Hurricane Laurie

I had a friend call me up this week, "Lisa, are you feeling okay? It's just that you haven't updated your blog, responded to e-mails, or posted anything on the SAHM group."

My mother-in-law was in town.

When Laurie (the MIL) comes to visit it resembles a hurricane. You can plan all you want. But, you never really know what is coming until it is here. Honestly, that probably only applies to the color of highlights in Laurie's hair. But whenever she comes to visit it is non-stop activity. She jumps right into our everyday routines so we can work hard and play hard. The aftermath, aka detox, is the hardest part. Hurricane Laurie leaves behind 7 sleep deprived, sugar high, "magic card"-less people that spend a week trying to recover while recalling the sweet adventures of the week before.

Laurie and I left with 5 kids and a magic card can create quite the storm. Neither of us bat an eye on taking 5 kids anywhere. The jury is still out whether my 5 kids in 5 years beats her 6 kids in 8 years. Some of our adventures included:

* Janie & Jack: An upscale children's boutique where we reverted back to our doll playing years picking out new outfits, including shoes, for the girls; while trying to keep the boys from dismantling the entire shop.

* The Melting Pot: The kids had a blast dipping into the cheese and chocolate fondues and cooking their own meat in boiling broth on a pot in the middle of the table. The adults attempted to keep the kids from burning themselves and performing search and rescue missions on all the food that didn't stay on the fondue forks. Good thing the two tables next to us were so drunk they didn't even notice us.

* Fruit Farm Market: We couldn't help ourselves and loaded up on over 60 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. Getting it all to the car a block away, along with the kids was the interesting part.

* Candy Store: Laurie pulled the ace on this one and divied up tasks. My job was to regulate the amount of candy each child put into their sacks while Laurie scouted out some fun treats for the adults and swiped her magic card.

Looking back, we can't believe all that we did in just 10 days, and look forward to her coming again.