6 vs. 1

It's been a while, but it's been a little busy around the Musselman household. This past week I got the privilege of watching my 4 nieces and nephews while their parents were on vacation for a week! When they asked me to do it I have to admit I was a little hesitant....4 kids plus my 2 by myself for a whole week. I said yes and was glad to help them out...knowing everything would be just fine. What I was most worried about was just me and the girls being away from Aaron for that long.....they're kind of attached to their daddy! Aaron took us down on Saturday night and they left early Sunday morning for the warm sunny beaches of Cancun! Aaron stuck around till the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl....which we had a little party of our own before he headed back for the work week! It was so nice to have him there for a transition.

Sunday afternoon the girls had a blast sliding down the stairs on sleeping bags! I know safe, right?!? You know you haven't lived a life as a child until you have slide down the stairs on something....and most of us survived!

During the days while the kids were at school and we just did our daily things....play...eat...sleep...play some more! Monday night started our TV show party nights with The Bachelor and True Beauty, shows that all of us girls liked and they introduced my to their show called A day in the life of the American Teenager...or something like that! We made some monkey bread and I have to say I am a big fan of DVR/TVO! Mackenzie enjoyed the evenings with Nicholas!

Tuesday I got to go visit some good friends of ours that live about 45 min from there and that used to live by us. It was nice to have something to get out of the house for and the kids enjoyed each other....well Mackenzie and Rebekah did....the little ones were napping most of the time!

Tuesday and Wednesday night we had more TV show party's with American Idol and some fun dessert! We had fun cooking every night...Lynne had gotten us a lot of food and all we had to do was figure out what we wanted each night and cook it! One night I made an All American Cheesebuger Soup.....It was a BIG hit! I have to say looking at the recipe I was wondering how it was going to taste like cheeseburger, but it was really good. I'll have to post the recipe sometime!

Thursday then Elizabeth and the kids came down to see us for the day. It was so good to have playdates that week, and to catch up. We miss them a lot! That night Zach had some friends over to practice for their forensics(I would say "Speech") tournament that they were going to over the weekend. It was so much fun watching them act and they were amazing!

Here are some of the favorites of our time there:

Mackenzie loved their big shower. It is a walkin with two shower heads!!! I think I could get used to this house!

Kate enjoyed the tupperware drawer and as you can see she is standing by herself. She started walking while we were there, taking about 5 steps before falling!

Another one of Kate's favorites was Sassy their cat! She would followe her all around the house and get so excited. Sassy wasn't quite sure of what to think about this little creature that was not much bigger than herself....it's not another cat and it's not another dog?

Sassy would be on the steps and when the door was closed she would stick her paws under the door. We would sit upstairs on the other side of the door and get her to swipe her paws and play....Kate just thought that was so fun. She would stick her own hand under the door trying to get her to play!

Kate would reach out her hand and Sassy would kind of swipe at it and Kate would pull her hand away. She is declawed so it never hurt her and Kate would get so excited! By the end of the week Sassy would let Kate get close enough to pet her.

Then on Friday it was anticipation of daddy coming! The weather was awesome so we spent time outside playing. Then for lunch I decided to pass the time we would go to McDonalds and then the park. Aaron got to leave work early....thanks to his coworker who knew he wanted to come see us! It was so good to see him and a relief from sole parental duties for my girls! I could tell they were starting to react to being away from their normalcy and daddy!

Saturday I took Molly and Morgan out for a girls afternoon to express how thankful I was for all the help that they had given me with my girls and the chores around the house! I couldn't have done it without them! We went to Panera for lunch and then to a movie....and to top it off a stop at the custard place for some dessert! It was a nice break and we had fun!

Saturday night Jeremey and Elizabeth came down again so the guys could also hang out. We ordered Papa Murphys and played RockBand and Wii all night. It was SO much fun....I'm thinking about forming a band with all our skills...ha!

Aaron and Jeremey enjoying a little manly boxing match!

Overall we things went very well. God answered the many prayers on our behalf! It was really fun being able to bond with them as we don't get to see them all the time. All the kids kind of became like brothers and sisters to each other! I am happy to report that Matt and Lynne's trip went well and they enjoyed the vacation, but glad to be back with their children! This week we are just trying to get back into routine, but we miss the kids!