4:1

On Saturday night, Hailey had a much needed night out.  Her friend Amanda turned 30 and was having a big birthday bash to celebrate.  I was on kid duty, Isaac (4), Linnea (2 1/2), Eli (1 1/2) and Sofia (6 weeks).  Nathan made delicious steak tacos and grilled asparagus.  Often mealtimes are a struggle with all the kids, but miraculously all the kids loved the food and we ate happily.  Eli, who often protests vegetables, ate the aspargus and even the grilled onions.  We ate in near silence.  Nathan, you're amazing!  Thank you for being such a great cook.  After dinner I gave the big kids a bath for the first time by myself.  Nathan has been working tons of overtime, so I was on my own.  Hailey has given the 3 a bath many times, so I guess I can do it too.  Sofia was in her crib chirping, but not crying.  Once they was all in and things were going well, I thought, wow this is going well.  Of course after that the toy fighting began and Eli accidently hit Linnea in the face with a cup.  Linnea reacts big to any injury, small or big.  That's when bath time ended.  One at a time kids came out to get dried off and lotion.  Then, I had three naked cuties running around Linnea's room.  I had forgotten to lay out diaper, undies and pjs so I was searching around.  They loved it.  By then, Sofia was really ready for me to feed her.  So I attempted reading books and feeding Sofia at the same time.  It didn't really work and I was losing my patients.  Isaac was trying to listen, while Linnea was jumping on the bed and Eli was throwing books around.  I had been pretty calm with them until that point and yelled over them "Stop IT!!"  I made them each sit on their own bed and read by themselves until Sofia was done.  By 9pm, the kids were fed, bathed, read to.  We ended the day with prayers for everyone we know, then lights out.  Phew!  How do moms of four do this every day? 

Playing at Greenlake with Auntie Hailey Saturday Morning
It's our Saturday ritual to walk Greenlake and let the kids play at the park.

Having fun with Linnea's dress up clothes