Five kids, two dogs, and me

Life has been NON STOP since last Sunday.

The owners of the mansion are away and asked me if I would like to take charge of their delightful offspring and the two resident dogs.

The scheduled gal broke her foot, so I said yes, and the owners arranged the Grandparents to act as support. The scheduled gal has no kids of her own, whereas the mansion owners knew I'd be bringing my two and they figured a 6.50am run to water-polo, followed by a 7.30am run to choir, followed by an 8.15 run to school all in the one morning might be just a bit much for me to handle with a five and two year old as well, and stay sane.

So the delightful grandparents are doing ALL the school runs, bless their hearts.

I'm doing it as a single parent, because staying here adds an extra twenty minutes at each end of the day to my husband's commute, so he's doing it single at our place.

The offspring are 14, 11 and 9 yrs old (but very nearly 10 yrs old as I keep being reminded) and are for the most part delightful kids. As much as a fourteen year old boy can be delightful that is.

Miss Nearly Ten however is an absolute whirlwind and my Mr 5 ADORES her. BUT, by bedtime he is becoming so overwhelmed that we have had two complete screaming meltdowns over the last three nights. I am doing my best to keep things calm after dinner, but I think a week of Miss Nearly Ten's intensity is wearing on his ability to cope emotionally.

Mr 2 seems able to turn his back and tune her out but Mr 5, not so.

I however, have trouble tuning THIS out...

All fast asleep now though, long may the quiet last...