Play Date

A little background before I get into the play date blog . . . I’ve known my friend since high school. She was class of ’99 and I was class of ’98. We lost touch after I graduated. We ran into each other about 2 years after high school and caught up for a few minutes and really hadn’t talked until about 2 ½ years ago. We found each other on MySpace and reacquainted ourselves since so many years had gone by since we last saw each other. Another year goes by and now we both have Facebook accounts. We began talking more frequently through messages and comments on each other’s web pages. She has 4 children now and I, of course have the 3. Her children are 8 yrs old, 5 yrs old, 3 yrs old and her baby who will celebrating his first birthday in July.

Today my friend brought her kids over for a play date. We had just been to her house last week so the kids were all excited to see each other again so soon.

My friend is also a stay-at-home mom and can relate to the craziness of managing multiple children running through the house day in and day out. So, we’ve been making fairly regular play dates to give each other the chance to get out of the house and hang out with another grown up while our kids play together. It’s great for us because all our children are all close in ages so everyone has someone to play with. We take turns going to each other’s houses. Fortunately we live relatively close to each other so it’s not a terrible inconvenience to pack up our broods and travel far for visits. Our kids really seem to have fun playing together and even our babies, who are just a mere 4 months apart, are buddies.

The house is immediately filled with children running around and finding things to do. John and my friend's 2 daughters immediately get into the baby pool and play, my friend's oldest son and Tabytha go off and hang out and her 11 month old is stuck in the kitchen with me and my friend because Jessica was napping when they got to our house. I get lunch fixed for the kids, they take a break to eat and then get back to playing. By now Jessica has woken up and the big kids all go play in the girls room while my friend, her 11 month old, Jessica and I chill in the living room for a bit. After some indoor playing the kids all go outside to play. They play on the swing set, rollercoaster and moon bounce. I LOVE seeing the kids all playing together. Now, it’s not always perfect, there’s 7 kids running around, it’s not all fun and giggles every second. For example, John had one of Tabytha’s fairy princess wands and hit the 3 yr old on the head. I took the wand and made him give her a hug and kiss to say he was sorry. She accepted his ‘apology’ and things were fine. It gets kinda crazy with so many children together and my friend and I are WAAAY outnumbered but all the kids are good about listening to us (if the kids ever figure out they outnumber us almost 4 to 1 they may ban together in mutiny and trample all over us, lol.). But for now, my friend and I still have control and even though there’s a little scuffle here and there, in the end, everyone has a good time playing together. So, until the next play date Tabytha will be asking me everyday “Mommy, when are we gonna go to your friend's house for a play date again?”