the neighborhood

When we first moved to our neighborhood, it was fairly desserted. Now, there is no shortage of friends and it seems like they all end up in our backyard. I've always said that I want to be the hangout house -- that way I always know where my kids are and what they are up to! This is a challenge for Ryan and me because our family is rather calm and laid-back (and we like things neat and tidy). So an extra six kids makes it a bit crazy, but also extremely fun for our kids. The photo above shows the scene from our backyard yesterday afternoon. Now, if you've been to our house you know that our playset is meant for kids about 5 years old and younger. But this group of 8 kids found plenty of things to do with buckets of water, sand, a very small playhouse (in which they fit 4 children), and short slides and small swings. Although I think children are like stray cats and if you feed them, they'll keep coming back . . . I did bring out the ice cream to loud cheers! Brody is the little boy next to Elliott - he lives right next door. But don't ask me the names of all the other kids, because I can't remember them all! And btw, that is only half of the family - their are 10 kids!

We also managed to play a late round of golf - 9 holes at Wild Marsh on their busiest day ever in the history of the course. Ryan played from the black tees and the kids played from the 150's. I served as caddy and tried to make sure no one got hit with a club or a ball. Pancakes at Perkins at 8 o'clock and the kids were asleep before they hit their pillows.