Neighborhood Kids

Last week I went for a walk for the first time since early in my last pregnancy. It was short, but as I got close to our house a few kids wanted me to walk with them as they went to get water. I pointed to my house and told them that I needed to get back home. They decided to escort me. They were really sweet so I sent them home with some extra muffins we had laying around. They said they would return the next day and I thought it would be nice to have them over to play with Jude so I agreed. There were only 3 of them. They did return the next day, but at a really inconvenient time so I told them to come back the next day. The next day the 3 kids had turned into 12! We got out a ball to play with, but most of them followed me around talking to me and touching my hair! A few of the younger ones did play with Jude a little, but I think he was overwhelmed by so many kids, as was I. Most of the kids had buckets with them and were headed to get water when they left our house. One started trying to fill his bucket from our spicket. It is just a spicket sticking out of the ground and I don't think he had any clue that this water was coming from a tank which Carson has to go buy water to fill. Anyway, I kept telling him to stop and he would stop and then start again 10 seconds later. At that point they had been their quite a while and I told them it was time to leave. As the kid with the full bucket of water approached the gate, Carson explained to him that we have to go get our water as well and it's not ok to take it. They've been coming back asking to play and I would love to let these kids play in our yard, but I'm just not sure I can handle so many at once. I'd love to figure out a way to let just a few at a time in to play with Jude and have a healthy snack, but I'm not sure how to approach that just yet. Here is a picture of some of the kids that Carson's mom took:

While they were playing one of the girls (maybe 7 years old?) picked up a glass soda bottle and walked around pretending she was drunk. Her performance was impressive from a theatrical standpoint. Obviously she has seen the real thing. This wasn't exactly a surprise, but the reality is still sad.