I'm babysitting Beth's 7 kids today. So add my two kids & that makes 9 kids I'm watching. The ages are 14, 14, 12, 10, 9, 4, 3, 1.5, & 1.5!  For one reason or another all of them were home from school this morning. Then the oldest three went to school for the afternoon. Thomas is playing quietly in his room & the rest of the kids are down for a nap!! Am I good, or what?! Lol, just kidding. I don't think this silence will last long :) But I am pretty amazed at this. I should be trying to nap myself right now since Steve &/or I were up just about every hour last night with Addy. I don't think she felt well so she didn't sleep much last night.....and so neither did we.

Aw, these two aren't feeling well. I'm babysitting my sister, Beth's kids while their out of town so we came over in our jammies. It turns out Beth's kids are sick or have been sick this week too. So all her kids are home from school today.  It's a party haha

I've been reading the Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual along with the D&C.  What I read this morning made me stop to think.  In the manual it says "President Spencer W. Kimball provided the following instruction:
"Never hesitate to gather your family around you for your prayers, especially in those times when more than morning and evening family prayer is needed.  Extra needs require extra prayers."
"Your little ones will learn how to talk to their Father in Heaven by listening to you as parents. They will soon see how heartfelt and honest your prayers are.  If your prayers are a hurried and thoughtless ritual, they will see this too."

I needed to be reminded that "Extra needs require extra prayers" - that it's ok to pray often if needed.  I've been struggling with Addison's behavior lately.  I've been wondering if I'm not recognizing some of her needs and that is making her act the way she's acting.  I've been quite overwhelmed with her, to be honest.  I've recently felt that I needed to be more consistent with her in saying morning family prayer with her, even though it's just her and I usually since Steve leaves for work before she gets up.  After reading this this morning I'm reminded that if in the middle of the day things aren't going well, we can stop to pray together.

The other night as I was putting Addison to bed she said to me "Jesus loves us.  He is watching us."  She is getting older and understanding the Gospel more.  I love to see how much she's learning and maturing.  I love the Gospel so much!  I KNOW The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true!  The peace, comfort, and happiness it gives me is a treasure.  It is because of this Gospel that I found such an amazing husband and that we have two amazing daughters.  Years ago I longed for this family I have.  It is only because of my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ that I'm living my dream.

Primary

Our ward does a pre-sunbeam class for all the kids who turned 3 this year or are going to turn 3 by the end of the year.  They started the class yesterday so that was Addison's first day in primary.  There are 20 kids on the roll for that class!!  That's huge!  Not all of them come but I think there were at least 12 there yesterday.  I thought it would be kind of noisy and chaotic trying to keep that many 3 year olds quiet and paying attention and sitting in their seats when they are used to playing with toys in nursery. But they did amazing!  They were actually quieter than all the other kids haha.  I'm sure that won't last though.  Once it's not new to them they'll probably be a little noisier but it was a good start at least :)  I was surprised that Addison sat quite still in her seat and paid attention!

So it was Lexi's first Sunday in nursery without Addison and Lexi did amazing too!  We put Lexi in nursery a little early so she could have a few Sundays with Addison in the same class and she has done so well every time.  She is completely content in there and doesn't cry when we leave.  It's so weird to me since Lexi has had such bad separation anxiety and stranger anxiety for months now!  It took Addison 6 months to be ok with us leaving her in nursery.  Lexi was the complete opposite.  She was fine from day one.  These kids keep surprising me.  Lexi's nursery teacher told me yesterday that she was wondering too how Lexi would do without Addy.  I said every time I checked on the girls in the previous weeks they were never playing together anyways.  She said yes, but when Lexi would get sad she would go to Addison and lay her head down on her.  And Lexi would want to sit by Addy during snack time too.  I'm so glad she told me that.  That melts my heart!

Funny things Addy has said

Addison had a funny weekend recently.  She kept saying cute things.

We ate roast for dinner one night but Addy was being picky.  She wanted to eat off my plate so she sat on my lap.  She put a bite of meat in her mouth and a little while later she was off playing.  I noticed her chewed up wad of meat on the table – she had spit it out.  I pointed to the wad and asked Addy “What is this?”  Addy said “It’s meat.  You can have it”.  LOL, gross

Addison climbed into bed with me one morning with her Nerds candy.  She spilled them in the bed and said “Oh! I’m a whole lot of messy.”

I ran errands one night so Steve put Addy to bed while I was gone.  She got up to go to the bathroom at 2am and when she saw me in my bed she said “Oh Mom!  You came home!” and laid her head down on me and gave me a hug.  Her reaction was so dramatic for the middle of the night and it was as if she didn't think I would come home.

We were at a middle school football game one Saturday & flocks of birds kept flying overhead. So I pointed them out to Addy and told her they were flocks of birds.  Addy spotted an airplane & said "Look Mom, that one isn't flocking".

Sometimes Addison says she has crumbs in her nose.  You can guess what she's referring to.

Family pictures

We took family pictures recently outdoors and it was freezing!  I wanted Fall pictures and we waited a week too long to take them outside.  The girls were so cold that we only got a few of Lexi smiling.  The rest she is crying in.  Addy did great though.  They let me bring the girls into the studio a few days later to get a few more pictures of the girls so we have both indoor and outdoor pictures.  Although I wanted Fall pictures there is nothing that indicates it is Fall in our outdoor pictures unfortunately.  Oh well.  Next year I'll get it right! I hope :)  I guess I didn't realize that the location they took us to didn't have any greenery, just buildings.

My favorite!!

Fly

A good night's sleep has been rare lately. Lexi usually wakes up at least once a night & addy has been waking up a lot, usually saying she's scared. One night at midnight I was awakened by Lexi crying & Addy was lying right next to me sound asleep! I don't remember her coming into our bed at all. That's never happened before - I always wake up when Addy does. 

This morning it was a fly! Addy woke up at 4am because a very large fly was flying wildly & loudly around her room. Some flies you can't hear & some you can. This one we could hear.  I shewed it out a couple of times but it just kept coming back in. I got the fly swatter & just had to swing it around in the air because the fly wouldn't land & I wanted to go back to sleep!! Surprisingly I hit it & saw where it landed. Thankfully we were both able to go back to sleep.