week full 'o kiddos

Last week I felt like a camp counselor. I had the outings planned, cooler packed, snack bags of food stowed and a peppy attitude.  The only thing I was missing was a whistle around my neck. 

My niece Michaela was with us for 2 days in the beginning of the week and then she and her brother Braeden came back for 2 nights at the end of the week (thankfully when Sandi was home).  We went swimming everyday, there was a lot of laundry and laughter, giggling and secret club houses and I almost got carpel tunnel of the elbow from fetching food for Michaela from my backpack repetitively.  She literally eats about 4 times more than my kids and I was not prepared! 

There also was not a whole lot of sleeping.  Our girls averaged 8 to 9 hours a night instead of 11 or 12.  One morning I got up at 5 to have some peace and quiet (I went to bed pretty much when they did) and I walked out of my room to see them standing, bleary eyed, at my feet.  Sigh.

In order to pacify the crankiness, I fed them dirt with worms in it.  They loved it.

Here are some of my favorite shots. I actually carried the camera very little because it just gets to be too much with a lot of kids and a lot of luggage.

When Michaela came back at the end of the week, she sat down to have lunch, sighed contentedly and said, "I love it here."  Hands down that was my favorite part of the week.