In the Mile-High City

I'm out in colorado this week. . .attempting to keep my sister's kids alive for a few more days-and hopefully stay alive myself!

Beck is in Ethiopia, visiting her kids' family there, volunteering in a couple of orphanages, and getting things started on solving the water crisis there. I've heard it said that the water situation in Africa is hopeless, but if anyone can get things going, my little sister can! Beck is a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm, hard to keep up with, and it's even harder not to catch the excitement when she's on a roll.

I'm so very glad she trusts me to take charge of her kids for a few days. Her husband, Mitch, is a firefighter working 24 hour shifts, and that can make child care very tricky. Fortunately for them, their kids are adorable, and I wasn't hard to convince when they offered me a free ticket and five days with their five kids. Okay, so Roman really doesn't count as a kid at 15. He's a spectacular young man and we've had some great chats since I arrived.

The other four are all within about two years of the same age-6-8 years old. They are as high energy and dynamic personalities as their mother-if that's possible, and eat as much as their uncles and cousins! And do they ever love to talk!

I've done a bit of "coming down hard", but we've mostly gotten along quite well.

Yesterday was my first day "on the job", and we got most of the chores done, rooms clean, clothes on and food in everyone's stomach before I sent them outside to play. Then we cleaned the front porch, and Taye got tired of waiting for his turn with the broom and came inside to find something else to do. All on his own he decided to vacuum the family room sofa and carpet, and he did an excellent job of it! Sierra helped hold the cushions so that Taye could vacuum them, and they worked together so well putting the sofa back together! I was so proud of them! Meanwhile Saba and Gizachew were busy sweeping outside. When they finished with the porch and sidewalk, those two just kept on going, and swept the driveway too! What a great team!

Saba wanted to make sure that everyone remembered that Mom doesn't like them writing on the front porch. (The sign on the step reads, "Don't write here" with a bit of creative spelling.)



After lunch we joined their friends Molly & Reilly (and their parents-6 on 1 was a bit much!) for an expedition to the pool. The floating slide had been patched and made an appearance for the first time in almost two years. The kids had a blast, and the adults agreed it was wonderful. I ended up a bit pink from too much midday sun-even with SPF 45 on, but I did get the kids well gooped and none of them burned.

Besides the necessity of keeping the ravening horde fed, I did manage to organize a half hour of reading before the short night and high energy caught up with me and I resorted to mindless entertainment and let them turn on the tv for an hour or so.

They were almost settled for bed when the fireworks started, and it was after ten before I was able to chase them back to bed. Oh well, that's what happens on holidays. Unfortunately short nights tend to be followed by shorter tempers the next day-but today Dad was "in charge". . .

For my day off, I got to go out to lunch with one of Becky's best friends, Capucine, and we had a wonderful time. Without Beck to help, we didn't manage to solve all the world's problems, but we did get to know each other. I am delighted to know that Becky has such a wonderful friend here to share life's challenges when I, as her big sister, am so far away.

Now, I'm off to bed to recharge my batteries before wrestling the kids tomorrow.