It's been quite a week

Saturday Dec 13 - Sunday Dec 14:
Sweet, sweet bliss for me, Sarah, Dan, Carolyn, and Mom. Bed and Breakfast in Coulburg, ON (for my mom's 60th bday). Out for coffee, lunch, supper. Massages. Lots of talking, laughing, relaxing. AND we didn't miss the kids (though we did talk about them and the hubbies a lot!).

*On the home front in Stouffville - quite a different story. 7 kids under the age of 5. My dad and Joel in charge. They didn't say too much about how it went but the mountain of dirty diapers and bottles said it all.

Sunday Dec 14:
Spent the afternoon away from the house in an attempt to give my parents a break. Ended up at a mall. 7 kids. 3 adults. We tried to take a grocery cart out of Walmat (how else do we transport all the kiddies?) but the wheels locked up on us. Quite a scene. We couldn't find a play area so we spent way too much time in a tiny pet store looking at the puppies. They looked as pathetic and desperate as we did. We ended up walking to McDonalds down the road because they had a playplace.

Monday:
Ikea with 7 kids. We told my parents that we'd buy a futon for them (they need more beds). Bad idea. 5 carts. 3 adults. 7 kids. To top it off, 5 million people seemed to be buying futons and candles as well. Ikea is indeed kid friendly, just not 7 kid friendly.

Tuesday:
Stouffville library with 7 kids. Yet another bad idea. The kids terrorized the children's section. The librarians high fived each other when we left. In the afternoon Sarah and I (with 5 kids) drove to Uncle Joey and Auntie Carol's house to help her celebrate her bday. We came. We saw. We left their house a complete mess. Joel and Carolyn definitely high fived each other when we left.

Wednesday:
Made playdough for the kids. That gave us 10 minutes of quiet. Then, we spent 20 minutes putting on the kids' coats and snowpants and mitts and hats and scarves. 10 minutes later they all came back inside. Then, we got out the legos. 10 more minutes of quiet. Then, we stopped trying and just accepted the chaos.

Thursday:
Took my kids to Dad's school and we played in the kindergarten classroom all morning. In the afternoon we went out for coffee with Dan, Ruby and Nana. Lesson learned - Jacob is too high maintenance to take to a coffee shop. He started gnawing the espresso machine.

Friday:
Skated at the local ice rink. Yet another crazy idea. 5 kids and 2 adults (Dan stayed home with Jacob and Ruby). I about broke my back trying to teach Claire and David how to skate...at the same time. What was I thinking?

Saturday and on:
The fun will continue!! Can't wait for the boys/hubbies to join in the fun. Paul comes tonight. Aron tomorrow. Jon on Sunday. Pete on Monday.