Please help me figure out this......

Beginning in the fall, there will be days I need to get my daughter to preschool. Most days she will be riding with a friend, but in the event I need to drive here, I will have my other daycare children to take along.

I drive a 2007 Odyssey.....

With the following kids- who will be the following ages in the fall:
5 yr. old boy
3 1/2 yr. old girl
3 yr. old girl
3 yr. old boy
2 yr. old boy (will definitely need to RF in my opinion, currently 17 lbs. @ 18 mos. He has a long way to go to FF)
12 mos. old boy

I have the following seats:
2 Britax Marathons
2 Safety First Avenues
1 Britax Companion (doubt I'll have anyone who fits in this one)

I know I will most likely need a booster for the 5 yr. old- skinny booster ??
I'm also thinking about the need to buy 2 (or 3) Radians.

Thoughts? I've never had to transport this many children. The most I've had is 4 in seats & my 10 yr. old DD, so it has yet to be an issue.

Any help would be appreciated.

First, do you have seats for all of those kids? Or does someone have to ride up front? If someone has to ride up front (which I would avoid if at all possible,) it should be the oldest harnessed child. So, if that's the case, I would get the 5yo a Nautilus (or Frontier,) and they should ride there.

I've done daycare for years, and it's rare for me to have a belt not occupied by a seat. I was lucky to have a nice wide van, but was looking at a daycare parent's Ody last night, and it seems like it would be a tight fit to get six kids back there.

I think the first thing I would do is check the successful 3 across thread. I'm not that familiar with Marathons, but I think they would be out, unless they puzzle well enough maybe with Radians to do RN/MA/RN. The nice thing is, unless you have heavy 3yos, it seems like you could RF everyone except the 5yo, which gives you more to work with. The two youngest should RF, I would RF the 3yos if you can but if you can't, that's okay too. If some will RF and some FF, oldest should have FF "priority." I'm not a tech, but from the perspective of deciding between kids, that's how I would do it.

The Avenues, if I recall correctly, are fairly narrow.

I would start by taking the seats you have out to the van, and seeing if you can get them to work in a 3-across (not necessarily installing them even, just sitting them on the bench to see if they physically fit first) in either row. Go from there. Then go to BRU or another store, and play there -- if you think you'll definitely need at least one Radian, buy it to have in your arsenal of trying to figure things out.

I'm sure someone with better Odyssey knowledge will come along, but just wanted to give some frame of mind as a fellow dcp who has done the "I have to fit HOW many seats in this vehicle?!" on more occasions than I care to count. At least you have some time to figure it out.

If you don't want to spend a lot and the kids fit, the scenera is fairly narrow and cheap. Probably would work for the 2yo and 12mo if nothing else. I'm guessing the avenues are probably just as narrow. I woudl bet you could put one ffing kid (maybe in a MA) between two rfing sceneras/avenues. Then a TB for the biggest, that would be your narrowest option. Not sure what seats next too, that gets trickier.

I should be able to get everyone in the back, if I can find the right seats. I have the "plus one" eighth seat for my Odyssey. I was thinking that I could put the oldest in a HBB in that spot. I'm not sure if I can get a harnessed seat installed there. I would just put the eighth seat in place & booster, after I get the other kids situated in the 3rd row.

2 of the 3 yr. olds will probably be too heavy to RF in the fall. They are currently pushing 35 lbs., so I imagine by fall they will be over.

The other "will be" 3 yr. old (my DD) is currently 25 lbs @ 33 mos., so I can still RF her.

I think I would try 2 Avenues & a Marathon in the 3rd and a Marathon, TB, and Scenara in the 2nd. You can swap each convertible RF/FF to check for best fit, but that gives you 2 'skinnys' & 1 'wide' on each row. It also puts you spending less than $100 to make this happen.