My sister and her three children came to stay last week so, no surprise, I am now on a strict starvation diet.
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It's amazing how much damage you can do in a couple of days. I blame those darn delicious cheeses, or maybe the champagne that washed them down - I cannot be absolutely sure.
With six kids in the house, ranging in age from seven to 17, it was constant meal time.
With six kids in the yard playing in the mud, there was constant laundry.
With six muddy kids coming in and out of the house for meal time there was constant cleaning.
And none of that work cancelled out the calories from the butter chicken, fish and chips, toasted sandwiches and waffles. Worse luck!
Gosh, we had some fun though.
Indoors there were board games, felt scenes, movies and meals while outside everyone was flat out with four wheelers, tree climbing, swinging on ropes and toasting marshmallows in the bonfire.
Tam and I may have squeezed in a snooze on the couch in front of the fire one afternoon, too. I'm not quite sure how we wrangled it, but it was good.
Op shopping is my new favourite thing. Although there were more, we trouped through four amazing stores and everyone came home with something wonderful.
At one point, when all our offspring were clean and dry, we dared to dash for our cars to make our only public appearance during their stay.
Rather than climbing a mountain this time around, we hit the shops - the opportunity shops.
Op shopping is my new favourite thing. Although there were more, we trouped through four amazing stores and everyone came home with something wonderful.
On the final night, we watched some fabulous old footage my Uncle David took of our family growing up in the 1970s when we used to get together with our 15 beloved cousins for Christmas and swimming at Lake Hindmarsh.
Finally, when our guests drove off through our glorious puddles, my girls bemoaned the loss of their playmates, claiming that they would now have nothing to do.
I contemplated this as I threw a load of washing in on the way back into the kitchen and grabbed the mop to clean the mud that the girls had tracked in.
All this was just before they asked me what was for lunch.
I think I'll be able to keep myself busy.