Living the Dream

I now have four kids. And a month ago I only had two. I’ve been doing some babysitting! My friend recently got a job in the IT department of the School District. Mostly she works while her son Spencer is at school, but there’s early release on Fridays and IT people don’t get vacations like spring break and summer break. So she brings Spencer to me on Fridays and during breaks. It’s been so fun having him here during spring break! He and Jay get along very well, in spite of the 2 year age difference. They play all over the house and yard and wear each other out. Jay loves it, and Rose does her best to keep up.

My other “new child” is my sweet juicy little niece, Layne. Steph has started up her nursing program at last, so on days that she and Jasen are both away, I get Layne too. I was thinking about it today when all 4 kids were here and I realized that if my family planning had worked out to my original expectations, I would have 4 kids almost exactly the age spacing of these ones, because they’re each almost 2 years apart: 4 months, 2 years, almost 4, and almost 6. Awesome! I love kids. It is definitely different having double the children, but there’s nothing like keeping it real.

Yes I hung Layne on the pantry door.

We worked on teaching Layne how to sit up.

Everyone was very excited when baby Layne showed up. Can we say sensory overload? They all loved her and kept handing her new toys all at once.

Spencer brought his Batman mask one day and shared it with Jay.

They ran around in capes made from our old sheet-curtains all day one day.

Maxing out the Civic. Obviously we can’t all go anywhere in the car when Layne is here too, but they are rarely all here at once, so it’s ok. We went to our ward’s play group last week.

Spencer fits right in here—he likes playing in heaps of blankets just like Jay and Rose.

They like piling blankets at the bottom of the stairs and launching themselves off the stairs into the blankets.

Genius is bound to strike every now and then. On Monday I told the kids they could have a picnic for lunch. But the sun was beating down in its Yakima Valley style and our porch was quite toasty and bright for the first time all year. Our yard was wet from sprinklers, so I quickly put two nails up and looped some sheets over them, tied them to the railing, and boom. It was shady and airy and perfect for a picnic!

We brought out the kid table and chairs, and it was an insta-picnic!

I took the screen out of the window and served them like a restaurant through the window. It was the best lunch.

Let’s face it, kids rock.