3 days, 6 kids, 1 me....

This week I got the challenge/opportunity to watch my brothers 4 children (ages 7, 6, 5 and 1)  while his wife was at girls camp. I've spent a lot of time with these kiddos and know them like the back of my hand. I knew that without careful planning I would hear a lot of "we're bored" and "there's nothing to do". So thanks to a good idea i've seen on a friends blog I created the "Bucket O' Fun". I have a bazillion formula cans that I can't bare throwing away because I want to create magical things out of them. So I just covered one of those wonderful cans with scrapbook paper and threw a ribbon around it to make it look fun. Inside the "Bucket O' Fun" I punched out paper with my fun punches and wrote things that we could do on them. Some of my ideas were simple, some took more time and preparation. 

Here are some ideas:

catch bugs

swim

play legos
make jello jigglers

read books

make noodle necklaces
play school

go for a walk

make drums (from formula cans!)

ride bikes
color
play soccer

face painting
write letters to grandma
go to library 

crazy hair
make cookies

make tents

and even.......

CHORES! 

Surprisingly they were up for the chores, probably because it wasn't their own house. I had the girls vacuum and the boys wash the front and back glass doors. My mom even got a rag out for 1 year old Luke and had him dusting. It took all of about 7 minutes, perfect for teaching them how to help out! When it was time to choose a new activity one day 6 year old Lily said she hoped it would be chores. Love that girl!

We colored noodles with food coloring and then made necklaces with them. 

They LOVED this. Bernie did too, she took several bites of their 

necklaces while they were wearing them. 

We also made one for my Grandpa who turned 87 this week. 

GO GRANDPA!

Luke has been walking for months and gets into everything so I trapped him one day

in Ruby's jumperoo. He actually stayed in there for quite a while so I was able to 

make dinner. 

Poor little Ruby spent a lot of time in her bouncer. 

Riding bikes naked. 

JUST KIDDING! 

We were waiting for more cousins to come swimming.

Lily, my biggest helper

On the last day I was trying to get some things done and let them run wild in Zack's room.
This is what happened.....

We try to play with one thing at a time, to keep from major clean up chaos. As you can see someone knocked down the pinata and I later found play dough inside, naked barbies are everywhere, legos, cars, puzzles, cards, Ruby's drawers were all open etc etc etc. 

My sister in law asked me to make the kids one that they could take home and i've been thinking of ways to perfect it. There were several times when we chose something that just wouldn't work that particular day or time so we would have to throw it back. They were good sports about it, but I have an idea to fix that. I thought maybe if I color coded "types of ideas". Such as, Things to do with mom, Things to do alone, outings, chores, etc. You could then just tell the child to pick a certain color, appropriate for the kind of activity YOU are up for that day. 

I didn't think Zack really got the concept of the bucket, but today he asked if he could choose something. This is definitely something I am going to continue doing. Since Ruby was born I have felt like our lives are simply to survive and if I do an activity with Zack it is an absolute miracle. I am desperately looking for some structure and I think this will be a good way to incorporate that along with keeping our ideas fresh, especially since we are stuck at the house all day every day. 

I have to pay tribute to my baby sister Emily for being a trooper and helping me those 3 days. 

I could not have done it without her!