and we were home with the kids!
After a week in Center Parcs with some of the family, and being of the retired community we were in need of another holiday to recover. However we found ourselves at home with the kids whilst the daughter & son in law headed off to Berlin for her birthday!
Not entirely sure how that happened.
Fortunately for the first two days the kids were in school, so, apart from the school runs, we should be able to continue life as normal.
The first morning getting ready for school, they thought they could run circles round me……. Ha ha no chance boys. All breakfasted, washed dressed & dropped at school on time. We had a busy day to enjoy before picking them back up. We squeezed in a tip run before heading to the Silver screen cinema, followed by a lovely Italian lunch catching up with the besties. Perfectly timed to head back to school to collect the little darlings 🤪.
Fortunately they were quite weary after school, so after an early dinner, and the weather being a bit chilly,we had a game of carpet hopscotch before a bath and bed. Phew day one done, or so we thought. The twinnies didn’t want to settle and kept trooping down the stairs with important things to tell us!
I didn’t think after their late night that we’d all be up in time for school the following day, but we managed it and even got a few words out of the teenager 😂
We had another busy day, catching up with the besties to wish them a happy wedding anniversary, food shopping and stocking up on wine from a local supermarket offering 25% of six or more bottles. We felt we might need it over the impending weekend.
After school the boys had fun in the garden, before our daughter and son-in-law face timed in the evening. This turned out to be quite stressful, with the three little ones fighting and jostling for position in front of the computer. Then we had a mooning exhibition for Mum and Dad! The little sweethearts 😫. We had to terminate the call, to try to reinstate some kind of order.
It took a while to settle them, and once again there was lots of important things to come downstairs to tell us, but we were now into half term so no one needed to get up too early the following morning.
As we opened the curtains the next day, the morning sun was shining, the hubby went off to help a friend in his garden and I thought the boys would play happily in our garden. They have plenty to do with swings, slides, a sandpit, ride in cars and a trampoline, but can they share and play nicely together? No! They were bickering and fighting, being bought in from the garden so as not to annoy the neighbours then being let out again once they’d calmed down. All in all it was a bit more stressful than I had been anticipating and I was exhausted by the time my hubby got home. Still, we managed to mow the lawn and replace the netting on the trampoline, which had been destroyed.
As the evening cooled we played dress up whilst waiting for dinner to cook, declining another call from Mum and Dad to avoid any further mooning incidents.
Finally Sunday arrived, the parents were returning in the evening. The sun was shining, it was going to be a lovely day. We took the boys to see their Great Grandmother to wish her a Happy Birthday. They hadn’t been to her house in a while and charged around noisily exploring. In and out of the garden, and Gt Nan’s bedroom, I think at 82 she found it all a bit much.
We returned home to make birthday cards for Mum as it was also her birthday in a couple of days. Lots of sticking, glittering, folding and drawing later they were finished and hidden all ready to surprise her on the morning of her birthday.
We were planning a bbq for friends in the afternoon, the weather forecast hadn’t been great, but, fortunately for once,  the forecasters got it wrong & the sun came out. I had considered postponing as we still had the boys until the evening. However our friends all had experience of cheeky boys and we were on the home straight so we ploughed on.
The company, the weather and possibly the gin, made it a wonderful afternoon. The boys had a few spats but nothing major  and even provided some entertainment with their dancing and trying to teach us how to twerk & floss.
Their parents flight home was conveniently delayed, but the relaxing afternoon had made thoughts of the topsy turvey previous few days disappear.
Its amazing how you can get by with a little help from your friends 💋
The kids are safely back in the hands of their parents, we haven’t demolished all the wine and are now looking forward to our two week holiday …………ohne kinder 🤣 And possibly an adventure, of our own, to Berlin later in the year …………  definitely ohne kinder!