NotSheep

Some statistics for you:

#1: Last night, seventeen children slept in my house (oh, and three adults).

If you think that sounds scary, try this for size:

#2: Nearly a third of them were mine

Or this:

#3: So far, they have eaten:
- 9 very large pizzas
- 16 hot dogs
- about a third of a box of 60 small packets of assorted crisp-type snacks
- a bag of chocolate bars
- a box of gummi bears
- another box of something else (I don’t know what, because by the time I saw the box, it was empty
- half a large chocolate birthday cake
- a large bag of M&Ms
- lots of fizzy drinks
- several small boxes and part of a large box of breakfast cereal
- at least one loaf of bread

If you’re still not scared, then you should definitely have a large family

Barney’s birthday party/sleepover was last night. Actually, it’s still happening. I’ve hidden in my bedroom for five minutes to blog

The first child arrived at about 3 pm, with others starting to appear from 6 pm onwards. They wreaked havoc in the living-room while the adults hid out in the kitchen Shortly after 7, we threw hot-dogs and home-made pizza at them, followed by various junk food items. They sang “Happy Birthday” and Barney blew out his candles. When I say “sang”, I am using the word very loosely. (A bit like the school song in the Harry Potter books, for those who remember that.) It was also very loud. When the candle-blowing-out and cheering was over, Jack was sitting against the wall crying - I thought he was scared, but it turned out he’d wanted to blow out candles, so I re-lit one of them and then “helped” him blow it out (i.e. I blew it out and he stared at it, attempting to extinguish it by sheer force of will).

Another hour or two of kids bouncing around, then we told them to get their pyjamas on and we put on a DVD. They watched The Incredibles, followed by The Princess Bride (accompanied by much shouting of “Inconceivable!” by various children). And then those who had not already made their way upstairs were shooed up to bed. Well - it was nearly 1 am

Ten boys started the night in George and Freddy’s room (it’s a big room). Eight of them were still there this morning (one had gone into K, his mum, who was sleeping in the next bedroom, and one had gone into Barney’s room, which had deliberately been left empty as a bolt-hole for anyone for whom the noise and action was getting too much). Three girls and one boy (younger brother of two of the girls) spent the night on the sofa-bed and sofa in the living-room. Two boys in with us, and one girl in with K (also her mum).

By 1.30, we’d managed to get most of them quiet, and we’d gone to bed too. At 2.20, K went in and told R to stop jumping on the other boys and hitting them over the head with pillows. (At this point I should mention that R is Very Bouncy, and his own mother says he has a voice like a fog-horn). At 3 am, I went in and told R to take his pillow and blanket out to the landing and go to sleep there. This morning, several of the other boys have expressed appreciation for that instruction

I think the first kids were up at about 6.45 am. Scratchy got up with them, having gone to bed around midnight. When he left at 8 am with Barney, George and Freddy for swimming lessons, K took over kitchen duty until I got down with Toby at about 8.30.

The last two kids emerged from their sleeping-bags at about 10 am. Five minutes later, the father of one of those two arrived at the front door to collect him, as his family were heading to the shops. Since he hadn’t eaten and wasn’t dressed and definitely wasn’t ready to leave yet, we said he might as well stay. There will be quite a few kids here until at least mid-afternoon - at least two sets of parents were going out on dates last night, and at least one set are using today to get their Christmas shopping done. I should have charged for this

I love parties