Back To Normal - Almost

The older two kids have been back for less than 24 hours and already the house is a sty! I am still in the rosy stage where I can remember clearly how much I missed them so I am letting it go for now. By the end of the weekend though, the end of my tether will probably be reached.

On collecting them from ex-husband's house (their father), eleven year old son lost no time in telling me about the apparent infestation of various insects at their holiday accommodation. He can be given to exaggeration so in reality there were probably a couple of ants in the bathroom, but son made it sound like he'd spent two weeks in a Thai prison rather than a villa in La Manga. Both kids complained about earwigs in the bedroom and son claimed that he could 'only sleep with a blanket over my head or wearing swimming earplugs in case an earwig crawled in my ear in the night'. They both declared themselves 'glad to be home'. In son's case this meant disappearing to his room for the next 3 hours to update himself on the world of the PS3, while on entering the house and before even putting her bag down nine-year-old daughter insisted on baking a cake. At 4pm with the dinner on and the toddler to feed I felt it better to wait til the next day, but it seems she had spent the whole two weeks planning a cookery session as soon as she was back under our roof and I just didn't have the heart to try and talk her out of it.

Baby daughter was thrilled to see them and was immediately changed into the pink fringed 'La Manga' t-shirt dress they had bought for her. And son presented lovely fiance with a Ferrari keyring so that 'even though you don't have one, people will think you do'. I was amazed at how well the kids know him. Lovely fiance was delighted.

As I write this both the older kids are still in bed and the house is still fairly quiet as I am feeding the small one's current obsession with 'In the Night Garden' while I have a cup of coffee. I am enjoying the calm before the storm as when I mentioned that I'd found the perfect wedding shoes for elder daughter (bit of a heel so she feels grown up, but sensible enough that she still looks like a child rather than a nightclubbing teenager) she requested that we go and try them on today. This can only result in an argument of mega-proportions for which I am bracing myself, as her yardstick for wedding shoes seems to be whether or not they would be worn by Sharpay in High School Musical.

Overall though, as I said to lovely fiance last night, I'm happy because all my babies are back under one roof. It's just a question of how long the parental patience I've built up in their absence will last me!