The Circus leaves town

This has been the most stressful couple of days... good and bad... in a while.
My parents came up on Weds afternoon. Yes, this was the first day of school for my little chickies and I thought that would be difficult. Actually, it worked though. When you have 5 kids that all have amazing stories and all want to talk at once it was good to have a couple more sets of ears to listen!!
Gwen was having a good day (she slipped a disk in her lower back a couple weeks ago) so she brought her brood over for a visit. For about 15 min it was utter mayhem until we got smart and sent them to the park... all but the 2 youngest boys. We figured at 3 and 6 mos, they may not enjoy the park as much as staying home with mom(s).
We were down to 2 kids and 4 adults with the kids not talking much. It worked far better that way. We were able to chow down on lemon and coconut cream pie.. with coffee served with International delight hazelnut coffee cream. Ok, I'm a sucker for anything that has the word "delight" in it, but this coffee cream is amazing!!
That turned out to be the calmest few moments of the next 48 hours.
The kids came back.
The McQuarries left.
Non stop talking until bedtime.
Thursday brought more interviews at the school for me ... with the little guys enjoying having Gramma and Papa to themselves as THAT never happens... and then...
The crew arrived from Rothesay to help get this house together.
They were scrubbing in the cellar.
The lawn is mowed... stove cleaned out... boxes unpacked...
Mr Brown built me a boot rack and is fixing to make me a bona fide mudroom by the backdoor.
He also listed everything I need to do for the house so if someone asks what they can do I can give them the list and say "pick something". Hopefully they will understand shop talk because I discovered I can't even change a fuse.
That's another story.
I need to update the fuse box to a breaker panel.
Its on the list!!
There were many stressful little issues including baby blankets (and some other useful things) almost going out with the trash. Thankfully Mom suggested we check the garbage that was put out as there seemed to be too many trash bags.
I need to get clear trash bags...
Making my own list!
We went through all the trash bags and boxes.. tons of fun late Thursday night. Garbage day being Friday morning a lot of it was bona fide garbage so going through it was a treat. The things you don't expect ever to say...
"Yes, last night Mom and I spent a good 2 hours going through trash bags for toys for the kids."
Barbies, lego, dolls... it would have been sickening if we hadn't noticed we were missing things until the next day!!!
The problem is now fixed.
We have our goods and the real garbage is gone.
Mom and Dad left this morning. Everyone else had left before we noticed the missing stuff Thursday afternoon. By 10 am today I was back by myself. With sore feet, but a much calmer home!!
For the first time, when the kids came home from school I could sit and talk with them. And did. After about an hour some of the kids new friends came by and they all went to the park for an hour before dinner. Then at dinner, they had a whole new set of stories.
This move will be good.
Caitlyn made the basketball team. Gotta love small towns. She showed up for an info meeting for the BB team. The coach asks, "Who was not on the team last year?" Caitlyn and her friend (either Jessica or Jamie) put up their hands. "What size uniform do you need?"
They are getting new uniforms this year. They will also have sweatshirts that will have their last name on their backs and first name going down the sleeve.
Too cool.
One child came home with a detention... first week of school!!!
Connor and Courtney went to Nacawick for the participation track day. They had a 1.5 kilo run through a trail in the woods. They were some wiped out tonight. They all asked if they could go to bed.
I'm liking this.
One child has lice nits in her hair... uh, make that a few kids.
Not liking that.
Tonight I went through 2.5 heads. Lots of nits, no real lice so far. It took about 5 hours. 2.5 heads to go through tomorrow. Whoo hoo!!
Monday they will walk both to and from school. I have been driving them in the morning and letting them walk home. They will now walk both ways, unless the weather is bad.
On a final note...
I ordered a bunch of stuff from IKEA!! I'm so excited!! My dining room and office part of the living room will look great in a couple of weeks.
My friend Kathy is excited because she loves to put furniture together as much as I do and she's coming over to help me with it.
Its like an adult size puzzle, putting furniture together.
Anyone with a decent amount of Rouse in them will understand the fascination!!