An Invention of Epic Proportions

I don't know if I'm a genius, or if other people know about this wonderful invention already and I am just slow on the uptake, but if you are not aware, I will share my knowledge with you and you can all benefit from it.  It's a wonderful thing.  It'll make your summer days a breeze.  It will leave you with hours of free time to read (I've read 30 chapters today) or get things done around the house.  It's a beautiful time and money saving invention...not to mention stress reducer and headache banisher.  Have I talked it up sufficiently?  Do you really want to know what it is?

It's not really an invention, per say...it's more of a life choice.  And here is the genius of a life choice I made 1 year ago.

Live in a neighbourhood where there are lots of kids, one of which needs to be about 2-4 years older than your own.  I call this invention, Neighbourhood Nick.

Neighbourhood Nick is a boy that lives down the street from us and is about 10 or 11 years old.  There is only one other kid on the street in his age group.  His parents work, so he's home all day with his older brother, who mostly sits in the dark basement playing video games or whatever.  I'm assuming that's what he does because we never see him.  Therefore Nick is left to find other sources of entertainment.  His source of entertainment comes in the form of my children...plus a few other neighbourhood kids.  They are all younger then him, ranging in age from 2 1/2 to 8.

Nick walks around the neighbourhood every morning like the pied piper he is, carrying his skate board, knocking on doors and inviting all the neighbourhood kids to come out to play.  And the kids want to oh so badly.  Another day with Neighbourhood Nick!  It shall be glorious, they say.

When Logan is involved in the playing, they congregate in our backyard and play in the kiddie pool, or sprinkler or invent super hero games.  They play hide and seek.  Yesterday, I had 7 kids in my backyard for about 4 hours.  When they get tired of our backyard, they congregate down the street in Owen's backyard.  I believe Owen's mother has been on to this genius invention for a few years now.

How could 7 kids in your backyard possibly equate to money-saving, stress reduction and headache banishing, you say?  Easy.  While my kids are happily entertained in the backyard for hours on end with Neighbourhood Nick who seems to have boundless energy, a limitless imagination for fun games, and exudes high levels of patience for kids of all ages and their needs and whines and pouts, I am in my yard weeding, mowing, watering, or in my house doing dishes, laundry, vacuuming, cleaning.  And when those things get done without a bazillion interruptions, they get done SO quickly.  Which leaves me with lots of time to sit and read 30 chapters of my book.

And, when Logan is napping?  Nick takes the neighbourhood kids to the park or on a bike ride, because they're tired of being cooped up in our backyard all morning and need to spring free...and I'm happy to let them spring free.  You want to take my older two kids to the park while my little one sleeps and leave me home alone ALL afternoon?  I don't know...this is such a tough choice...

Oh, and whoever Neighbourhood Nick's mother is...she's a good mother.  Neighbourhood Nick is polite.  He enjoys the glorious days of summer and wants to be outside, all day.  He never wants to come into the house to use our bathroom or play with toys, and therefore the children stay outside, keeping my clean house clean.  He never asks for things and is very grateful.  He's very accommodating to my two-year-old who I believe has fallen in love with Neighbourhood Nick.  Plus, the other day, Neighbourhood Nick took Max on a bike ride to the spider park.  On the way the ice-cream truck went by.  Neighbourhood Nick bought my son an ice-cream cone with his own money...unbeknownst to me.  Amazing.

And at the end of the day, my kids are so exhausted from all the fun they've had with Neighbourhood Nick that they just can't keep their eyes open and ask if they can go to bed early.  Am I shameless?

This has been my life for 2 weeks now.  I love my life.  And all it costs me is a couple of glasses of water every once and a while, and the occasional handful of freezies.  Brilliant.  Neighbourhood Nick.  You're welcome anytime.