This post could also have been titled “Maya’s Most Marvelous Weekend” or maybe “All kids, All the time”; or maybe even (from my perspective) “Oh my god I’ve forgotten what being in a quiet room feels like!” Just kidding. Sort of.
Today begins the weekend that, a few days ago, prompted Maya to declare she has a perfect life. And hey, that’s still a good thing. But perfect is a lot LOUDER than I expected. At 6pm we had 9 kids and 5 adults in our apartment, and we adults pretty much relegated ourselves to the kitchen to be heard over the din. (And if you’ve ever seen my kitchen, you know this is kind of a feat in and of itself.) The Donators meeting, which was scheduled to last for about an hour, lasted almost 4 instead. Of course the ‘meeting’ part was concluded in under 30 minutes and the rest was play that included feeding our neighbors cats, our friend Greta’s dog, games, dressing up in various wigs and scarves, playing with swords, Nanobugs and Lego. Somewhere in there we ate. The delivery people must have thought we’d lost our minds, because they came 4 separate times. Once with pizza, once with a burrito that we mistakenly realized was made with breaded chicken (one of the kids has severe food allergies and can’t have breaded stuff), again with a fajita burrito and one other time with salad and french fries. By 8pm everyone had eaten and around 9:30 most of the guests had headed home. Sad and tired toddlers resisted attempts to leave and even more exhausted parents bit their tongues to keep from screaming “I’ll count to five and then we’re leaving!! ONE!…”
Actually, a very good time was had by all. I enjoy our friends a lot and that many kids of all ages playing for so many hours without any conflict is pretty great. And here I am, just a short time later, semi-peacefully typing this post while behind me the three remaining kids in the house (Maya, Ben and Greta who is spending the weekend with us) are trying out the new Just Dance 3 game on the Wii. All I can say is, have at it. That game is exhausting, and I foresee the three of them sleeping deeply and for many hours after burning off all the energy and adrenaline they’ve built up this evening.
Tomorrow will be the ‘quiet’ day, and then we ramp up again Sunday evening, with a book club meeting and yet another overnight with 2 homeschool friends.
If I don’t write on Sunday night, it’s because I’ve collapsed somewhere in an exhausted heap (or am hiding out in Ben’s box. See last night’s entry if you don’t get that). But all kidding aside, it’s worth it to see the pure joy in the kids’ eyes.
Pure. Joy.
Only the toddlers aren't in this photo.