It starts off like a fine idea. You hem and you haw about it for a minute, but then you think "what is the WORST that could happen?" I'll tell you what's the worst...because that is exactly what happened to me.
You already feel terrible that you moved a week after school got out. Your kindergartener reminds you constantly how much she's going to miss her friends, and you constantly tell her "don't worry, we'll have play dates"...(let's not forget the fact that you moved 17 miles from the old home, and it's all highway.) Your daughter's "BFF" (yeah, I know) has been calling asking for the much anticipated play date that you can no longer put off.
Let me throw a loop in there...the little girl has a younger sister. This is an important detail to grasp, because as any mother of multiple children knows, it's heartbreaking to see one of your children have the look of longing in their face. You try to keep things fair between the children, and you often times have to sacrifice your sanity for it. Just the thought of you being the cause of someone else's child to have a bruised feeling is too much for you to tolerate. Understanding this glitch in parenthood is why your night goes so well, or should we say does not go so well? Yes, let's say that.
Okay, so you finally drag your bottom around to calling back the grand-parent (because that's who watched the little girls during the day, while the parents have the luxury of going to work-yes, I mean luxury...anyone who stays home with 4 kids understands this brutal honesty!) You make the necessary call, and invite both little girls over, so as not to be the victimizer of an adolescent (because you would of course want someone to do that for your children). As it turns out the grandpa doesn't drive, so now, not only are you making the trip to hell to get the little girls, but you have also been designated to drive her back to hell. God Lord. You've already been pulled in.
After getting conned into wasting your gas, your little brain starts mulling it over...you have to pack all 4 kids up to go get 2 more kids...drive for a half an hour...just to turn right back around and drive for another half an hour....unpack the kids...and then in 2 more hours, DO IT ALL AGAIN?? This is when it all starts to go downhill. You come up with a master plan that will eliminate all aforementioned headache. Or so you think....
You make the plan to pick the girls up the next day after the baby wakes up from his nap, and the master plan will take effect. You figure it will be easier to keep the girls over night and return them in the morning, before the baby's nap. This is the perfect plan, because after your house is filled with 4 giggling, screaming girls, you'll drop them off and come home to a quiet house (at least a 2 kids quieter house.) It's almost ingenious!
The time comes to make the dreaded drive. You pack up all 4 kids (really does he not know you have 4 of these things!? Oh the irritation!) The morning was spent mostly of reminded your older two that "after the baby's nap" means after the baby's nap, and now that you're en route, you can't get them to stop the constant chatter of spiritedness. You pull up to the house, put the car in park and hop out. There's no way you're unloaded everyone for this. You're truly hoping this will be a quick picker up. The girls are packed and ready to go, much to your relief. Now the only thing that stands in your way of a smooth transaction is figuring out the seating arrangement.
The drive back home is nothing short of loud. Picture this, if you will. 6 kids all under the age of 6...you're super mom.
You're really wishing for a quiet afternoon while the younger two nap and the older 4 play nicely together. You have phone calls to make, blogs to write, and more bills to pay than you'd like to. Why on earth you would ever even think your day would go as you planned is beyond all reason. The afternoon is filled with girls running up and down the stairs, you about pull your hair out every time a door slams, and your nice, clean living room is no more.
The afternoon drags on and on. For all you unbelievers out there, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Children prove this when they become bored of the one thing they couldn't stop talking about. Your two visitors are no longer happy just playing. Now they want to hang out with you and be by your side like a little puppy. This is not good. Kind of irritating, if we're being honest.
Dinner time is finally here, and there's a fat chance you're going to make it. You decide to call in the backup- you order pizza. You spend quit a bit of dough on it, because you had to make sure your guests would eat. You ordered the kind of pizza they wanted, however it still didn't get eaten. You should have just fed them spaghetti-o's.
BEDTIME!!! Nice. You're ready for it. You set the girls up in their bedroom and after moving the furniture around to accommodate 4 girls (this was not fun AT ALL), you turn the movie on for them. You assumed that because they had a busy day, they would fall asleep watching the movie, while you enjoyed some much needed peace. You go downstairs and sit your tired bottom down, hoping to get something done now. Assuming really does bit you. You should never assume.
