Five Against One.

When Lily first started having sleepovers with her 3 best friends the whole idea of it made me a little jittery to be honest. How on earth was I going to handle 5 kiddies? I know the girls really well, they are sisters and we spend loads of time together but having them here all night was a different matter entirely. The first time I don't think I relaxed for one second but somehow as the sleepovers have happened more and more I must have got used to it because yesterday when I went and picked the girls up I didn't bat an eyelash. We threw all the car seats in the car and I made sure everyone was buckled in tight and off we zoomed with barely a see ya soon to Hollis.

After a couple of hours of madcap playing and some dinner I asked the girls if they wanted to head out to an ice cream shop for dessert. Of course they did. So we headed back into the car and I, alone, took 5 girls out for ice cream with out thinking about it. It wasn't until we pulled into a parking apace that I said to them that there was only one of me and five of them so they needed to be on their best behaviour. They were and all was well. In fact the whole outing was a piece of cake and I noticed something: when you have 5 children with you, who all happen to look similar, people assume you have 5 children and instead of the ever annoying, mind grating, "are they adopted", question I was asked a couple of times by very amazed women, "you have 5 children". It was really rather refreshing that people actually assumed they were mine for a change. They giggled their way through ice cream and we returned home for some more madcap playing and tomfoolery until bath and bedtime. They play so well together and I love, LOVE to hear the giggles that erupt from them. I don't know two other sets of siblings that spend this much time together that play so well.

Considering that they were still going strong last night at 10.30 and Rosie is only 3, I was mortified when I was awoken before 7! Oh well such is life and at least today Jacob was here. After starting the day as a short order cook we rounded everyone up dressed them and headed out for a day of fun at the zoo. I have now figured out the fastest way to get everything done with 5 kiddos and it works for me. In fact what used to take me forever is now just second nature. I am impressing the socks off of myself. Don't panic I have no intentions of growing my brood quite that much. Although on two separate occasions today when Jacob and I were both asked if all the girls were ours we both said, no we have 3 and 2 are our friends....oopps! Duh!

We have had membership at the zoo since the year Lily came home and I can honestly say today was the most fun we have ever had there. We rented a bike, walked miles, ate lunch, had lemonades, chased lots of girls and generally laughed ourselves silly.

Lily the bat


Anlei the bat


I was standing on the other side of a waterfall.


Digging for Dinosaur bones


The huge zoo bike. THe girls loved this thing...too bad their legs were not longing enough to help pedal!


Joie and Rosie


Trevi and Rosie and a little Indian Deer thingy


Cute little otter.


Jacob, Lily and a friend.


By the time we had made it to the end of the zoo parking lot 2 of the 5 were asleep! They woke up when we pulled into the driveway and immediately flew back into action. We ate dinner and threw everyone into the tub. If the ring around the tub is any indicator of the fun these girls had today then it must have been a banner day cos the bath was really nasty. I almost put them back in again ! We drove everyone home wearing their jammies cos we knew that it would be late and frankly it would be a nice surprise for Hollis to not have to do it and if my girls fell asleep on the way back we could just scoop them inside and put them to bed. It also added to the fun of the day...who knew!

Lesson learnt.......I can do five with my eyes wide shut!