A full house

Twin babies, twin two-ish year olds, a five year old, twin seven-ish year olds, an almost nine year old and an eleven year old.

That makes nine, in case you were counting.

That was the count of children I had for the day, and will have on and off for the rest of the week while Mary Grace is out of town. All her beautiful children get to come play at our house on the days that their Daddy could not get off of work.

And do you know what? We had a really great day. The only bummer of the whole day was my darling little Goose and his afternoon meltdowns from skipping his nap and then pooping in his pants, which is never a fun thing for anyone involved.

But back to the fun stuff.

Every one played great together. The big kids all did their schoolwork with no grumbling whatsoever. The babies napped well (well, MG's babies did... mine not so well, but it worked out in the end). Meals were simple and the kids helped a lot with setting and clearing the table. Girly Pie and Manolin had a great time crawling and bouncing all over each other, which was really stinking adorable. Oliver and Goose had a gleefully joyous time chasing each other around and whacking one another with half deflated mylar balloons. We made a fun craft with the five-and-overs, and most of them really enjoyed learning the exciting art of finger knitting. We set plans in motion for our big teddy bear party that we'll be doing on Friday when we have them again for the whole day. The kids all got gloriously muddy stomping around in the wet March grass and muck. They all even did a major cleanup before MG's crew left, and the house looks as good as - or possibly even better than- it did when they got here.

So all in all, I think I could do nine kids after all. Not quite sure about the whole twin thing though... Two toddlers and two babies make for very, VERY interesting meal times. As in, I'm still starving. I don't think I ate anywhere near an entire meal all day.

But other than crazy feeding routines, it really was just one of those days filled with happy giggles, creative endeavors, smiling babies and helping hands. This whole big family thing really is a beautiful thing.

Now if only I could convince my hubby of all the beautiful rewards that come with a REALLY full quiver...