Thursday = Hump Day

Apparently, according to my husband, I had too much time on my hands today......
It would appear Thursday's are our "hump day". If there's going to be tears and tantrums, mischief or mardy's, it'll be on a Thursday.
Firstly, well done to our extra guest last night. I only had two minor interruptions through the night. One from Ruby because she needed the toilet and the other from our guest and to be fair to her, I'd put it down to Ruby as our guest called out for me 5 minutes after Ruby's yelp. All in all the sleepover was a success and I had to wake the girlies up at 7.30am.
I managed to get 5 children washed and dressed before Dude and Missimo were dropped off. Then 7 children fed and out of the house by 9am :o)
The gang were fabulous at helping me set up for Totstime and played really well.
On the way home Dude asked if he could have a nap after lunch. I treated them all to some alphabet spaghetti for lunch.
Aj was asleep in the car, Dude, Missimo, DM and Ruby were playing in the garden, and Penny was pottering with her finger in her mouth. They all seemed really lethargic and in need of a smile, so I made their names out of the spaghetti. It worked a treat, they all loved it :o)
Their afternoon was chilled, they laid on the settee, all cuddled up on each other and watched Cinderella followed by Horton Hears a Who. I hung out two loads of washing, put on another two loads and made dinner.
R&P both fell asleep during Horton, experience allows them 20 minutes, fortunately Penny woke herself but Ruby had to be woke up :o( She was seriously grumpy. We tried the cuddle technique, I woke her up and instantly swooped her into a cuddle. After a minute or two I started to talk to her and get her interest into drawing or playing - nope! I sat and had cuddles with R&P together for about 10 mins. Every time I put Ruby down she just started crying and shouting at me. I tried distracting her with toys, but she just wouldn't give in. In the end I took her to her bedroom and explained calmly that she couldn't keep screaming and crying at me. I asked her to stay there until she had stopped crying and that she could then come down. She got herself in a sorry state. I went back up after 10 mins and she was still going. I walked into her room and sat beside her. We had a cuddle and then I brought her back downstairs. We didn't last 5 minutes before she was back upstairs in her bedroom! I held her hand down the stairs, but let go to pop into the kitchen. She stressed and started crying. I asked her to stop and she did, but then when I turned to stir dinner she started again. When I asked her what was wrong she just cried. I ended up putting her back in her room. As I sat in the lounge, we could hear Ruby screaming and crying. Penny turned to me and said "Mummy, Ruby need duddle you" - bless, even at two years old she's so aware!
I went back up to Ruby, we had another cuddle and a chat and she came downstairs. She stayed downstairs this time.
I also had DM have a crying session because she was tired and didn't want to go to gymnastics.... We sat and had a chat, and she wanted to stay with Dude & Missimo. Eventually she came round and went to gymnastics :o) My issue with her not going to clubs like her gymnastics and swimming is that our belts are extremely tight at the moment money wise and we can't afford to waste money by paying for a lesson that DM doesn't go too.
Whilst all this was going on Dude and Missimo were also playing up. Missimo was sat quietly playing with Aj when Dude tried to wind Missimo up by taking toys from her. He was tired and bored. Then Missimo decided to start calling Dude silly names - oh my word - at one point I felt like screaming. In the end, I promised Dude and Missimo they could have dinner with us and slowly the kiddies began to behave! Calv joined us for dinner and it was lovely to have us all together.
I've been out again to swagger-size. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and definitely danced off some tension! I have very little rhythm and definitely two left feet but it's a giggle with good friends :o)
I have a good friend's 40th birthday party to prepare for tomorrow. I have a few final details to complete and pull together and then plan to dress the function room on Saturday. I love parties! I love making birthday's special for people; to see their faces full of emotions and happiness is incredible! And hopefully there'll be lots of happy memories made this Saturday :o)