We decided as a family that we would spend our holiday weekend doing service. My friend of 15 years has recently adopted 4 children. She has 3 of her own and then she started with the twins (when they were 10 days old) who are now 4 years old and then the birth mother just kept having babies. So she also has a 3 and 2 year old. There is a 1 year old brother that is living with another family and 2 older kids living with their BM's aunt. All the babies were born addicted to meth so they all have some behavior problems. They are the sweetest and cutest little munchkins ever, which makes up for the fact that they can destroy a house in seconds flat.
What my friend needed was some out of the house fun time without kids and some help with stuff around the house, so we hopped in the car and set out on our mission.
We left Thursday night after my husband got home from work, so we only went as far as Flagstaff the first night. Ethan is always bummed because he always has to sleep on the crummy bed in hotels. This one was especially crummy, yet oh so funny, because it looked like the bed was about to swallow him. He was sleeping in a very uncomfortable taco. There was a very heavy rainstorm that hit and it brought out all the worms. It was looking like a "when worms attack" kinda movie because there were so many. EEEWWW
When we weren't scrubbing floors, walls and blinds, we managed to have some fun. It was Jordyn's birthday on Friday and she got to pick out an ice cream cake. The kids were making fun of Jo and I for playing a dice game with each other on our phones, so we got out the real dice for some real fun. I kicked everyone's butt.
Jared was reunited with his friend and they went to a birthday party of one of J's friends. They played hostage or something like that. A parent takes all the kids and drops them off in the middle of a neighborhood and then they all have to race back to the house without getting caught. Or something to that effect. Not sure but they were having fun. Which is not something Jared likes to do, have fun, but darn it if he wasn't!
There was also lots of pool time because it is hot as blazes in AZ. The kids also played hide and seek. Jordyn loved hiding in the kitchen next to the toaster. They also played with flashlights and had big plans for trying to get batman to come visit them. They quickly realized that their flashlights weren't strong enough so they just played with their bat signal in the house. They also had fun putting together Jordyn's light up legos that made a fashion runway. I think Ethan likes playing with girls a little too much :0)
I also got Jo out of the house for some girl spa time. I never get a manicure, but we were feeling indulgent. I got gel polish on my fingers for the first time ever and I'm a little nervous as to how I am going to ever remove it, but it looks pretty awesome in the meantime. We decided to be extra "girlie" and match. I got her toe color on my nails and she got my toe color on her nails, it made for a very eastery combination. What was hilarious is that my nail tech kept asking me if I was sure I didn't want her to wax my eyebrows. Finally I was like, "how bad are they? I've got to say no at some point or I will be here all day." She thought that was hilarious. I had already splurged on adding the manicure and then adding the gel polish she was not getting any more out of me. She must have taken me for a sucker.....a very hairy one!
We couldn't be so close to the new temple being built and not go check it out. The kids are excited to be able to go through the whole temple during the open house, so we are going to go back for that. The 2 oldest were very little when the ABQ temple was dedicated so they don't have any memories of that experience.
While we were driving home I got a txt from Jo at the grocery store buying popsicles for the kids because I had gotten them addicted while we were there. She can thank me later for that little joyful mess.
I think Operation Rescue Jo's Sanity was a success, at least I hope it was. It was definitely a proud moment for me as a mother to see my 2 oldest being so helpful. Emma with the kids. She is just a natural and professional at dealing with little ones. I also saw Jared being super helpful with the little ones and he helped me scrub walls without complaining. That was an awesome moment. Jordyn also gave up a fancy party to make life easier with so many kids so we just celebrated at the house. Ethan is always helpful and he is really good with little kids too. The little boys loved him and followed him everywhere. My biggest support of this little adventure was my ever mindful husband that volunteered himself to go on vacation to entertain and watch someone else's kids. I couldn't possibly be more richly blessed.
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