Happy Friday

to one and all..

Dash assisting T in rescuing a paper airplane

wooiee there is nothing like hot weather and trying to do a few errands with three kids in tow... some moments are fine, even nice, and fulfilling in that parental sort of way, kids singing and skipping down shady alleys. Tanned legs cheerly making their way past beaming stooped over grannies sweeping doorsteps and past crowds of old men standing or sitting in the shady part of the piazza  drinking small glasses of sweet tea.

Then come the testing grating on your nerves moments when not shouting takes every bit of strength you have, like when you have gone to the bank and your 6 yr old boy scoots up very close in order to get a very good view to the random lady trying to get money out of atm machine in front of us, at the same moment curly topped older girl child teases your younger girl child in stroller -within seconds come a few high pitch screams and the loud sound of the  aluminium water bottle clanging onto the stone floor,  ..it rolls, knocks past to older already annoyed  people waiting in the hot sun and on into the street and traffic - just at the moment you are trying to explain to said 6 yr old - please give the lady some space... atm machines are a time for PRIVACY (for lack of a better word)(privacy a relatively newly introduced term in the house). This slightly chaotic moment is then topped off with curly topped middle child (who is obsessed with finding coins)  screams she has found a MONEY!!!! Younger child (aka destructo) demands A MONEY TOO!!!! I NEED A MONEY!!!!

Moving right along that was peanuts next to the crowded hard ware store experience.... waiting in line, having various small hands belonging to my wee tribe nearly tipping over huge rolled up hoses, black shade material, aluminium trash cans neatly stacked up as I wait in the short but sloooowwww line (and get skipped by a stocky old lady) what can I do?! Arguing in Maltese is not my strong suit. Finally when it is my turn, I try to explain what I mean by a glue gun. Meanwhile boy child insists I ask them for sparklers.. first time I ignored his interrupted question but upon the fifth repeat I finally excuse the child, tell him off quietly and then start trying to explain what a sparkler is in sign language.. with two old men behind the worn out dusty counter looking very very confused... cake candles is what they eventually handed to me... so yes, coming home, out of the sun, is heaven sent.. time for  huge juicy peach and banana smoothies..(the peaches in Malta are absolutely delicious right now) what else can cure frayed nerves right?
I won't bore you with the next thing asked for (aside from painting all the windows with random paintbrushes and muddy water and setting the kittten up in his own boat... in the kiddy pool). Actually (  I only just narrowly rescued the poor little guy from his sea fairing  adventure .. much to the extreme dismay of child 1,2 and 3). Its not even lunch time. Sometimes half a day with the 'tribe' is like one bumpy and uphill treck.... some nice sights and sounds, loving lovely moments but there is no way around the fact that it takes heaps of energy and patience.

For sanity I find a run down to this bay as the sun comes up helps me keep my cool, in moments of being pulled (sometimes literally) in three or four directions. 

Wee little gift I made this week for a friend thinking of making another for the shop...