being STILL for 2 seconds...which they were not. Gabe wouldn't go on the roller coaster for the first hour without me holding on to him, but after that, he was a pro.

They huddled up together to get ready for the bedtime devotion.

I tucked Gabe into Sissy's bed and put these two giggling things on a pallet on her floor.

But when I went to check on them, this is how I found them all. Melts my heart.

The 3 big boys shared a room. Tornado switched to the top bunk and let Dash and Noah share the bottom bed. I let them stay up a little, thinking it was going to be nearly impossible for them to fall asleep, anyway. Noah had told me earlier, "Sometimes when I spend the night with someone, it's like midnight before I fall asleep because I'm so excited." From my room, I could hear them stirring around and laughing (insert plenty of bathroom humor, etc.)...at 10:00...10:45 ("Okay, guys, you really need to settle down and get quiet.")...11:00 Tornado was out...30 minutes later Dash joined him...and Noah made it 15 minutes shy of midnight.

Next day - lots of little girl chatter and play kitchen, princesses, dolls, store, and doctor. Once again, it is surprising to Ryan how different girls play when they are together (as opposed to boys).

The next day was calling for rain so after a morning of playing outside, we loaded up and headed to the Jump Zone. My sister and her kids were in town so they went with us. My Mom and Dad joined us, as well. The kids had a lot of fun...except my niece Winnie. She usually loves the Jump Zone but was out of sorts for some reason, and she made this face a lot. Which I secretly sort of love, even though she's being whiny and pouty. It's easier to adore someone else's child when she is being whiny and pouty.

Gabe quickly made friends with these two little boys, and he ran around with them almost the entire time.

He seemed like such a big boy, off making his own friends. And he carried his Dinosaur Train birthday party blower (that is torn and doesn't work) around with him all day.

These two little guys (Atticus and my nephew Rush) got to hang out, too.

It's hard to say who had the most fun at Jump Zone...

...but Atticus was a definite contender. He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED going down the slides. He kept grabbing my hand to go back up again and again. He'd usually go down on my lap, and a couple of times I just let him loose by himself. Either way, he would erupt into this deep belly laugh for about 30 seconds when he got to the bottom of the slide. Those slides are FAST. It was so cute. We also laughed a lot, playing catch.

And this kid rarely ever has a frown on his face.

Even pretty princesses get hot and sweaty at the Jump Zone.

The only bad thing about the visit: now everything's "boooringgg," as described by Dash. "I want Noah to come back. There's nothing to do! Now it's boooringgg." Come back and play soon, Davidsons!