After 10 years, new adventures for septuplets

Ann Curry: When the babies were born, President Clinton called and said, "When those kids all go off to school, you'll be able to get a job running any major corporation in America.  You'll be the best organized manager in the United States." 
Ann Curry: And you answered, "Either that, or I’ll be in a straightjacket somewhere."   
Ann Curry: So which is it?
Bobbi: Well, you know, I haven't bought the straightjacket yet. I guess I’m not in charge of a major corporation, just the corporation in Carlisle, Iowa.

Bobbi: Joel, come here.
Kelsey: I can't find my journal.
Kenny: Mom, is this mine?

Fourth-grade homework is the latest "corporate challenge."

Bobbi: You should be able to tell if it’s yours or not.

The septuplets are divided among six classrooms, so only two have the same assignments each night. 

Bobbi: I circled the words that you have to finish.

A tough mandate. But Bobbi takes it in stride, after a decade of determining "best practices" for team McCaughey.

Bobbi: It's been very hard. But the rewards outweigh everything else.

A sense of humor has been one winning strategy for staying sane when raising septuplets, their big sister, and now -- a menagerie.

(Kids playing with hamster)
I think she's going to bite her!

Another top initiative is assigning "action plans" when the kids were preschoolers.

(Year five)
Bobbi: The younger you start with teaching them responsibilities, the easier it's going to be because they are so proud of themselves.

At ten, they are more capable, but not always quite as eager. 

Joel: I have to take out the trash. (grumpy)

(making food)
Bobbi: White cheese, then yellow cheese. Then Alexis can sprinkle this all over the top.
Kelsey: OK.

Fun or not, chores have helped the kids appreciate what it takes to raise a large family. It’s a daunting prospect to some.

Ann Curry: How many children you going to have?
Kenny: Two or four.
Ann Curry: You don't want seven or eight?
Kenny: No.
Ann Curry: Why not?
Kenny: Because that will be a lot to take care of.
Ann Curry: So you're seeing how busy mom and dad are. Do you think they work too hard?
Kenny: Yeah. Sometimes I help my daddy wash the car because he's getting tired of bending his back.

The day when the septuplets would be able to lend a hand seemed so distant when they came home from the hospital, one-by-one, in the four months after they were born.  

Video   Joel asks about the news Joel interviews Ann Curry about how she is able to report the news for the TODAY SHOW each day. He's also curious about why people hold up signs outside the studio. Dateline NBC

Back then, 70 volunteers -- relatives, church members, neighbors and friends -- helped out around-the-clock with 40 bottles and 30 diaper changes.

It was a true tempest in a teapot, with so many tucked into a tiny home while a spacious 16 room house was being built for the family.  Everything from the land to the labor was donated.

Kenny: This is like going from a small town to a continent.

Gradually, Bobbi reduced the volunteer schedule. By the septuplets' fourth birthday, she and Kenny were managing the more-play-than-work force all by themselves.

(year four)
Kenny: I'm just tired of changing diapers. It's probably in the hundreds of thousands... (laughs)
Bobbi: Oh he thinks so! (laughs)
Ann Curry: You've changed a hundred thousand.

It's easy to laugh now.  But when they were living through the toddler stage, with the naughty fun, the non-stop commotion, and the never-ending noise, Bobbi and Kenny were nearly pushed over the edge.  In retrospect, even they are incredulous at the scenes from the early years.

Kenny: I can't believe I survived all that.
Ann Curry: You said -- "Literally, there have been times when Kenny and I have just sobbed, ‘Please lord, give us the wisdom that we need to teach these children.’" That was then. What is now?
Kenny: We're still teaching them how to be decent, upright kids.
Bobbi: Building in them a reliance on God, like we have had in  our lives, and when you see all the training and shaping that you've been trying to do actually take hold, it's like, wow, they got it.  Finally, they've gotten it.
Ann Curry: What are they getting?
Bobbi: How it's important to treat others as you would want to be treated.
Kenny: That it's not all about them.
Bobbi: Yeah.
Kenny: There's a bigger world out there, outside of our house.

It’s a big world that Kenny, Alexis, Natalie, Kelsey, Nathan, Brandon, Joel and Mikayla have been exploring in unique ways. They’re making individual journeys that Bobbi has been documenting for 10 years in hand-crafted scrapbooks for each of her children.

Ann Curry: What's your favorite subject?
Kenny: Mostly it's social studies.  Right now I’m learning about the world.

Video   Kenny's fascination with tornados Now in fourth grade, septuplet Kenny talks about his fascination with tornados. Dateline NBC

Kenny Robert has been scouting new territory since he was three, when he wandered out of the house to check out the neighborhood alone.
His expeditions have continued -- even in Mallorca, where he left his mark on a 14th century castle.

Ann Curry: Did you throw a rock in Spain?
Kenny: Yes.
Ann Curry: Are you supposed to throw rocks?
Kenny: No.

But this happy-go-lucky kid, who now loves playing football, is sometimes troubled by world events.  During our interview, he brought up a family friend -- whom he calls uncle Charlie -- a soldier stationed in Afghanistan two years ago. 

Ann Curry: If you can have anything in the world happen, what would it be?
Kenny: To let the wars stop fighting over the United States.
Ann Curry: The wars that the U.S. is fighting overseas would stop?  Why?
Kenny: Because people from here are getting killed a lot like -- uncle Charlie. He died.
Ann Curry: He died? Oh I’m so sorry.
Ann Curry: If it wasn't for your uncle Charlie, did you know about the wars?
Kenny: Yeah, we watch it on the news and in the magazines and books about it.

This is Captain Charles Robinson with Kenny as a baby. His death at 29 has made a 10-year-old think about his own mortality.

Ann Curry: What do you pray to God for?
Kenny: I pray that I don't die very early.
Ann Curry: How old do you want to live?
Kenny: I want to live until, like I’m about 60 or 70 years old.
Ann Curry: Not any older than that?
(Kenny shakes head no)
Ann Curry: No?  That's as far as you want to go.
(Kenny shakes his head yes)

But he knows what he would like to do between now and then.

(From year seven)
Ann Curry: Why do you want to be a fireman Kenny?
Kenny: Because I want to squirt out the fire … To save people.
Ann Curry: You want to be a hero.
Kenny: Shakes his head yes.
Ann Curry: What scares you? Anything?
Kenny: Snakes attacking me and falling out of trees.

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