Home Teaching Visit AKA Circus At the Frosts

As a way to serve each other and to be aware of the needs in our church community, we have the Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching programs. Pairs of men (home teachers) and women (visiting teachers) make visits to homes each month. We give a spiritual message and chat to build friendships and make sure each family is doing all right. These are amazing programs that bless us so much and help us remember to take time out of our busy months to care for our brothers and sisters. In theory these visits are fairly calm and quiet with the family and home or visiting teachers sitting around the living room having good conversation and a generally uplifting time. Well, theory and reality are often worlds apart.
One of our wonderful home teachers, Brother Thorpe, came by for a visit this evening. He has been visiting us for over a year and has become accustomed to our girls' "energetic" personalities. All the girls are so excited to have him here, and that just amps them up even more. We try each month to teach them that the home teachers are not jungle gyms and that they are here to talk with Mommy and Daddy too. We are definitely not even close to a "calm and quiet" visit, and we are sure not to be for many years (just keepin' it real). But, tonight took the "Frost Family Home Teaching Circus" to a whole new level. I just had to blog about this because it's so darn hilarious. I'm still laughing about it 2 hours later:

As Brother Thorpe sat down on the couch opposite Brent and me, Charlotte practically threw herself into his arms. Charlotte has a thing for men. Especially a few in our ward. We can't explain it. Immediately upon meeting them, she leans her whole little self into their arms and snuggles up...or bounces with great vigor. This is what she did with Brother Thorpe. She was bouncing so enthusiastically that he had to adjust the way he was holding her so she would not accidentally catapult herself across the living room. After a little bit of this he put her down on the floor to play. She would not have it. She turned right around and insisted that he hold her. At the same time Mia and Hannah were doing some sort of Cirque du Soleil Spectacular involving gymnastics moves on the couch and a large green exercise ball rolling Hannah on top of Brother Thorpe's feet. Intermittently Hannah would place herself directly between Brother Thorpe and me, in our line of sight, mid-conversation and start a conversation of her own.
This fiasco continued (with frequent urgings from Mom and Dad to PLEASE stop :o) until Brent had had enough and sent Hannah on an errand to her room. Mia followed her and we had 1.5 seconds of quiet conversation at which point the loud Electronic Sound Show began. Charlotte had finally had her fill of sitting/bouncing on Brother Thorpe's knee and decided that she really needed to put in some time with the electronic activity table, mini piano, and ball blower machines that live next to the couches. The ball blower machine is such a cool toy, but plays the loudest songs while the motor blows air loudly into the ball shaft so the balls come shooting out the top. It can really hold it's own in the "loud toy" department, but together with the activity table and mini piano we had a toddler symphony going on. Good Brother Thorpe just kept right on talking and trying to listen. I considered putting the toys away, but realized I preferred those sounds to the screaming that might follow an abrupt removal of the toys.
We settled into the "spiritual message" portion of the visit at which time Mia came running into the living room STARK NAKED with a HUGE smile on her face. She punctuated her Grand Entrance with a spread eagle stance and a triumphant giggle. I ushered her into our bedroom where she had stripped down (just off the living room) and asked her what she was doing. She said, "Doo Doo" and proceeded to squat on our bedroom floor and bear down. Luckily, and with the precision haste of a mother who has had to clean poop off the carpet before, I scooped her up and got her naked toosh on the toilet before disaster occurred. I then explained to her, as we put her pajamas back on, that we don't run around naked, especially when we have guests.
The visit was almost over. We tried our best to gather everyone up for a quiet moment of prayer. Not surprisingly, this didn't work. As the prayer began, Mia was M.I.A. She ran into the living room mid-prayer (fully clothed this time, thank goodness), and knowing that everyone's eyes would be closed, screamed to announce her arrival. Charlotte squirmed her way out of my arms so that she could toss her body about on the floor and make sounds reminiscent of a wild animal in its final moments of life. Hannah hummed an unknown tune. And at this point Brent and I were just trying not to burst out in incredulous laughter while Brother Thorpe prayed.
As Brother Thorpe descended the front steps and we closed the door, Brent and I exchanged a look similar to one between survivors of a natural disaster. We laughed, shook our heads and gathered our strength to finish the rest of the evening with our adorable children.