Utter Chaos?

Having five kids cans sometimes be a bit chaotic for two people such as Amber and I. I wonder sometimes if we will ever be able to do as well as our parents have done. Just to provide an example of our chaotic, disarrayed life, let me recount a few events from yesterday...

On Saturday we were heading out for our family activity (Going to the movies). I asked everyone to get in the car. They were in the car for about five minutes before Amber and I had all the things together and were ready to get in the van. As we were heading out to the garage door, Amber turned to me and asked where Jace was. I peeked in the laundry room where we usually keep his carseat - it was there, but it was empty. We looked around for a few seconds before we found where one of the kids had placed him -- propped up on one of the living room chairs. As much as that kid squirms around, it is amazing he said there for those five minutes on his own. (See picture below).



We finally made it to the movie theater with ALL of the kids. We were running late so we hopped out and ran to the ticket office to purchase our passes to get to see the movie. As we sat down in the movie theater, Amber realized that she didn't have her glasses on. Sitting in the third row from the front, I was surprised that she wanted her glasses and was about to protest, but I just kept my mouth shut and let her go get her glasses from the van. When Amber came back she told me that when she had gotten to the van to get her glasses she saw that the kids had left the van door wide open!

The chaos is not just centered around us, however, other people feel it too. After the movie we ran to the library to drop off our nearly overdue books and replenish our stocks with new ones. While we were there, a nearby neighbor saw us and approached us. He was there with his three kids. He had a handful of books and was struggling to keep his three little ones clutching their books and following behind him. He had locked his keys in his car. Sympathizing with his predicament, we piled him and his kids into the van with me and I took them home to get the other set of keys and returned to the library so that he could get his car and I could get my family from the library.

All in a day's work, I guess. The chaos continues, but I know someday, we'll look back on these days with tearful eyes of happy memories.