We have a house full of kids and teens here
tonight; and while that might not be fair for Mom and Dad when so many other
parents get a kid-free night; there aren’t that many houses with as much space
as we have, and Mom and Dad don’t actually mind having a whole gang here once
in a while.
It was much quieter here this morning for
Tai Chi and breakfast. Michael came over
for both today, and starting and ending our day with hugs and kisses was great;
though he went home after breakfast to do his chores before helping out at the
Inn during the lunch rush while I was busy working with Mom and Dad
anyway. We’ve had fairly nice weather
today once it started warming up; but it was a bit chilly working outside this
morning. The spring clean-up to-do list
is getting smaller now, though we need some consistently warmer days before we’ll
be able to plant the gardens. Today, I
split my time between working in the yard with Dad and doing housework with
Mom; and we kept busy until stopping for lunch at around one o’clock.
I was set free for a few hours after
helping with the lunch clean-up; and went biking with Michael, Rowen, and Tim
while Michael was on his afternoon break.
We went out into the valley to the west of town and just wandered around
for a couple of hours and touring random country roads. When Michael needed to be back at the Inn,
Rowen and I headed to my house to help out with pre-dinner work; and Tim went
on to play some football – though he joined us for dinner instead of waiting to
come over with Michael once he was finished for the night at the Inn.
Alicia and Erin were both at the house by
the time Rowen and I got there; and it wasn’t long before the kids began
arriving too. Jessica, Ryan, and Sophia
Bassett were first; followed by Naomi and Aiden. Leah and Zack are with us tonight too; though
they weren’t dropped off until shortly before the parents were meeting for
dinner at the Inn. With five toddlers to
feed, our meal was appropriately kid-friendly, and while Erin supervised; Rowen
and I did most of the work while taking turns helping Alicia with the
kids. Mom and Dad were getting ready for
their date while we were doing that; and they were just getting ready to leave
by the time we were ready to feed the troops.
The low-mess, all finger food dinner was a
hit – even with Tim; since he couldn’t exactly get away with happy face fries
and other little-kid food in just about any other situation without risking
damage to his reputation with the guys.
We did need to make quite a bit more of everything than we would have
without Tim there; though some of the extra was because we guessed that Ryan
would need to try and keep up with Tim.
Watching all of the boys eat was just a little scary; though they kept
us entertained too.
Alicia and Erin had date plans tonight with
their boyfriends; but they stayed until after Michael came over and mostly
helped with Leah and Zack while Tim, Rowen, and I kept the rest of the kids
entertained. By the time they left, Zack
and Leah were either both sleeping, or we only had one of them to deal with at
a time. Jessica was easy to watch, and
she helped with the babies nearly every time Rowen or I were taking care of
them.
Tim easily kept Ryan, Ethan, and Aiden
entertained with video gaming action in the lounge, while Ehlana, Naomi, and Sophia
were happy to play some music for a while and then play games in my room that
included everything from playing with dolls and toys to a round of
hide-and-seek. It was time to get the
younger kids ready for bed when Michael joined us, but once they were changed;
we all moved into the lounge to watch a movie so they could wind down first.
Cuddling with Michael, Ethan, and Aiden
while we did that was one of my favorite parts of the night; though I also
needed to feed a bottle to Zack and change two diapers during the show. It was easy enough to get the five two and
three-year old kids into bed once the movie was over – especially since two of
them were already sleeping by then anyway.
It took all four of us to get that done with some more bonus help from
Jessica; and then we only had Jessica and Ryan with us after that – not including
one more round of baby time with Leah and Zack.
The feeding with Zack conveniently gave
Michael and I an excuse to be downstairs because Jessica and Ryan were in bed
by then too, so we gave Rowen and Tim the alone time in the lounge while we
gave Zack his bottle while cuddling in the living room. That wasn’t exactly romantic for us; but
Rowen and Tim definitely appreciated the break in the babysitting action. We had Zack back in bed and were in the
lounge again when Mom and Dad got home from Sheldon’s. Rowen had dozed off for a while, but was
awake when they stopped into the lounge to check in on us. Michael and Tim headed to their rooms on the
second floor after we’d done the mini-update for both our babysitting and the
night out at the Inn and pub while Rowen and I went with Mom and Dad to do a
bedroom check before they went to bed for the night.
Rowen and I might have checked in on our
boyfriends too before coming up to my room – just to make sure they were
comfortable and had everything they needed, of course; so that’s when Michael
and I did our goodnight hugs and kisses.
While I still wanted to do my usual bedtime computing, Rowen didn’t stay
awake for very long once we were in bed; and it’s been very quiet since then –
especially compared to earlier when the kids were all busy and fairly noisy.
There isn’t any news to report on from my
computer checks or email, and it is getting very late; so I’d better wrap this
up. Leah may not wake up again tonight,
but Zack probably will; and I’ll try to take that feeding too so that Mom or
Dad don’t have to get up.
Maybe Michael will wake up too, and we’ll
manage a bit of alone time after all! A
girl can dream; and I’m going to do just that starting right about now.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
