Ivy will be 1 soon, and our van keys prayer.

before I forget,
Isaac: "Dylan needs a marshmallow because he hurt his leg on the piano bench. can we both have a marshmallow AND a vitamin please?"
Me: "of course" 


Dylan: "Isaac, God likes bad guys too. And also they don't brush their teeth. They get dirt in there, bugs in there, and cavities; thousands of cavities. Let's go to the play room, come on!"

Any time there's a holiday, or heck, a weekend, I'm on family time and not on FFP time. I pretend I'm going to clean the house and try to go to bed at the same time as Steven, and even sit in the living room to watch movies or shows instead of sitting in front of the computer. I make to do lists, but those get put on hold. 

Today is Monday. So I'm back! 

It's the first time watching all 6 kids all day since school has been out. So I had big plans (which means I planned a photoshoot.) 

It went really really well. Corrie didn't bring clothes for Noah and Malia, but that's okay b/c they were cute in their clothes already. (My boys often go without some essential piece of clothing like shoes, undies, a shirt, etc. It's usually okay b/c with 6 kids, who would be dumb enough to actually venture out into the real world?) Well I did. And here's what I got. 

Ivy turns 1 this month, so here's her 1 yr portraits. (I usually just take 1 or 2.)

 Ivy loves books.

 She has a tiny bit of hair on the top of her head.
While she was with me, Tyler was taking his morning nap in his car seat and the kids were watching a new movie from Bonnie. They were parked right next to me with the side door open (and the air on) so we could see and hear one another. No complaining!

And the group shot of my 6 kids with the promise of tree climbing right after!! 

 My babies:)

 A real laugh out of Noah!! Ivy had just hit him with a book.

 My boys and their ridiculous hair. Whatever.

 So then we went to let them play on the trees there. Then I carried the babies back. I opened the doors to the van as we walked back. I noticed Tyler's door hadn't opened so when I was on that side of the car, I opened that one and put Ivy down on the carpet area by the seat so I could strap Tyler in. These details are important because after I took Ivy to the other side and strapped her in savely, I considered taking Tyler out to to his 10 month picture since he was smiley. But then I realized i shouldn't push it and I went to go drive away. But I had no keys!!

We searched that car for at least 20 min. I even re-traced my steps after a group prayer. When walking, I remembered that I had the keys right outside of Tyler's door so they had to be close. I re-checked under each baby's bum, lifted up their car seats, emptied my camera box a couple more times along with the diaper bag and my purse. The kids checked under the car and under their seats and we were baffled. I noticed myself starting to get testy right along with the tired and hungry babies who had finished her bottle and his snacks. The kids had water and were being (too) helpful, so I realized it was time to take a break. I used the hide-a-key and drove home to the hide-a-house-key. On the way home the kids wanted to watch a movie but I told them we all had to have prayers in our heads the whole way home.

We had ramen noodles and apples and home made popsicles outside while Ivy slept. Then I said another prayer and braced myself to dive right back into the keys search. I opened the door and heard the sweet jingle of my keys!! They had fallen onto the door well slide thingy! Maybe wiggly Ivy had pushed them onto it when I was holding her in with my legs while buckling Tyler in. Who knows. They had been closed in under the door and made it home safe and sound. I brought them in and we said another group thank you prayer.

Tyler was as happy as i was. Yay for answered prayers!