One Crazy Week With 4 Kids

So I realize that I've been pretty diligent lately in updating our blog with all of the "happenings" going on in our lives, and that there seems to have been a lot going on these days. The last week has been pretty crazy in particular! I haven't had a free minute to get on here!

My younger sister, Pauline, has been married 10 years and has 4 cute little kids that Matt and I adore. In 10 years of marriage and raising 4 children, she hasn't had much of a break EVER so we decided it was time for her to go on a much needed vacation.

Pauline's husband, Jeremy, has been traveling A LOT lately for work and seems to be rarely home these days, which is unfortunate, so she basically feels like a single mom most of the time. Jeremy has been staying for months at a time in various places such as Savannah, Mississippi, etc. for the Air National Guard. The latest assignment is in Washington D.C. for 7 months. Pauline would have loved to have gone with him, but it's too hard to uproot the kids from school, their friends, etc. for such a short time so she and the kids stayed behind.

Anyway, as Jeremy got the assignment in D.C. and began preparing to leave again......I told her that I thought it was time for her to go on vacation to D.C. and spend a week with Jeremy.....minus children for a change. In 10 years, Pauline has never taken a trip with just her and Jeremy. At least one of her children has always been too young to be left without her and she's finally in a position now that she could leave and go by herself. Matt and I told her that we would watch the kids for a week........Jeremy bought her a plane ticket........and she went!

Pauline flew out the night of Wednesday, 03/19 and came back the morning of Thursday, 03/26. She missed the kids, but she had so much fun in D.C. with Jeremy! He took a 4 day weekend off work to spend with her, doing all the fun stuff you can do in D.C. Then when he had to go back to work, she was able to still go and do her own thing during the day. She even made a friend of the wife of one of the guys Jeremy works with out there, who is also out there for a few months as well. At night, she and Jeremy went out together after work. They were married in the Washington D.C. Temple just over 10 years ago, so it was also fun for them to be able to go back and do a session together in 'their' Temple after so many years. She had a very enjoyable week!

In the meantime, Matt and I had the 4 kids (ages 9, 7, 3, and 1) the entire week. It was fun, but crazy!! There were a few times that I was ready to pull my hair out, but we made it and once the kids were gone we found that we missed them and all the craziness. I think the hardest part for me the whole week was trying to balance chasing after 4 kids all day while Matt was at work.......and still keep up with my own work at the same time. I found that it takes about 2 or 3 times as long to get through my work while having to continually stop to feed, change, and entertain children! I LOVE being able to work at home......but it was still really hard to keep on top of everything and the kids at the same time. I think that was the most stressful part of the whole week for me. I felt like I was running about a day behind he entire week! But we made it!

Our house is now much quieter.......