give to us and we'll give back!

recently, my friend donna told us she would keep our four kids so that brian and i could get away for a night. we were so thankful. it seems the more kids we have, the less offers we get from others to keep them. i just can't figure that one out.

needless to say, if someone does offer, we say, "yes!"
this time as we planned to get away, it seemed like everything was preventing us from going. plumbing issues, last minute company, two families with four kids' schedules, and more contributed to us not even booking our hotel until the day before we were supposed to leave. all day, as i was supposed to be writing "how to care for ..." lists for each kid and finding help with getting kids to and from all their places, i kept procrastinating because i thought it wouldn't really happen.
and lo and behold that night, oliver threw up while we were all sleeping.
our hearts sank.
not to be overly dramatic or anything, but seriously! we've been dying for some AWAY time!!

oliver has a sensitive stomach. there have been many times that he just gets sick and it's not anything contagious. there was still hope~ foolish though it may have been.
we decided we would wait to see if he had his appetite by lunch and if he was feeling better. he certainly seemed so... and donna was still willing to come. amazing.

i'm afraid she is regretting it now though. she is sick today and one of her daughters who came here with her got sick last night!! how horrible do i feel?? i know i couldn't control it and i wouldn't have done it had i known, but still. i. feel. so. bad.
any ideas on how i can make it up to them??

well.
there were other funny things about our night away. not that giving someone nausea for keeping your kids is funny, but you know.
this is part of her email to me after she kept them that just cracked me up:

My favorite part with Oliver was in the a.m. I told the boys to go brush their teeth and put socks and shoes on. Nic just did it - and Oliver went to do it, but then came back and said, "You know, I have something I want to say." O.K., yes? "Well, we never brush our teeth in the morning, ever, and I never, ever wear socks to school." (um, i'm so busted!!~ why do kids always tell the truth when you don't want them to?) It was cute - I think he just didn't like the change in routine. Nic was like, "Oliver, you should wear socks or you're going to get blisters." The night before with the bowl (i told her to give oliver a bowl, JUST IN CASE when he went to bed.) was funny too. I went to get him one, and every one that I brought, Oliver was like "That one is too small." or "My mom never uses an oval one - it has to be round." or finally, "They never bring me a ceramic one, it has to be plastic." After about five tries, I was like "Use this one, O.K.?" He was eventually fine with it.:)

My favorite part with Abi was Friday night while I was getting dinner or something. She grabbed a plastic bar off of her kitchen and hit Oliver with it really hard on the pinky finger while they were watching T.V. Oliver was crying a lot and I felt bad for him, so I comforted him and then asked Abi, "What happened honey?" She said, "I hit him". I said, "I know, what happened though?" She started crying and said, "I hit him!" - with the cute lip sticking out. I said, "I know you hit him, sweetie, but did he do something to make you mad and want to hit him." "Yes!!" she cried "Him make me mad!!" And, I said, "O.K. so what did he do?" And, she cried loudly, "He didn't do anything - sometimes Him just make me mad!!" I was like, "Oh, O.K., I understand.":)
see, i told you they can be like oil and water!!

and the last thing, not included in the email was about nic. he realized at bedtime of course that the next day at school was going to be "twin day." he desperately needed to talk to his friend about what they were wearing as twins. he would be DEVASTATED if he was the only one without a twin!! donna had to call me while b and i were out to dinner to find the phone number for nic to work it out with his buddy. she felt bad. we didn't mind. we know how nic can obsess about the next thing in his mind. donna and he called his friend and found out that "twin day" was actually not for a few weeks. after all she did for him, he says, "well, that was a waste." she said, "well it was good you found out when it was and now you know." he replied, "yeah, it was a waste."
nice.

i just can't understand what is hard about keeping my kids.
good thing i like keeping them so much!

THANK YOU again donna!! you made us feel so loved even though you're suffering now from it! i'm so sorry!!