Too many stars in the family...

All of my daughters love to be on stage.  I know they get it from their father.  Well, maybe, I always had childhood fantasies of being a rock star and performing for screaming crowds but when it came down to actually getting up in front of people...I was too scared.  I never did drama or anything of the sort.  I did participate in my elementary school lip sync a couple of years but that is it.  

Lorien has been in a school play every year of her life.  Clare participates regularly in the after school drama program and Adell just loves to show off for crowds of all sizes.  

So far, Wyatt takes after me.  He might dream of screaming audiences but he doesn't seek them out.  However, he does do a mean talent show group act.

A couple of weeks ago (April 3rd) was show time for Clare.  She has been in three school plays so far (Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio and now Rapunzel).  She loves it so much!  She auditions for a big part every time and usually gets a couple of medium sized parts.  She is always adorable and always right on point.  We all love to see her hard work come together in a show.

That is the flush of personal pride right there.  She had every reason to be so flushed.  She was awesome.  I wish the school put out a DVD of the performances.  We will have to settle for short iphone videos for lasting memories.  (and the family blog)

Clare and her friend, Rachel, are usually in the plays together.  They have a great time.

So Cal...

So we did do one big, crazy thing over spring break (aside from trying life with 10 children in the house).  

Let me back up, most of the time we don't do anything for school breaks.  

With five children it is easier to stay put and enjoy the comforts of home without the stress of school.  Moreover, vacations that don't involve visiting family are a financial luxury we are not budgeting for just yet.  Spring break 2015 was shaping up to be another week at home.  It was Monday and the kids and I had spent an hour at the library stocking up on books, movies and books on CD for the week ahead.  I took the kids to McDonalds--one with a play place because I am not an animal--for lunch and was watching them play when Will sent me a text: "Let's go to SoCal for the next couple of days."

That seemed exciting.  After a little discussion I headed home and started packing up the car.  We left the house around 6:00 pm for the drive south.  Will had meetings in all of the Southern California offices and I had plans to see my Aunt Colleen and Uncle Richard who live in the area.  Originally, we were going to stay in an hotel near Will's first stop for his meetings but one of his friends offered to let us crash at his house for the night...  

So around 1:00 in the morning we bundled all of our sleeping children into Will's friend (and co-worker's) house.  Will had early meeting so we missed seeing him off a few hours later but we got to explore the area and go to the beach before heading to my Aunt's house.

First, we found a sweet little park right at the end of the street where we were staying.  The kids played in the fresh air while I cleaned up the mess we had made at our host's house and packed up the car. 

Then it was Panera Bread for breakfast. (Hot chocolates around!)  We were quite the motley looking crew.

We needed some sunscreen and snacks at Target before we headed to the beach.  I love, love, love Southern California beaches.  They are just right there, everywhere!  You don't have to cross a mountain range to get to them (neatly avoiding carsickness).  You don't have to pack a winter parka and a bathing suit for a few hours of play (neatly avoiding carsickness all over jackets and blankets).  AND the water is a heck-of-a-lot warmer than any ocean I've ever touched.  I cannot figure out how the ocean water up here in Northern California is part of the same body of water as the Southern California beaches?  I think there is a glacier hiding just under the surface of our coastal water because it is limb-numbingly cold.   

Anyway, we just drove up highway 1 and parked as soon as we could.  Perfection.

Lorien did not cope well driving through half the night and sleeping in a strange bed.  She spent most of the time sacked out on the sand (and had the sunburn on the back of her legs to prove it).

It was glorious!  After several hours of sand in our cheeks we headed over to my Aunt Colleen's house.  Colleen and Richard are Saints in our family.  They keep their home open to visitors all the time--regardless of how much lead time you give them before stopping by. They are kind and fun and seem genuinely happy to see us even though our children trash their house within seconds of arrival.  Bless them, bless them forever.

Two minutes after we got to Aunt Colleen's house it started raining.  The kids couldn't believe it and had to go out in the rain.

Colleen and Richard also have the coolest back yard with a pool, lovely garden AND a tree house!  More paradise?  Yes!

The cherry on top of our visit was Uncle Richard showing Colter the cool cars Uncle Richard fixes up.  They were super cool!  Colter never wanted to leave the garage.  

It was a short trip but a good one.  Will got some important work done, I got to take the kids to the beach and see family, and the kids got to go on an adventure.  It was awesome.  A million thanks to Sam for letting us destroy his house for one night.  And another million thanks to Aunt Colleen for letting us destroy her house for two nights!

5 boys and 5 girls...that's 10 kids folks.

