4 + 3 = 7

So on Thursday, when I was with Deborah, I learned that she needed someone to have the kids overnight on Friday.  I immediately was excited because we had no Friday plans and I was pretty sure this was something Doug and I could handle and I just love an opportunity to serve this dear friend who has gone above and beyond to serve me over the years.  I checked with Doug via text, he was totally game and then I extended the offer to Deborah.  She asked several times, "are you sure??"  Sure, why not?  Their kids are so sweet, we know them well, they all sleep through the night and the three of them pair great with our older three in sets of pairs, so it meant built-in playmates for Saturday morning.  So, it was a plan!

Deborah, Grant and the kids joined us for family dinner on Friday night.  The kids got some playtime out of their systems after dinner and then Grant, Deborah, Doug and I laid 7 kids down in an hour.  Miles and Koen used the bunk bed in Tav's room.  Tav slept in Koen's room.  Penn had his room.  Claire and Hazel slept in the guest room/office and Jansen slept in our rooms.  Just a little switcharoo and there you have it...room for 7 kids to sleep.  Crazy!  Grant and Deborah stayed to visit with us until about 9pm and then they headed home. The reason we had the kids over is because they had to go to a cabinet outlet store in Ohio the next morning to hopefully find a steal on kitchen cabinets for the home they just purchased. They had to leave at 4am to attempt to even get in the door to have a chance at finding what they needed.  Not a good trip for a family of 5.  We were happy to take the kids and were all praying they'd get the good deal they were hoping for!

Thankfully the kids all slept great.  And there were no nighttime or even pre-breakfast morning issues.  We had a big pancake breakfast for the kids.  They were good eaters!  Miles won for most pancakes...he had five!  Here's all 7 kiddos (Jansen is way in the background...jumping as usual).

After breakfast all the bigger kids wanted to play "spy" (which basically means make use of all our staircases and run around with hushed voices and loud thuds).  Hazel, Penn and Jansen hung out in the living room.  Doug put the Jeep where Janse could get at it and he was so interested in it.  Kept him busy on his tummy for about 7 minutes (that's a long time).  I had to get a picture of the big boy play (and those big blue eyes!).

A little before 10am, Doug took Claire and Tav on an outing to the Williams Sonoma shop in Shadyside.  They host weeky free kids cooking classes on Saturday mornings.  Claire was so excited.  And Tav was happy to hang with his buddy.  They are so cute together.  Claire adores Tavin, it's so precious.

When Tav and Claire were gone, Koen and Miles built with Legos.  Hazel and Penn played in the living room for awhile, then spent time playing in the backyard.

Then they played in Penn's room with stuffed animals.  Oh my goodness, can't take the cuteness with those two!  It was amazing though.  I had 5 kids at home and it was silent.  Janse was napping, Miles and K were doing their Legos quietly on the 3rd floor and Hazel and Penn were doing their quiet play in Penn's room.  After getting all my cleaning up from breakfast done, I was able to start the laundry and even do some bill paying online while enjoying my second cup of cocoa.  Maybe we should have buddy-up friends over more often?!  

Before we had committed to having these friends over, we had already made plans to walk down to Little Italy days in nearby Bloomfield with some friends that live outside of the city.  One family has 5 kids, the other has 4.  Yep, that's right.  We had 16 kids and 6 adults.  We looked like a huge daycare in our long procession down to Liberty Ave. for the festivities.  Hilarious.  The kids all enjoyed all the extra friends along even though some they were meeting for the first time.  It was especially cute to watch Koen and Miles enjoy the other boys their age and those that were a little older than they were.  After we walked down, I parked in a shady spot with a bunch of the kids and Doug went and got some food for our party (I also brought a ton of snacks).  Here are some shots of most of the group eventually enjoying some Italian and festival foods and the shade.

And more pictures of the adorable buddies.  They all did so well.  It was such a good distraction to have the friends along.  It definitely helped keep the brother in-fighting to a minimum!  Here's Hazel and Penn who enjoyed sharing the wagon much of the outing.

Tav and Claire sharing a chocolate gelato.  Yum!

Janse-man dancing to the blaring Italian music with Daddy.

The kids really enjoyed watching the Bocce tournament.  The players were very serious, but absolutely didn't mind the boys' close-up view.  

We headed home a little after 1pm.  Some of our troupe ended up hanging back (they ran into an entertaining clown I guess...you'll have that at a festival I guess!).  But we managed to get a picture of all the other kids (plus Doug since he was wearing Janse!).  12 kids!

Our friends all left shortly after their arrival back to our place and Deborah and Grant came to pick up their kids around 2pm.  They had had huge success and bought most of the cabinetry they needed in the color they wanted and for an unbelievably low price.  Praise God for providing!  We were thrilled.  The kids didn't want to leave.  Claire even broke down and cried because she didn't want to leave Tavin.  This will be a really great memory for these little, long-time friends.  And honestly, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Miles, Claire and Hazel are a joy...so sweet and respectful.  We are so blessed to share our lives and families with these friends.