Then the merry making began. The kids went straight for all the instruments. Jammed together for quite a long time. Until I thought I better set a time when everyone should quieten down. So I told them 7.30pm. I would keep the drum sticks. The keyboard was still ok but the drums were really deafening. :-)
Anna (Hoover) on the guiro, ds1 on the drumset, Tim on the Chinese drum. Some others would conduct.
They took turns very well. They kept swapping instruments. So right: Daniel on the chinese drums, Anna on the drumset, and below, ds2 on the keyboard.
From 5pm to 7.30pm, that was basically what they did. In between, they did stop to eat and drink, then it was back to playing.
7.30pm, I reminded Tim to finish his homework then he can play again. I kept the drumsticks as promised. Then played with Daniel while the rest played by themselves.
Daniel is also a breastfed child, and he's still nursing. I hoped that he would not miss his mom too much and start crying, so whenever he got bored with anything, I switched a game. So you can see, I got the Twister mats, trains, boxes and toys all strewn ard the floor after some time. Haha, but I did have a blast playing with him. Got to know him much better. He just turned 2 in Nov or early Dec.
Then the kids played Curious George games on the laptop. Which were challenging enough for the older ones, cos it requires thinking and strategy (physics principles again), yet entertaining for the younger ones. So all the 6 were doing that at one point in time. Right pic: all were cheering loudly for Nathan who managed to tip the meatball accurately onto the spaghetti plate (using angles and momentum).
8pm: I had set the alarm clock, fortunately. Medicine time! Anna and Tim needed their medicines for allergies. Anna has had liver transplant when she was a baby so she needed medication at a strict timing. Both were really good at swallowing their pills! I am impressed. I think I gave my mom a hard time when I was younger, regarding eating medicine.
Around 8.30pm, Dh returned home. Good, another pair of hands to watch over them.
Daniel and I happened to be playing the game of "drinking water" at that time. I wanted all of them to be hydrated, esp since they were shouting and cheering so much. The older ones had no problems. Daniel liked the Pixar Cars movie, and ds2 happened to have such a plastic cup. So I filled it with a little water at a time, and he'll drink some from his cup, then I drink (from my own cup), then his turn and so on. That explains his slightly wet tee (below). Cos he liked to just flip the whole cup up suddenly to drink (which made me wonder if he used a sippy cup at home, and if I should have done that too, oops).
We played stickers for awhile after that, then I told him his clothes were wet, why don;t we change into his PJs.
Changed his diaper and all also. Then changed ds2 and cleaned both of them up. Then I brushed ds2's teeth. When Daniel saw that, he also wanted to brush teeth. Like insisted. So I got another toothbrush for him, and he brushed on his own. He really loves to do that!
His parents brought his playpen for him to sleep in also. Just when I was wondering if I should start getting him to sleep, his parents called, saying they are on the way back, and would reach at around 9+pm, which was in about 20min. So I thought, no need..
I then brought out the books I borrowed from the library, wanting to read to the younger ones, but Anna ended up reading them instead (above). :-)
Time passed quickly when there was a lot to do. Their parents came and then they all went home.
It was a great experience. I myself would never have 6 kids, so I appreciated this opportunity. Furthermore my kids had great playmates. I would do it more often for them if they wanted! Their kids are very good kids, so it was no problem at all.
