a crew of 9

Last week I had a crew of nine kids to tend to. It consisted of (in order of oldest to youngest)... Elijah, Noah, Abigail, Joseph, Rebecca, Adeline, Hayes, Isaiah, and Caleb. Actually, there are two sets of twins in there and I can't say for certain which is the older twin in either case. I'm a terrible aunt. I should really know that.

{Taking a headcount in the van before we pull out}

In any case, my sister and her husband (brave souls that they are) skirted town and left me in charge of their seven little (and a few quite big) ones. Add in my two little ones and we were just one shy of our typical set of 10 cousins. Claire had to stay back in Austin for school, so she missed out on this adventure. We missed her!

{10:39pm... Pokemon with the big boys}

And an adventure it was! In a good way. A very good way.

{Breakfast buddies. Hayes and Isaiah were so adorable to watch together!}

I just loved this opportunity to spend so much time with my nieces and nephews. I feel like you get to know kids on a whole different level when their parents are not around. They come to you when they need something. You get to be the one to comfort them and help them when they need it. They let you in on their little quirks. It's just so much more intimate. I feel like I know them so much better after these few priceless days.

{Girl spa time... 30 little fingers and 30 little toes}

{Dance Party on the Wii. So hilarious. So much fun. Robert smoked me.}

To be fair, Natalie made it exceedingly easy for me. My grandma was commissioned to come over to help clean and catch up on laundry. My cousin Sarah (a college student) stayed with us for the first 3 days, and Robert came in Friday through Sunday.

{Caleb is the sweetest snuggler. I could just eat him up.

And he couldn't get enough of Robert.}

Plus she left money for us to order food every night for dinner, which the kids were really looking forward to. Okay, I was really looking forward to that part, too. AND she cooked and froze desserts for us to enjoy throughout the 5 days. So basically all I had to do was make sure that everyone got enough food in their little bodies to last until dinner was delivered and make sure no one got seriously injured.

{Pre-bedtime show. I love the spotlight they set up.}

So, with cooking and cleaning off of the worry list, we pretty much just played all day. We swam, we watched movies, we played with toys, we played video games, we played on the playscape, we played Pokemon, the kids performed shows... so much good all wrapped up in 5 short days.

{Sand buddies}

What an amazingly special time this was for me (and Robert, too!). We loved that Natalie and Mike got a few days to themselves and we drank up every second of time with our nieces and nephews. Priceless time. They are all such amazing kids. They bring us so much joy.

Oh yeah... the electricity did go out for a little over 24 hours while we were there. Which left us with no a/c and no water (because they have a well with an electric pump). There was that little snafu. But you know, we just rolled with it. :)

**I left my camera behind, which I totally regretted. So, iphone Hipstamatic pictures are all I've got.