4 Boys At Church

Ever wondered what it is like to have 4 boys at church?  Let me give you some ideas:

• You pack a baggie of pieces of bread to take to sacrament meeting so that when your 18 month old sees the tray of sacrament bread, you can quickly give him ONE and then pass the tray very high over his head while handing him the baggie you brought to stave off the inevitable tantrum!

• You also have a ready sippy cup full of water for the same reason when the water tray comes around.

• You plan ahead with an array of snacks they will feed all the kids around them since you know they will eat all of the other kids snacks because somehow they taste better.

• You bring a big bag with a lot of fun church related activities for the kids around you to play with since you also know all the kids activities their parents brought are going to be more fun than the ones you brought and your kids are going to beg to play with them and you have to have something to share.

• You pretend not to know your child when they escape, in spite of your best efforts to keep them in your pew, and run down the aisle, up on the stage, pull on the leg of the speaker, and yell "hi" to the congregation over the half stage wall.

• You don't ever look guilty when the ball that somehow made its way from your house to sacrament ends up being thrown 10 pews up and smacks an older woman on the head.

• When someone misbehaves, heaven forbid, you DO NOT threaten them with a spanking - EVER!!  This mistake was made known to everyone around us as we carried our 4 year old out while he yelled "please, please, don't spank me".

• You allow one small toy to come with them to church. The rule is that it fits in their pocket.  As soon as you get to sacrament, out comes the ugliest, meanest, most irreverent looking "guy" they could find.  They then pretend to kill each other in very creative and gross ways throughout all of church.  Who came up with the sound "pshhhh" "pshhhh" "pshhhh" for shooting each other?  My boys love it and, since it sounds kind of like whispering, they say it a lot as they repeatedly "kill" or "knock each other out".  

• You frisk, yes frisk, your children before they go to primary to make sure none of those friendly looking "guys" go to primary with them to torment their teachers and classmates with.
  

We love the gospel and we love our children - that is why we smile when people move away, far away from us when we sit down next to them and we go to church every week, rain or shine.  We are so blessed!