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This weekend I played mom to 5 active kids ages 2 1/2 to 8.  It was exhausting, but a lot of fun.  I’ll call them Tweedle Dee 1-5.

Though I’ve only had the oldest 3 in my Sunday school class, Tweedle Dee 4 (4yo girl) has always been particularly attached to me.  She continued that this weekend by crawling up into my lap any chance she got.

Friday night we watched Star Wars VI, and I awed the kids with my Star Wars knowledge as they bombarded me with questions, especially about the earlier movies that they haven’t seen.  I promise I’m not a geek…I just enjoy the movies and have seen them each a few times.  I got to explain what a clone was to them…that was fun.  I even used Star Wars (again) to explain different life truths…I promise I use the Bible occasionally, too!

All Tweedle Dees went to bed without a problem, and I didn’t hear a peep out of any of them all night (though that may have been because I kept them up later than they’re used to).  The hope was that they’d sleep a little later in the morning, but I was still awoken at 6 to Tweedle Dee 5.  I was thankful that it was still dark because she was easily convinced when I told her it was still nighttime and she needed to go back to bed.  I wasn’t so lucky when Tweedle Dee 4 woke up at 6:30, but she was fine with playing in the living room by herself after I threatened her not to make noise to wake up her siblings.

After that, I was able to “sleep in” until 7, which is still slightly before my usual wake-up time.  Luckily, the youngest two were easily appeased with getting to lay in bed with me, so that gave me a little bit more rest.  Tweedle Dee 3 (6yo, and the only boy) shocked me by continuing to sleep after all the girls were awake and being typically loud children only feet from where he was sleeping.   My attempt to get some more  ZZZs while they were occupied with a movie didn’t work, because they proceeded to wake me up anytime they saw me close my eyes.

I brought them each an activity or coloring book with me, but I kept that a secret until mid-morning, only letting them know I had a surprise for each of them if they behaved.  Of course, it was strategic for me as well to give them something they can do quietly!

Everything went well until I dared to take them to the playground late Saturday morning.  Tweedle Dee 1 got blisters from the monkey bars and absolutely fell apart, causing the dominoes to continue to fall as each other child had a breakdown of their own.  Fortunately, I thought on my feet and after filling them up with food, I instituted 30-minutes of absolute silence, which allowed me and one child at a time to clean up the apartment.

Cute moments:  Around the lunch table, Tweedle Dee 1, 2, and 3 were coming up with all the phrases they knew in other languages.  Then, Tweedle Dee 3 said, “Wichita.”  I was surprised he said it, but he said that in their AWANA Sparks book, apparently a character buys a ticket to the place of my birth (I don’t actually think that’s why they go, but you never know).  That led into a discussion of Kansas, since Tweedle Dee 1 is studying The Wizard of Oz at school.  I always love sharing with eager kids about, well, anything.

So basically, it was a lot of fun, but definitely gives me a more realistic picture of what my days will be like as a mother!