Crazy busy weekend with family and fun

So Spring arrived this weekend (finally!) and we couldn't wait to get out of the house. We left the house after work on Friday and didn't stop until the kids' bedtime last night.

Here's some of the things we did.

Took the kids to the Wharf Rat, a Baltimore bar, Friday after work. Beer tasting. Greasy food. No dishes. Winning.

They kept harassing the bartender, who was ridiculously patient with them.

Walked along the water in Fells Point. Found a pirate's stand. Said "Aaaar!" a lot.

Clair? What are you doing here, darling?

Took the kids' cousins Russy, Matty and Kwahli (my sister Kadija's youngest) duckpin bowling. Madness and hilarity ensued.

Almost all of Clair's balls had to be helped along by the alley attendant, or retrieved with a stick, because she rolled them so slowly.

I hate that this picture is blurry, because they were so excited to have knocked down four pins. LOL.

After about 10 minutes of insanity, my sister decided it was necessary to explain the rules to the children, including that they should NOT press the reset button while someone else is bowling, no matter how bad you REALLY want to push it. And that each kid gets to bowl TWO TIMES and then it's someone else's turn. All of the lessons were so ignored.

Here's Tahira retrieving Matty, who was running down someone else's lane. Hahaha!

Tried to do a nighttime Easter egg hunt later that evening at Druid Hill Park, but there were 10 million people, and it was a crazy, ghetto, unorganized mess, so we didn't get to find any eggs. But the kids barely cared because they had flashlights, lots of hills to roll down, and a Baltimore Hon on stilts!

Dean: "Is she real?" Then she moved. Dean: "She's REAL!"

At home that night, we did our own nighttime Easter egg hunt with the four older boys. And we let them eat all the candy they found inside their eggs. You should have seen them stuffing chocolate eggs and Gummi bears in their mouths. You would think we NEVER give them sweets. Such drama with the stuffing and the gorging and the mmmmm-ing and finger-licking. Academy awards for all my kids. Pronto.

We put the kids to bed around 9:30 and then sat up like adults, listening to Maxwell, Sade, Erykah Badu and Mos Def, talking into the wee hours and drinking a deeeeelicious cocktail my sister made with muddled blackberries, ginger, lemon, mint and gin. Yummmy!

Sunday, somehow, we peeled ourselves out of bed and took the whole lot to church. THAT was an adventure! But so worth it. You know I like going to church; but I really, really enjoy it right around Easter. So much positive, redemptive energy. So much encouragement to get better, help others, love and be loved.

The rest of the day, we spent preparing for the work week, cooking and cleaning up after the kids (which was useless and I don't know why I kept trying), refereeing fights and "he's not sharing!" fests, and letting the kids play outside with our next-door neighbors.

Tahira left with her family and Kwahil around 8 p.m. Sunday. We didn't even bother to bathe the kids (despite more hill-rolling) and just threw their PJs on and tossed them in bed.

When I left the house this morning at 8:15, they were all still asleep! I love it when we run those kids ragged like that. Can't think of a better way to start their spring break than exhausted and full of family-love.

Posted this photo on Facebook, with this caption: When the house is full of the kids' cousins, I'm thankful for so many things. Among them: Big families. Provisions from God to be able to feed and entertain the band of crazies. Giggles and silliness. My IUD.

Yay for SPRING!