Two Mom's, 5 Kids

Ryan L. and her kids made the trip from Fontainebleau, France to visit.  It was perfect timing.  She asked if she could come a couple days earlier than originally planned (her husband was studying for his finals), then Ryan came home from work the day before she got her and told me 'busy season' started the next day so we wouldn't be seeing much of him.

I had an awesome time.  It is amazing how much more enjoyable it is to have another adult around.  I felt like I'd been off lately and the weather had been cold and gray which makes having a positive happy outlook much more difficult, so I was in definite need of some easy friend filled days.

 The first day we just chilled.  We opened the doors and let the kids run wild in our backyard.  We were both amazed when we got to 6pm and neither of us were annoyed with our kids (that never happens).

The second day we made a trip over for Aachen, Germany.  We got some groceries (mainly almonds, spelt flour and oats) and a kebab and headed home.  The kids did great....it also helps that German people are friendly and thought our kids were cute.

I hadn't had these Kebabs for a couple months so I was pretty excited for them.  I now order 2, let the kids eat what they want and I get the rest.  Both of them at at least half the kebab...that's a ton! 

Most of the nights, after dinner we threw the kids in the tub for bath.   This must have been one of the first night because after that we decided a max of 3 in the tub worked the best :).

Saturday we had an extra set of hands with Ryan around. I went for a long run (9 miles) in the morning  and when I walked in, Ryan L. was cooking breakfast for the kids.  Kind of awesome.  After getting everyone ready, we walked to the bakery for some delicious pastries. Yummy! I love cream filled things. We hung out the rest of the day. Ryan L. and I made a deal that if she stayed longer, Ryan and I had to go on a date...pretty sweet trade on our part. So we did. We left her with 5 kids and took the bus downtown to a little Italian restaurant.  After dinner we didn't really know what to so we went for a walk and ended up walking 4 miles home.

Sunday we made it out the door to church on-time and the kids look adorable.  They hadn't planned on being her for a Sunday but we managed to get all the kids Sunday clothes from Kevin and Kherington's stash.  The kids even did good sitting through Sacrament meeting.  We came home to a delicious pasta lunch that Ryan L. prepared the night before while we were on our date. 

Monday was another awesome day.  In the evening the kids were running around with some superman caps that I'd made a couple years ago.  Lily and Jay liked them so much, Ryan L. and I decided to make some with some leftover supplies I had.  It took us until about 1am to finish them off.  It is so nice to have someone to do this kind of thing with. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were definitely a little more rough.  It really wasn't that bad, but kids stopped taking good naps which made them more cranky and us more cranky...and Kevin became very possessive of everything and went from one kid to next taking toys, pushing and hitting. At least we kept the nice weather.  

Tuesday we spent the morning running errands (hardware store and ikea) to be able to fix the smoke detectors and holes in the wall.  Ryan L. was amazing and filled all the holes we've made.  They now look awesome.  I smile every time I look around the room.  We also cleaned the house.  My landlord was coming by with someone that was appraising the property so I wanted to make sure it looked  good.

We went to the park a couple times which was a hit and also walked up to a cheap craftish store.  After the store, we were going to be late picking up Kherington so we ended up running the last quarter mile or so.  I had Kevin on my shoulders with a sucker in one had and a bouquet of eggs in the other hitting me with both as he bounced up and down and Ryan L. was pushing double stroller with two kids piled on top of each other in the front and one in the rear.  We must have been a pretty funny sight.  We made it just in time.  Wednesday's all the kids/teachers leave so if you're late they take the kids over to a different school which is another 15 minute walk away.  They locked the gate right behind us.  Whew!

Stefan took the train to Brussels and then public to our place.  He walked in the door a couple minutes before I walked out to teach Faith in God.  I once again left all the kids home (Ryan had to go to the Church too).  Yeah...we really got the better end of everything.  It was so so nice to have a friend to do everything with.  I'm hoping they'll come visit again soon.

We've also decided it would be awesome to live on a cul-de-sac with a couple of our good friends.  Our husbands all get along (kinda funny...they are all pretty easy going guys that get along with everyone), the kids could roam from one house to the next and we would always have other adults to chat with at any time of day.  One day :).

Just like when we went to visit Fontainebleau, after everyone left the kids were exhausted.  They had way too much fun and can't wait to do it again :).