Nursery in the Afternoon

Our church schedule changed today and our block of meetings is from 11:30 to 2:30. Now, I don't really mind this time usually, but I have already decided that nursery during nap time is not my favorite thing. It's my nap time. It's the kids' nap time and nobody gets to take a nap. We had 9 children "graduate" to Sunbeams today (hooray for them on being so big) and that left us with a nursery full of mostly babies. We are down to 8 kids, which is a nice change, but most of them are so little. We only have one child that can really talk and she left early, before we needed to come up with someone to say 3 prayers. It took 20 minutes to pick up the toys because the buckets got dumped as fast as I could fill them up. When it was lesson time no one wanted to sit on the blanket. When it was action singing time no one wanted to stand up. No one wanted to sit on their chair, but every one wanted to ride on them upside down, or stand on them, or climb on the stack of them, or knock each other down with them, or fight over them. When it was snack time no one wanted to eat. When it was coloring time we couldn't keep the crayons out of our mouths. By 2:15 today we were all ready for our mommies and daddies to come. Most of us ended up spread out around the room with blankets and books trying to keep our eyes open for those last 15 minutes. It will be interesting to see how this schedule evolves. It will be fun to watch these little ones grow into their personalities. My first goal is everyone sitting in a chair with their arms folded for snack prayer. That should take us at least the first 3 months. Wish me luck!

Today I am thankful for

a husband who holds the priesthood and is worthy to bless babies and a son and son-in-law who can assist him.
a nephew who wants his baby blessed even though he's not active in the church at the moment.
the stalwart members of the Papago Ward.
the opportunity to hear my daughter share her testimony.
the chance to attend church with lots more family members than usual.
a "new" two year old whose smile and sweet "Hi" can melt my heart and everyone else's as well. She is such a cutie!