Where is the bottle opener this time ?

Izzie....in charge

All the grandchildren, and their parents, and Carole and Peter ( Mark's ex wife, my friend, and her partner), have been with us for a week. Tomorrow 2 grandchildren and their parents leave, Jess and her friend Freni arrive and the day after, Mark’s sister and her husband will be here. So…the full house syndrome continues.

Today, they have all ( except for me ) gone to the beach. Herding 4 x5 and unders, buckets and spades, rubber rings and snacks for the journey as well as ensuring booster seats and child seats were locked into position in the right vehicles, and that appropriate parents were positioned next to whichever infant needed them…….was, to say, interesting.

I have the day to myself, to try to put the house back into some semblance of order, before Jess arrives. Not of course that Jess would worry about a bit of chaos, as she is well capable of causing it herself.

My plan is to sort out toys, reorganise fridges, mop a few floors and generally put things back in the places you would expect to find them. After a week of everyone being here, nothing is in its right place. The kitchen scissors were discovered on the boules court, the bread knife vanishes every time a baguette needs cutting up and “bed time bear” ( Izzie’s) and “Ted” ( Liam’s) can be found anywhere from the pool house to the potager…but no one can ever remember exactly where they were last seen. Bottle openers and the gas thingy that we use to light candles are also items that the Borrowers must have uses for, as they are never where anyone left them.

Carole gets blamed for tidying things up, Kieron gets blamed for not seeing what is right in front of his eyes, and the kids just carry on regardless. They have endless energy, love going up the slide the wrong way, are desperate to discover hidden ( and forbidden and dangerous) parts of the garden and are becoming more and more fish like as they spend hours playing in the pool.

It has been a great week, and I’m not just saying that because at this particular moment, all is peaceful. I can hear birds chirping outside, I can even hear the longcase clock ticking away…something I haven’t noticed for the last week as there has been far too much else going on.

The 4 children have “got on” really well. Izzie, the youngest at 17 months old, has sometimes seemed to be in charge. The bigger boys have enjoyed including her in their games, and Clark, who is still only 2 and a half has been incredibly inventive with his games in the 3 bears house. I found him setting the ironing board for a meal yesterday, as the table was full.

So,  I feel a little sad that I am missing their day at the beach, but intend to enjoy my day of peace and quiet. It seemed a good opportunity to post a blog and I thought I’d share just a few photos from the last week, with our gorgeous grandchildren.

a moment for discussion between Clark and Izzie

an attempt to get them all jumping in at the same time....Clark deciding to wait a little longer

storm watching

cute cousins

3 men in a boat...and Clark trying to make it 4

A Liam throwing contest

 

Liam and Dexter posing for nana 

 

Images from our visit to the lake in the Black Mountains

Clark having a quiet cup of tea in the 3 Bears' house

Bunting made to celebrate and welcome the children to Caunes. I will have to start work on Flynn's flag, as he is due to be born on 21st September....so next year there will be 5 of them.