Managing lots of littles in crowded spaces

Wrapping up my 4th of July posts is the anticipated finally, the fireworks.  My 5 were so looking forward to going out at night to the fireworks.  We had seen some in our town a week before and they were more than happy to go see more.  But it is late, dark, there are lots of people and at times like this I feel I have lots of kids.

Keeping track of 5 plus often more, I try to fill my my small suburban :)  no really it is just to small for me.  We only have 1 extra seat in it and there is always a trade off of what can I bring or how many groceries can I squeeze in.  It is times like that when I realize I have a slightly bigger than average family.  However we still do not consider ourselves large.  And we are not at least for out here in Amish country.

Back to the fireworks.  Taking 5 young kids out in to a dark event can be stressful if you are not prepared.  I have learned some steps/ tips to make your life easier.

1st dress your kids in glow lights.



They might not necessarily stay on  them but they will hold and play with the lights.



You can spot your glowing kid running away.



Or making glowing spinning circles.

I do this at Halloween too.  But it is still not enough.  Halloween where they are running for candy in costumes is tough.  Especially since they often look like other kids and take off so fast, even a seasoned mom like me does not do Halloween with out many extra adults.  I pay them in candy.



The kids are so used to wearing glow sticks they ask if I have them pack in our check list out the door.  For them it is fun, for me it is safety.

Second I go to the same spot every year.  Each event we have "our" spot.  Whether it is for our town fireworks, a different cities fireworks, picnics, Halloween, whatever we have "our" spot that we always go to.  This gets easier each year.  As the kids get more familiar of where to go they know if we get separated to go back to that spot and I will come get them.  And as we unloaded from the vehicle they automatically walk there helping me carry the stuff, another big help.

Stuff.  With kids comes stuff.  Bring it.



I bring a blanket to say this is our spot.  I expect you kids to stay on this blanket or at least only be running and jumping around it.  And to make them further comply I bring food and drinks.  Yes, just like cats if you feed them they won't go away.

Toys and ipods.  I try not to bring toys or ipods unless we are going to be there for an extended period of time because it is just something they can lose and if they did I would be furious with their lack of responsibility for something so expensive.  Instead I try to bring things that are disposable.  Often I bring bubbles or sparklers.  They have a great time with them, they stay fully occupied, they are inexpensive,  I throw away all the waste and don't have to bring anything home.



Most importantly have fun.  You need to remember these are the times the kids remember most.  Repetitive fun events and traditions.  You want to make it a good experience not a stressful one.  But learning from year after year you will find out what works best for your family.  By preparing ahead of time you can reduce stress.  So have fun and enjoy, as I had another great night enjoying the fireworks with my kids.



Yes a bit sun-burnt from earlier in the day.




And Babycakes it was a nice first 4th of July for her.  We had fun too and fun showing her what 4th of July is.

Family pics on the Forth

Last year the 5.9 of us took some pictures on the 4th of July.  And in other years other amounts of people combinations.

2012!!

2011!!

2010!! Boy does Smiley remind me of Gracie

2009

But it is something I like would like to keep going, portraits on the 4th.

After the morning parade, some food truck lunch, and playing games at the jubilee we were dripping hot.  I would be happy to say I sweated off a few pounds due to the heat and our few mile hike but after that lunch I think I might be +1.  Oh well.  It was so hot the kids started crying when they climbed into the bouncy houses. Ouch, ouch ouch it what I kept hearing and Faith just refused.  They were hot and cranky, and hungry again.  We went home to take some showers and cool off.

Afterwards we got ready for our backyard pictures.



This was the best I could get with the heat and squirmy kids.  Maybe I will do a post of the outtakes or just keep them and laugh.

And then we have my five firecrackers.


Gregory 10


Evan 8


Smiley 4


Faith 2


Gracie 11 months and 2 weeks.  Her first 4th!

I love dressing my little girls.