Did I ever tell you I was one of 10 children?  Yes?  Well let me repeat myself, my Mother and Father had 10 children.  Not, six from her previous marriage and four from his (or any variation on that math word problem) they actually decided to have--and followed through with the decision--10 children.  I think I remember my Mom saying she wanted 11 children when she was a teenager.  My parents divorced when I was 12 years old and my Mother remarried a man who had one daughter--so I guess my Mom got her wish.  

Anyway, I do not have 10 children...and I do not want to have 10 children.  I was tricked into having 5 children.  I wanted babies.  I love babies!  But every. single. one of my babies turned into a child.  I think they are all planning on turning into teenagers and then adults too!  

It is madness.  

Now, this week was spring break for my kids.  We didn't really have anything planned so when my friend, Heather, called I was super excited to make plans.  Too bad her plans were a little different than I was expecting.  Heather had a death in her family and wanted to go out to the funeral.  Her husband was out of town for work and unable to return in time.  So I agreed (happily) to take five of her kids so she could go to the funeral.  

Bring it on baby.

Heather has kids that all (pretty much) line up with my kids in age and gender.  It is kind of dreamy.  Her children are nice and helpful and like all of the entertainment diversions I can offer (TV).  I knew it would be a cinch and it was.

First of all, I have two older children who I make work for me all the time.  Heather has two older children and just like that, my workforce was doubled!  Really, older children can be awesome.  Lorien and Nicole took the youngest children out for a good long walk one day.  The next day they took all of the kids (plus a neighbor girl) out for another walk to a rope swing in our neighborhood.  At bedtime, Nicole got all of her siblings into pajamas and brushed their teeth (I don't even do that with my own children).  After the kids got back from the rope swing adventure the oldest boys (Wyatt and Isaac) organized a big game of tag out in the greenbelt.  Then they came in and asked for a pocket knife to do some whittling...I said yes.  I also let them play with a gun...an airsoft-type gun (you can read a real cautionary tale about those guns here).  They promised not to shoot anyone or cut anyone so it seemed like a no-brainer.  Also, we are out of airsoft pellets so it was an empty gun.  They managed to find two plastic bbs in the yard, loaded the gun and couldn't find the bbs again.  So it all worked out.  

Really it was great.  When Will came home at the end of the first day (did I mention I only had all these kids for 36 hours?) he asked if it was just like home growing up.  Truth be told I had no idea.  Even though I am one of 10 children, I was never in charge of 10 children growing up.  Additionally, with the spacing of my siblings, the oldest two were out of the house by the time the youngest came along so we never had 10 children in the same house at the same time.  I just know our house was a fun mess all the time and we ate a lot of food.  Both of these memories were triggered by my caring for 10 children over 36 hours.  The house (which is never tidy to start out with) was kind of a crazy mess for 36 hours.  I think I changed a dozen toilet paper rolls.  My friend's kids did a great job of taking care of their clothes and stuff but my children took the extra company as license to move all of their toys out of their rooms and into every other room in the house.  

And the food.  Turns out 10 small people are hungry all the time.  We had plenty but someone was always coming up to me to ask for more.  I just kept on cutting apples and making pb&j.  No one went hungry.  Also, I think I helped them hone their hunter-gatherer skills.  They found food I didn't even know we had.  Heather dropped off a big batch of costco groceries with the children so I think most of their foraging was from that.

At one point I had my five children, Heather's five children and three girls from the neighborhood over.  We had reached the saturation point with children.  A bus load of preschoolers could have showed up and I wouldn't have noticed.  It was fun and funny.  

Adell and her counter-part climbing trees.

                                         

Colter and his counter part fighting...there was a lot of this kind of fighting all weekend.  Fun fighting.

                                          

Part of the game of tag the boys organized.

Here are all ten kids...kind of.  The youngest two boys (Colter and his friend) are not in the picture so we have two of the three neighbor girls standing in for them.  I wish I got a picture of all of them (neighbor girls too) it was crazy fun.  

So I survived 10 children for a day, a night and part of another day.  It wasn't so hard but I don't think I'll be permanently adding to our family ever.  I've always been impressed with my Mother for raising all of her children and enduring the endless parade of kid crap--and this experience renewed my awe for her.  I am really glad I got to help a friend (and even happier about the favor I get to hold over her head for as long as she is still my friend).  At the end of 36 hours no one died, everyone got a good night's rest (the most impressive thing, really) and I didn't lose a child.  I did lose one pair of boy's shoes.  I am still looking for those...they will show up...maybe.