Beam of Sunshine

I took this picture on the first Sunday of 2011 when Elsie entered Primary and became a new "Sunbeam". It proved to be an interesting day. Here's why.

Any mother with a 20-month old would probably agree that 1-4pm church is NOT the ideal schedule. Quinn isn't used to going down for a nap at 11am and protested for nearly an hour at the attempt. After a diaper change and another attempt, he finally fell asleep only to be awoken 20 minutes later. Ugh. Not the way to start off the 3-hour block of meetings.

Sacrament meeting can be a bittersweet experience when managing six children on the bench without Aaron's help. Even after three years, I'm not sure it's gotten any easier. At any rate, Quinn was especially onery and clingy so when Elsie needed to use the restroom, Anna agreed to help her. Moments later, Anna returned with a certain look on her face that I knew meant trouble. Yes, everyone around heard the announcement of "Mom, Elsie just peed all over the floor in the bathroom."

I passed a protesting Quinn off to Tanner and headed to the 'scene of the accident.' I could hear Elsie crying even before I entered the restroom. There was another mother in there trying to comfort my distressed 3-year old but to no avail. After surveying the scene, I realized she was 'stuck' up on the higher-than-normal height toilet and the door was locked. My attempts at unlocking the door were unsuccessful. My only option was to crawl underneath the door to rescue Elsie. Unfortunately, there was more than a small puddle between us. We're talking volumes of liquid here. Wow--what navigational skills were required on my part! I had to laugh at the other mother's comment, "I'm sure glad that's you and not me."

It was about this time I heard Quinn crying in the hallway. I took off Elsie's tights and managed to get things cleaned up just as Tanner opened the door a crack and in desperation let little buddy come in. I had Tanner go back into the meeting to get the car keys because we had to head home for a quick change. With a tearful child on each hip, I left the building and rushed to the car. It was near the end of the meeting so I drove as fast as I could on ice-covered roads knowing that I was needed in primary (first Sunday of the new year = zoo).

We were a bit late so Quinn's transition to nursery was more like a 'drive and drop' which didn't really bode well. Elsie fully expected to head to the primary room with me and was not pleased when the nursery workers explained she would need to wait with them until her new teacher came to get her. All I could do was quickly take my spot behind the piano and try to calm down a chaotic group of hyper children and overwhelmed/confused teachers (the primary president was home sick, the music leader was out of town, etc.). It was quite the day.