Today I Fell Over In The Snow

I volunteered today with the help of a good friend to take care of another lady's 2 disabled children.
I did this a little hesitantly because there was no school today so I had my little brood of 6.
I was not sure how they would all get on together and whether or not tempers would flare and as one of them is 19 and has a bit of a history, I had concerns.
But, seriously, the woman really needed a break.
Her daughter had just delivered and she had been at the hospital with her and had had little sleep for the past couple of days. So, knowing how that goes, I volunteered.
There were a little frayed tempers here and there but, once I showed the older girl the bedroom with the video games and closed the door so that the little ones wouldn't walk in front of the tv and annoy her. She was sweet as. Found out that she also likes jigsaw puzzles so we did a couple of those too.
Will have to stock up on those and chocolate chip cookies for next time.
The younger one is sweet.
She is the same age as Kathleen and has the face of an angel.
She tried valiantly to keep up with Rachel and Sarah and made a pretty good attempt at trying to master rollerskates.
I think the coup de grace was when I bundled up the four girls and took them outside to my snow laden back yard and we had a wonderful snow ball fight.
Of course, in my infinite wisdom, not knowing that I was going to be attacked in such a fashion, I was still wearing a t-shirt and no gloves.
Good thing I had my sheepskin slippers from NZ or I would really have been cold.
Incidently, it is possible to skate while wearing those slippers although, the girls thought my pirouette looked a little suspect.
Kathleen took off her gloves as soon as she got around the corner of the house and ran like the wind up and down the backyard, sporting her new hairdo that makes her look a little like Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap.
I don't know about them but, I sure had a lot of fun. But if their giggles were anything to go by, I am very sure they enjoyed themselves.
And the best way to tell if a child enjoyed themselves at your house, when her grandmother came to pick her up, she didn't want to go home.
I have no doubt that there will be a next time.
Respite workers, good ones, are awfully hard to come by in small town America so we may end up getting the company who provides the workers to hire us.