This morning I had my children play with one of my friends' children. As if that wasn't enough, in the afternoon I had another set of children come and play with my kids. Altogether, we had about 9 kids running around and playing with each other. The girls were dominant this time; we had five of them at one point playing at Gillian's room. In the morning I had a long list of things to accomplish, by afternoon I laughed at myself for even thinking that I could get anything done. Because of the age range, I was needed in many places at the same time. The kids had a great time, but I was happy I didn't have to do that everyday.
The girls started off with dress-up games and fashion shows:
I couldn't believe this was Gillian's room. Is that some kind of girl power?
And then, after the fashion show was over, I encouraged them to go outside and get cool under the sprinklers:
Charlton didn't like getting wet, so he stayed inside and read books:
After showers were over and clothes were put on, I had them watch a documentary about alligators and crocodiles (their choice). The little ones were occupied with play-dough. Food was served, popcorn and fruit eaten, and knowledge exchanged as each group did their own thing:
After the movie was over, the kids were asking for more activities. At this point I truly wished I had a farm so I could send them to milk the cow or collect the eggs or harvest the field, whatever it took to keep them busy. No such luck, so I went back to my city options and had a group of girls work on beads and bracelets, and another on making cookies, both activities needing my constant supervision. When the bead project was over, we replaced it with the mega stamping station. My carpet was covered with beads, the table had Barbie, Blues Clues and Harry Potter stamped all over it, and the older girls seem to be eating half of the cookie dough. Crazy and hilarious! I just wish some TV cameraman had captured us on film, or better off someone had recorded us and sent it to America's Funniest Videos. I can't stop laughing now at the craziness of it all. How love these pictures! They show only calmness and order, but believe me I wasn't feeling any of those two mentioned qualities.
When everybody was gone, Jefferson asked me if next Tuesday could be his friends' turn to come over and play. Just for fun, I asked him what kind of games would he want to play with them, and he gave me a one-word answer: Guns. I don't think that was a very 'diplomatic' answer. His case is still pending.
Happy Summer, friends!
