Full House

Normally it is just the three of us: my wife, my son and I. However, this weekend we had a bit of a full house.

My wife's aunt and uncle came down last week from Minnesota for a visit. They ended up staying at my in-laws' house about twenty minutes from us. With the northern relatives so close to visit, my wife's brother and his family came up from Georgia so that the aunt and uncle could see them and their kids as well. Since my in-laws have a very small house now (only one guest room), we had to put up the rest of the family at our house.

So, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law took the queen-sized day-bed in our guest room. Their two boys, ages 6 and 4, took the bunk beds in my son's room. My son shifted down to the fouton in my 'cave' in the basement. And the twin girls, eighteen months old, slept in their travel playpens in my wife's office area. They also travelled with their dog, an eleven year old schnauzer, so we put our two dogs in the kennel for the weekend (it is just easier all the way around as our dogs really couldn't handle that many guests in the house).

They arrived late on Friday afternoon and headed back home this afternoon after lunch. Luckily, my mother-in-law insisted on handling the big meals (dinners on Friday and Saturday, and lunch on Sunday). We covered breakfast for our houseguests on both mornings and lunch on Saturday (ordered a couple three pizzas from a nearby place).

I have to admit that my nerves could only take that many kids for a couple days at a time before they start to frey (the nerves that is). Don't get me wrong - I love my nephews and nieces. They're wonderful kids. I guess I'm just used to the quiet our house usually has with just the three of us. It has been a long long time since our son was that age. Heck, all four kids adding their ages together barely is more than our son's age. I guess I'm just kind of happy that we've moved beyond that stage in our lives and are more into the time where our son can take care of many things for himself, etc. Still, it was a nice visit - just the right length in time.