Mornigns at the Bates House

The average family today has two, three or even four kids. Average…that is a word that does not pertain to our family, literally. Me, being the oldest I have had some great young children experience. I am now 19 and the youngest is 4.  I have 7 younger siblings, yes, 7… four brothers and three sisters (not counting me). Then I have a half brother that is older than me but we don’t see him very much. We recently moved out of a two story house with four bedrooms!! Let me tell you, it was crammed packed! Now that we have moved there is much more room… but with 10 people in a household at all times, it can get pretty crazy and very loud!

The mornings are always hectic, that might be the reason I’m an early bird and love to get up before the crew does, my brother, Brandon-18, is the same way. Around 6:25 is when Kaitlyn (4) wakes up…well that’s our first attempt to get her up. Meanwhile, the boys are starting to rise and two of them, Jeremy- 15 and Zachary- 13, are around that age where they like to bug you to death. Not to mention that they think they are helpless. While they are complaining; Kathleen-12 is in front of the mirror trying to do her hair. Thank goodness for big sis, who can say, “maybe this looks better.”  Here goes the second attempt to wake the toddle up…still nothing though. Then there is Courtney who is 9, she is a little mommy and tries to make sure everything goes smooth in the mornings. While all this is going on Kenny Paul-7 is putting on his “cowboy” clothes, which consists of Cowboy boots, Wrangler jeans and a button up shirt. He has the same problem every morning… he has lost his hat!! To a 7 year old… this is like the world has come to an end, and for Kenny (Kenneth) it is an every morning occurrence.  This craziness in our house takes up only about 20 minutes, so it’s around 6:45, and there is one little girl still in bed with her pillow over her ears and the blanks up to her neck. So the third attempt always works because there is only one of us who can get her up and moving and that is Courtney (probably because they share a room).  

Time to walk out of the door, and it’s 7:00, mom always makes sure that everyone has everything they need-Backpacks, P.E clothes, Permission slips, afterschool activities clothes… everything. Now that we live about 20 minutes away it is a little tricky if one of them forget something.

After school gets out, depending on the time of the year, Brandon, Jeremy, and Zachary have football practice, Kathleen has volleyball practice, Kenny and Courtney have peewee football practice and Kaitlyn is bored because Kenny and Courtney are gone. During the winter, now that I am out of school, there are Kathleen’s basketball games and Courtney’s basketball games. It is EXTERMELY hectic during the first of the year, as I am sure you can imagine.