Mother of Five

Oh, sigh. The neighbors are back from 2 1/2 months in Poland and the most tranquil summer of my recent existence. I went out for the paper yesterday morning and saw their van in the driveway. Obviously, the van didn't take them to Poland, but it's been gone the entire time. I was sort of overwhelmed with sadness. It has been WONDERFUL to spend my evenings with only my children. It has been WONDERFUL to say "Let's go to ___" on any given Saturday and my kids eagerly jump in the car rather than whining about staying at home and playing with the neighbors. Or whining about hurrying home so they can play with the neighbors. Yee Haw, the neighbor kids who constantly touch me and talk to me and invade my house and bang on my bathroom door. The kids who ALWAYS want to know what I'm doing on my computer even though 99% of the time I'm reading blogs with no pictures or emailing or googling "foot stretches." That one time in a thousand I'm actually playing Webkinz or looking at Lego sets they're ready and eager to spring onto my lap or pile into my chair. Ugh.

Lest you think I'm cruel and evil keeping my kids away from other children, let me state for the record that they spent every weekday of the summer at a day camp filled with children. The whole camp went swimming, to movies, fishing, to playgrounds, to the fountain, bowling, I could list on and on... All of the above with friends five days a week. Then they had baseball and/or swimming lessons most nights. Again, plenty of evening fun with other kids. Plus, Kaylin had occasional weekend time with the girl at the end of the street. Their summer has been packed with fun! They've also been fighting much less and getting along better overall because they don't have boys vs girls every night and all weekend.

Last night we pulled into the driveway and the neighbor kids were in their driveway saying goodbye to their grandma. Grandma looked HORRIFIED as my kids leaped out of the car and went screaming toward her beloved grandchildren. She hopped in her car and sped off. The kids hugged and shrieked and were thrilled to see each other after such a long break. They spent the next two hours running in and out of both houses, screaming with joy. The Chicken Dance was blared on the stereo while 5 kids and a dog ran around the pool table over and over, shrieking and barking. Shoes were lost and found and lost again. Cats were stepped on. Juice boxes were consumed at an alarming rate. I anticipate a repeat tonight and then every night until there is a foot of snow on the ground and it's dark at 4:30pm. Oh, my head...