The movie is not on for 5 minutes when you turn around and see a little girl standing over your shoulder. You pretend to not notice she's there, in hopes she'll return to her rightful place-upstairs and away from you. After realizing she's not going to go away, you turn and say ever so sweetly "what's up, honey?" "I want to call my daddy." Well of course you're not going to squander that dream, so you search for the phone for a few minutes until you find it. She calls her Daddy, and all is well. She goes back upstairs.
Get something done now. Okay, back to work. You hear giggling, squealing and thumping. Just glad it's coming from upstairs, you ignore it. You then hear the unmistakable sound of feet coming down the flight of stairs. God lord, are you serious? "What's up honey?" You ask again, this time much wiser than before. "I just want to watch you."
Grrrr......
"Well honey, why don't you go upstairs and watch the movie and try to fall asleep? You had a busy day."
"I don't want to."
Hmmmmm......now what?
"Come on sweetie, we'll get you all nice and comfy. You need to go to sleep."
She goes upstairs and gets nice and comfy.
She comes back downstairs.
"Can I call my grandpa?"
She calls her grandpa.
She goes upstairs.
She comes downstairs...
Are you seeing the pattern here? All the while, the noises that are coming out of the bedroom are driving you crazy. You start to lose it just a little bit. You decide you need to put the smack down. You tell everyone that it's time for bed, and if you hear another sound, the movie's off. This should do the trick. It's finally quiet. You think everyone is sleeping. You're about ready to go to bed yourself, when here come the feet again. "I want to go home." The sad voice behind you almost breaks your heart. Almost. By this time, it's midnight. You can't pack her and her sister up to take them home now. Why oh why, didn't she tell you earlier? You could have done something about it then, you could have avoided the coming ordeal.
You gently hug her and tell her you'll have waffles for breakfast, and as soon as breakfast was over, you'd take them home. She seems satisfied with this. You go tuck her in again (for like 9th time) and you notice her 5 year old sister is still awake. She also looks sad, but what can you do? You tell them both to sleep good, and you crack the door.
20 minutes later, you think it's safe to go to bed. The girls are all presumably sleeping, so you make the hike upstairs. You just get yourself into bed, when the bedroom door cracks open and out comes.....a little girl. You get up and tuck her in again, only this time, things don't go so smoothly. The younger sister starts crying because she misses her mommy and daddy. The older sister says she wants to go home, and your own two daughters are passed out despite the noise.
The clock now reads 1:30 a.m. After giving up the idea of sleeping comfortably in your own bed, you've crawled into the two twin beds that have been pushed together to fit 4 kids under 6. You sang, you told a story, you did everything you could think of to calm them down. You're now just counting down the minutes until they fall asleep. The room is finally quiet. There's no room for stretching out, because the minute you move, either your foot is going into someone's face, or your face is going to get an arm sprawl. Let's not forget the likelihood that the slight shifting would be a highly probable disturbance of the peace you worked so hard for.
Sleep does not come for you. It's toasty hot in the bedroom, and you're uncomfortable in more ways than one. You finally drift off to sleep, just to be woken up the VERY NEXT instant by a moan...then a whine...then a crying. Your two guests are up, and one of yours is now awake, thanks to a 5 year old that doesn't realize there are other people sleeping in the house. It's now early enough to call it morning (4:30 a.m), so you tell the girls to get up, since they "can't sleep"~their words ~ anyway. You herd the three girls downstairs and you tell them all to sit on the couch for a minute while you make your VERY dark coffee. There is still an ample amount of crying going on, so you inform them that they will go home very soon. This quiets them a bit, and you make your way to the kitchen
You wait rather impatiently for your much anticipated cup of coffee to finish brewing. Oh yes, you've made an entire pot, but you're not about to wait for the whole thing to finish. Thank God for the sneak-a-cup feature! You take your cup of coffee, and you go into the living room to go over the game plan with everyone. You walk into the living room, (cup of coffee already half gone) and what is the scene that you are greeted with?...All three girls are PASSED out, sound ASLEEP on your couches.
WHAT?!?!?! You just spent all night in an overheated, overcrowded, overnoisy bedroom trying to accomplish this, when all you had to do was make them sleep on the couch?!
It goes without saying (but I'm saying it anyway) the girls sleep until 8:00 a.m. and you, well you really got the shaft, because that darn coffee does it's job so well, you've still been up since 4:30 now counting down the minutes until they wake up.
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