Ten Days Caring for the Mackrory Family

 On March 10th, Ken and I flew to Denver to care for the six Mackrory chldren while their parents celebrated their 20th anniversary on a Carribean cruise.  To say we were nervous about caring for so many for so long is an understatement.  But, for the most part, it went well.

Ready to fly out.

As Lisi explained to someone when they asked about her family, "I'm the one who stays home."  This precious, little four-year-old girl was our day companion.  She is such a happy, compliant, positive little girl.  We are missing her like crazy since coming home.

Ken took Kristen and Jared to the airport early on Saturday morning. 

There was a stake activity day activity that afternoon.  15-year-old Nathan volunteered to help with it and Audrey attended.

On Wednesday night, for mutual, Nathan got to climb this monster!  He made it to the top.

Painting stained glass window ornaments.

Nathan

Brielle was in her high school's musical: Footloose.  Nathan tended his siblings and we got to go watch her.  She was in many scenes and danced up a storm.  She has great stage presence and was such a cute dancer.  We were so proud of her.

The cast greeted everyone in the hall after the play.  Doesn't she look beautiful?

Kristen was so organized.  She prepared the base of foods her family would eat and had them in gallon ziplocs in the freezer.  She had purchased lots of food and even planned possible sides to go with each meal.  It made it so much easier.

While we were at the play on Saturday evening, Sammy lost his tooth.  The tooth fairy came that night (thanks to Nathan.)

We played a lot of games with the kids over the week.  We had a lot of fun.

I'm not even sure who is in this crazy costume.

Most evenings, we had Come, Follow Me together.

Sammy really wanted to know the tooth fairies name.  He wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking him/her to please tell him their name.  They didn't that night, but the next night she came back.  She left more money and told Sammy her name was Stella.

One of Lisi's favorite games is the Princess Cupcake game.  We played it many time.

Brielle got asked to prom while we were there.

Playing bird bingo

Somebody got my phone!

Nathan was so good to take the little ones to the park a few times.  Here, Lisi is all ready to go.

Waiting for Grandpa to bring the pizza home on Saturday night.  Each had to eat their age in carrots while they waited.  Except Brielle.  We thought 17 carrots was a bit much!

German Pancakes is a family favorite.

Sammy with a treat we gave him.

Ken did all of the shuttling to and from school, appointments, track and soccer practices, play practice, mutual, etc.  That allowed him to have a lot of one-on-one discussions with most of the kids.  He was a trooper- in and out of the house all day and evening.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day doing laundry and getting the kids to do their chores.  At one point, Ken realized that Lisi was missing.  He looked on all three floors of the house and could not find her.  He then enlisted everyone else's help.  We hunted and hunted.  Finally, Audrey found her hiding behind the sofa in her bedroom.  It was such a relief.  As we talked about it afterward, I said to Brielle, "What would we tell your parents?  We lost one of their children?" Brielle's quick response: "Five out of six is still a passing grade, Grandma!"

Brielle and Nathan were such a great help throughout the week.  They are both such great people.  We are so proud of them.

We had a great time with the Mackrorys.  Kristen and Jared got home late on Sunday night and we flew home on Monday afternoon.  We were exhausted but felt grateful to give Kristen and Jared a much-needed break together.