Last Sunday Russ was sitting on the stand during sacrament meeting. That meant I got to sit alone with all four of our children. No sweat, right?
I tried to prepare. I made sure baby was well fed before the meeting began, and I strategically placed my family on a side pew at the very back of the chapel, so that if I needed to stand up with McKell I would still be able to hover over the other three girls.
Everything started out fine. Baby was content. Older girls were eating snacks. No problem. Then Ashlyn decided to lay down on the bench and put her feet on Kaylee's lap. After she refused Kaylee's pleas to remove her feet, I just had Kaylee move over by Brenna and I sat next to Ashlyn's feet. That was fine until Kaylee and Brenna began arguing over the snacks and I had to move to sit between them. Unfortunately, I didn't make that move quite soon enough and the cereal they were arguing over ended up all over the floor.
McKell decided to get fussy right about then, so I grabbed Brenna and made my way out of the pew and around to the back to rock the baby and keep the toddler from bothering the other girls. Somehow Ashlyn and Kaylee still found a way to annoy each other, even while sitting on opposite ends of the bench. Ashlyn ended up kicking the hymnbook holder attached to the pew in front of ours and knocking it to the ground.
My favorite part of the meeting was when I was rocking the fussy baby and trying to keep Brenna from escaping the chapel while leaning over the bench to tell Ashlyn to stop using the head of Brenna's baby doll to hammer in the screw that came loose when the hymnbook shelf fell down.
The five of us did survive though. And from Russ's vantage point on the stand he thought everything was totally fine.
Thanks for the chuckle. It will get better. I still remember literally dragging Adam out of sacrament meeting to tell him he would "never act that way again"--I don't remember what he had done, but it was the first day Dad had to sit on the stand all meeting. Everyone did eventually learn to get along and make it through Sacrament meeting. Good luck. Love you
ReplyDeleteThis sounds just like our sacrament meetings. :)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you shared this. You are not alone...happens to the best of us. Nothing like being a single parent in a situation to make you humble. My most embarrassing moment was flying alone with both kids and accidentally dropping a glass baby food jar of peas in the security check point, splashing over another woman's expensive boots and all over the floor, and having the entire lane shut down for clean up. I think that's my record for the most people mad at me at once. Oh well. Life happens.
ReplyDeleteAnne! You are still Wonder Walty!! Seriously, you're amazing girl! I love your talent for staying calm in trying situations! I wish you could have transferred some of that to me when we were compys! :) I love the part about using the head of the doll to hammer in the screw that came loose! Church is definitely and adventure with kiddos! :) I miss you!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that Russ didn't notice anything - your bad days are better than my good days, I'm pretty sure. Either that or he was taking a little doze on the stand... You're pretty impressive. I probably would have dragged the whole brood out screaming.
ReplyDeleteI wish my sacrament meetings could be this exciting :)
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