They are so dainty and pretty and their clothes, their over abundance of beautiful clothes are so sweet.  I wish some of their most special outfits they could wear more than once.  I really loved their 4th of July outfits here (because we all had 3! outfit changes that day)  I was speaking with another friend of mine and she said who cares they can wear the outfit more than once.  I was convinced by the end too but I kept think when can you wear a 4th of July outfit more than once?  Memorial Day maybe? But I saw no problem with letting them all wear their outfits this Sunday to church.  I washed them put them aside and got up early today to showered everyone.  Only to find out....church was Cancelled this morning! Yes.  A water pipe broke overnight and they had a mess on their hands.  What a way to start a busy Sunday.  That means notify the 800 some regular attendees every Sunday morning and a urgency to clean up and dry because tonight Phil Keaggy is there for a concert.  Oh well, so they did not get to wear their outfits again.  At least not today.  I might just have to find another time and place for the kids to look patriotic.  I have a few ideas.

The morning parade

Everything in our house has an eve, last night was no exception it was 4th of July eve.  Which meant I had to have our outfits ready, water in the freezer, bags packed, little preparations took care of because we had to all be in line for the parade at 9:30 AM.  And to move, dress and feed all 5 kids plus myself takes time.  A secret I have learned is start the day before.  Yes it is not really a secret and yes it is that simple.  If I have outfits ready and shoes found and together, plus my purse and diaper bag packed and by the door, we have got a good shot at going  and making it on time.

I set my alarm clock to wake me up on time and guess what we had a power outage last night!  No alarm ever went off except for the internal one from me and the tiny team.  We still were up by 7.  We had breakfast, got dressed and made it there by 9:15!  Whahoo!!

Except I got the time wrong and we did not have to be there till 10:15!  Ooops!!!!

It was hot too.  The kids and I dressed as cowboys to promote our churches vacation Bible school theme.  They looked so cute!  In all that spare time I should have got a picture of me and all the kids cowboyed up but they were so excitied they were everywhere.  I might try to some other  time.  Because the pictures I did get you can not tell the true cuteness of our western wear.

The parade went well once it finally stared.  I pushed the cowgirls for miles.



I should have decorated the stroller like a wagon but that was more time and energy than I had this week.  It has been busy.

The cowboys rode on the float.... Mostly



Evan





Gregory and Brendan.

I say mostly because when Smiley went to through candy out, at one point he through his whole body weight  throwing himself off the float through the side banner on to his forehead right on the street!  I was on the other side pushing the girls and waving, I did not even notice.  I am thankful I did not see it.  He was fine it happened so fast and surprised him he was not to worse for ware except that goose egg smack dap in the front of hi fore head.  Ugh.

The older girls around him quickly grabbed him and loved him.  He was okay.  I am so glad they were there to help.  They help ice to his head the rest of the parade and he went on still throwing candy, eating some too.

After the parade we went to a magic show and the jubilee where it was even hotter.  So hot the kids did not want to play on the bouncy houses.  They climbed in the first one and started screaming hot hot hot.  Poor babies.  It kinda went down hill from there.  They were hot, tired and hungry, so much that they started eating baby feet.



Time to take my sun burnt babies home for a little air conditioning and sprinkler time.  After all there is still a lot more to do today.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

last of forth pictures

Just a few extra from the forth.



The way we try to act in public



more like the truth.



Me taking a mid day break due to the heat



My little princess never missing a photo op or chance to sit on moms lap



Gregory 9 years old my firecracker kid



Sweet Evan and his goofy photo smile

The fireworks

We had another spectacular firework show last night.  I was not sure if I was going to take the kids to it after all they had just been to our boroughs maybe a week ago.  But Jay had read a new article about shooting firework pictures and he wanted to try it out.



It was still so very hot by evening.  But we hung in there.  Most of us anyways.



She woke up by the end.  I was surprised how many of the booms this little one could sleep through, I suppose that's from growing up in a house of 6.

The boys again there interest was questionable.  They enjoyed them, Smiley the most.



But they got caught up in everything else that was going on around them.  Ice Cream trucks, police, apparently a fight, other kids, their glow sticks and lastly the fireworks.  However when we got home a quarter past ten the neighbors invited them over and they had the best time over there lighting off the back yard fireworks until 11:30!!  I couldn't believe they stayed up that late.  The big ones are still sleeping Smiley woke up at 4:30, I see an early nap.

It was nice to get out to see the fireworks again.  It was nice Gregory took a picture of mom and dad together.




I can't tell you how rare that is.  It is always one of us taking a picture so there are never any pictures of the both of us or of all of us.

Now today no less hotter but we will try our cookout at home and maybe relax a little more.  Here are a few of Jay favorite firework shots.  I think they came out great!