Kids Do the Darndest Things...and So Do Their Mothers!

So, life with children is never boring...seventeen kids simply takes the phrase "keeping on your toes" to a whole new level! Here are some of our latest adventures...or "misadventures"! Hope they lighten your day!

So, it was Wednesday morning and I was alone in the bathroom waiting for the boiler to finish heating my water before jumping in the shower when I heard it! The morning cry/whimper/plea/greeting from two year old David. This meant that Daniel's little voice would not be long in joining the chorus. I immediately faced a dilemma: Do I go and get the boys and have them join me in the bathroom? No, that would mean having to spend even more time after my shower picking up all the odds and ends they would have found to play with while I enjoyed my suds. Do I skip my shower and take one on Thursday? No, I wanted, no, I needed, that shower. Do I take the boys into their sleeping father? No, that would result in two sad little boys who earnestly desire their mother in the morning and a rather impatient father whose sleep would be interrupted. Do I just let them wait it out while I take my shower? That seemed to be the best option. They spend a good amount of time each evening after I put them to bed singing and talking to each other anyway, maybe they would do that in the morning too! Besides, they have both learned how to climb out of their cribs so, if they get desperate enough, they could climb out and entertain themselves in the living room with their toys, right? (OK, so by now you're thinking: "The woman has 17 children and she is naive enough to think that a 2 and 3 year old will take care of themselves while she showers?" I have two things to say in my defense, no, three: I am an optimist, I am blonde and I WANTED A SHOWER!) So, I acted like I hadn't heard their morning greetings and took my shower!

After the shower I walked into their bedroom where they both continued to wait patiently in their cribs! Wow! Success! Well, almost....after breakfast I went in to makeup their beds and sweep their floors and discovered what had kept them, well at least David, busy while I showered! He had pulled the sheet back from his crib mattress, discovered that the plastic on the mattress was torn and found out that pulling out chunks of yellow stuffing from underneath the plastic was great fun! So, my shower cost us a crib mattress, but he really needed a new one anyway, right?

Daniel and another "kids do the darndest things" moment! We had butchered one of our cows and when Victor pulled up in the pick-up truck with the meat, Daniel knew just what these horns were and what they were for and he figured he would make a good looking cow!

A few evenings ago, I ran into Ruth as she came downstairs and I headed upstairs. She had her little 5 year old arms wrapped tightly around her mid-section, obviously trying to hide something underneath her sweater while trying to keep the object(s) from falling while maintaining an innocent "I'm-not-doing-anything-wrong" look. I decided to go along with her game and simply just followed her with my eyes as she continued on her purposeful way. As she continued walking, sure enough, something fell out of her sweater. Then, another something and another and another. In a few seconds she had a very telling little trail of....pantiliners lining the path behind her! "Ruth," I gently called out, "you are leaving a trail behind you." She turned around, glanced down, and then looked at me with a look of "now what?" pasted across her face. Promptly, she knelt down, picked up each pantiliner, stuffed them back under her sweater and continued on her way! I decided this was not one of those battles waiting to be fought, so I let her go, only later to find the stuffed animal in my bedroom with a pantiliner diaper!

Saturday lunch, which we eat in our house, rather than in the "dining room/warehouse" of the basement of the main house, was instant soup. Only the smallest kids fit around the table, while the older children hit the couches, the front porch or the steps. I had asked eight year old Miguel to please eat at the table, but he took advantage of a moment when I became distracted with the younger kids and he escaped to the living room! When I finally realized what had happened, he had nearly finished his soup, while leaving a notable amount on the floor around him! "Miguel, get the broom and sweep up your soup." I will give him credit for obeying promptly, however, a few seconds later I looked up to see Miguel sweeping the soup, not towards a dustpan, but towards the door and onto the porch, which his sisters had just swept! (This seemed to be a much easier option than walking the three or so yards to get the dustpan!) "Miguel." His eyes meant mine and no more words were needed. He went and got the dustpan and picked up the soup he had swept! How did I know what he was about to do? Kids will be kids....actually, humans will be humans. I was once a kid and I'm still a human!

So, yesterday was my one-on-one time with Jocelin and she wanted to make cupcakes! Oops, no cupcake tin liners! So, Victor kindly visited numerous stores in the town of Ozumba in his search for cupcake tin liners. Our hunter had success and we began the cupcake making business! Oops - the liners seem to be too small for the tins! Don't worry - I had an idea! We'll just set the liners on a pizza pan, fill them half up and bake them! OK, so I'm still blonde!

OOPS! Maybe we could win some kind of modern art award? For your information, this is what happens when you try to make cupcakes in liners without putting the liners in tins! I know, I know, you would have never tried such a thing!

So, we put the liners in the tins again and, lo and behold, the liners, once filled, spread out to conform to the tins! What a novel idea! At the end of it all, the cupcakes were delicious!

And we had a great time!
Jocelin ended up with as much batter
on her clothing as in her tummy!

"Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy. "
Psalm 126:2-3