View from a Full House

Forget the empty nest. This nest is full to overflowing. Thank goodness the weather is good and we can eat outside most of the time.

Janice and Mike arrived last Tuesday night, and Jen arrived Thursday night. It is a full 2 day drive for Jan and Mike, but they decided to take a little longer this time. After a 3 day trip to get here, (and stop at Legoland and a few bouncy houses to provide a break for the kids) Jan and her family were ready to crash and regroup on Wednesday. By Thursday, they were ready to venture out so we headed for the lake and a great time swimming.

Jen, on the other hand, decided to make the 10 hour trip driving by herself with two little ones in tow, in one day. Her husband stayed home and worked this week. She too, was ready to crash and regroup on Friday.

When we bought our cabin, we made sure that although it was smaller, there was still room for both families to visit. 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 floors. As far as sleeping is concerned, there is room for all.

Get all nine of us playing, eating, and cooking in one room and it gets a mite chaotic! All through the day I think of things to blog about. After the last kiddo is tucked into bed, we sit, look at each other, and let out a collective sigh. And the brain goes dead. What was I thinking? Where are those thoughts? I have no idea. They have flown the coop.

Day 1 with everyone here and I noticed two things. 1) Larry announced he was taking trash to the dump (yes, we are THAT rural!), eating breakfast out, and 'doing some other errrands'. He also managed to squeeze in lunch out. 2) Mike had managed to schedule a Tee Time for the day. Hmmm, it seemed the men had flown the coop, too!

All in all it worked out well. The kids and moms kind of settled in and developed a pattern of play and quiet time. Kind of is the key phrase here. Sometime later that day, Jen remarked that it's not much of a vacation when you are one parent with 2 kids, especially when one is a two-year old.

Saturday, though, Mike and I gave the girls a morning out. (To be fair, Mike had no choice. I volunteered him for it.) We have an awesome Farmers Market that features everything from Alpaca wool and local jewelry and pottery to organic vegetables, flowers, and other local farm produce. There is even a booth with local grown and packaged meat. So while the girls had Sister Time, we stayed home and managed the four kids. Mike took the older ones out to play horseshoes (plastic, not iron), and I built blocks and painted with the littlest one. By the time they got back the two youngest had eaten lunch and were down for naps. I think we did ok!

It's a few days later and the kids are going strong. The adults...not so much. Between hiding in our iphones, swinging in the hammock, or rocking on the porch, we each have our escape mode. The kids are running circles around us. Literally. Let's face it. Why would Granberry and Paberry have a wrap around porch if it wasn't to run circles?

Nothing slows them down. Trust me. We've tried.

As tired as we are at the end of the day, this is one of my favorite times. It's our own family reunion, where the sisters reconnect, the cousins reconnect, and the family reunites. And each night as we gather around the table it warms my heart to the core to listen to four children's voices chiming in loud and clear:

"God is great, God is good, And we thank Him for our food. Amen"

Yes He is. Yes we do.

AMEN