24/7

So, today I attempted to fix my niece's hair. It didn't go so well. Let's just say that there are no pictures, nor will there be, and her hair is down today. I may try again for church tomorrow. We'll see. Here's what I've found out about being a mom/aunt to 7. It never stops. Never. Ever. I did 2 more loads of laundry today (after my 8 total yesterday) and have run the dishwasher 2x already. The 3rd time is waiting for after baths. I have to conserve hot water, you know! The pictures are just random shots taken throughout the day. Please notice the mess. Everywhere. I wish I had taken a picture of what they all looked like after I mistakenly fed the masses spaghetti tonight. Blond moment.
So, here is our day, starting with breakfast:

8:00: Johnny fixes a delicious breakfast of a dozen eggs and hash browns. We finish off another gallon of milk. Now keep in mind, we only added 2 more that actually eat real food. Most of this is just my boys. Yikes.
8:30: Everyone is done eating, the kitchen is clean. Baby S takes a bottle and then takes a nap.
All the other children are downstairs playing. I sit on the couch and breathe.
9:00: I attempt to fix my niece's hair and get her dressed. 1 out of 2 isn't bad. Everyone else gets dressed, on their own! WOOHOO!
9:30: Everyone heads outside. Johnny graciously goes outside to watch them, in his jammies, so I can shower.
10:00: Fold some more laundry and put it away. Get E ready for tumbling
10:20: Load up my niece and E and head out to the tumbling building. I forgot the music fest is going on so it takes me 20 minutes to get there!
10:45: Return home.
11:00: Johnny starts grilling some hot dogs. No gas. Comes inside and starts boiling them.
11:30: My oldest and I leave to pick up E. He's not done until noon, but considering how long it took us to get there, we decided to take no chances. It takes us the usual 5 minutes this time, of course so we sit outside the tumbling building and listen to snippets of our favorite band, Fundamental Elements, mixed in with some grunge band on stage 2. It was, um, interesting.
12:10: I return home to find my fabulous husband has fed all the children and has them laying down! He makes me look really bad, but looking bad never felt so good. We have peace for 2 hours.
2:10: They awake. And play. I spend the next 2 hours wandering from room to room, counting children and picking up. Constantly for 2 hours. I wonder how many calories I burned?
4:30: I begin cooking dinner. 2 lbs of spaghetti. Wow.
5:00: I regret choosing spaghetti. Good thing it's bath night!
5:30: We wipe off faces well enough to go outside. Operation wear out children continues.
6:30: The baths begin. Baby S first.
6:45: My niece and little E get in.
6:50: I bring in the rest of the tribe. My nephew L and J-man hop in (after the others get out).
7:00: We run out of hot water. Baths will resume in the morning!

I'm thinking if Johnny could be home everyday, we could totally survive a family of this size! More adoptions maybe?

Tomorrow we will be taking our first adventure out of the house as a "family" of 9. Church, MAD camp auditions, birthday party and camp rally. Say a prayer for the future insane people.