A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

My kids are, that is. Simply amazing. They are SO talented, and one of their specialties is turning a reasonably tidy house into something straight out of that "Twister" movie in no time flat. (All right, Ulli, you can stop laughing now, I said REASONABLY tidy, right?)

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So you might remember that our neighbours had their second baby last week. They were up all night and being the tender soul that I am I joined them. There was a huge thunderstorm and every time it thundered the baby monitor on my nightstand came to life. So I lay awake most of the night listening and waiting if Katharina was waking up. (She was sleeping in the house next door all by herself.) At 6am I finally gave up and made myself a coffee. And another.

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Anyway, that afternoon after Katharina was picked up and law and order were reinstated I declared it was "quiet time". Finn and Lily were all for it. A short time later 3 humans and 265492 stuffed animals were on my bed. Only it wasn't a bed. It was a "ship" and the "mean captain" had taken all 265495 of us captive and we were sailing some stormy seas. But Finn and Lily had a "good nidea" as Lily likes to say. (She thinks it is "a nidea", not "an idea", so she keeps having lots of "good nideas!". But I digress.) Finn liked Lily's nidea a lot and so they both proceeded to take their clothes off in order to "swim to shore." I told them I would stay on board because I needed a bit more rest. Finn and Lily safely made it to shore, as was evident when I heard what sounded like a toy box being emptied on the floor in Finn's bedroom.

And the last thing I remember is my sweet little Lily poking her sweet little head in my bedroom and asking in her sweet little voice, "Mama, can we close your bedroom door?". - "ABSOLUTELY NOT! DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO TURN THIS PLACE INTO IF I SO MUCH AS CLOSE ONE EYE?!" That's what I thought, at least. What came out sounded more like, "Mmmmph."

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I woke up disoriented and ready to shove Neil out of bed, like I lovingly do each morning, only he wasn't there, I was dressed and the clock read 3pm. Oh yeah, right. "Quiet time" had started at 2:30. It was quiet all right. Very quiet. I opened my door. Not a sound. Where were my kids!? Had they run outside? Had they let the omnipresent "stranger" into the house? And where were the other 265492 occupants of my "ship"? I peeked into Finn's bedroom - no kids.

Following the path of destruction, I peeked into Lily's. Ditto.

I ventured downstairs in my quiet house and was reunited with the other prisoners. I'm happy to report they had obviously found refuge on an island.

Big Mouse and Little Mouse (or is it Big Bear and Little Bear?) were partying hard ...

while gruesome scenes were playing out in the ocean underneath (note the baby crocodile biting his mother to make her let go of the mouse).

And, finally, I found them. Happily reading books, not making a sound. What a successful "quiet time"! And it even gave us something to do for the rest of the day...