<p>Pretty sure she means the sister gave the kids showers…</p>
<p>But it is a lot more fun imagining kids who never bathed and speculate…</p>
<p>Do really little kids take showers, though? I thought with like toddler-age kids, it was pretty much all baths, and even if these kids were a bit older, you’d think they’d be familiar with the process?</p>
<p>No ages were posted. Maybe the OP will clue us in on how old they are/were.</p>
<p>My two year old sister takes showers sometimes. She mostly takes baths, but if she needs a quick wash, she’ll take a shower…</p>
<p>Good to know, early_college. My experience with really little kids is pretty limited. :)</p>
<p>So…a dear friend came for a visit from the mid west. No allergies…only food request: nonfat yogurt and a banana for each day she was here. Morning she left she got up early and stripped her bed and washed and dried her linens.</p>
<p>She will be coming back…again and again. I am delighted.</p>
<p>Then there’s the brother-in-law of a friend who was was among the group unexpectedly stranded at our house for 3 days during a massive snowstorm. Turns out he was a professional chef who carried his own spices and other food essentials when traveling. He cooked almost every meal and held mini seminars where he taught us all sorts of cooking tricks. I’m inviting him back the next time we’re expecting a Nor’easter!</p>
<p>I’m only on page 16, but I can’t wait any longer to post. When DH’s brother married, the bride’s mother went overboard on guidelines and rules (reserved parking spaces for the bridal party, when parking was not a problem). I figured out how bizarre the family was when they took family photos specifically without certain family members, like the grandson with Down Syndrome. His parents came to the wedding but skipped the reception, because their children were not invited (most likely due to not being perfect). Our side had four grandchildren under the age of three, they were left with sitters in the hotel and we brought them to the reception toward the end. My D then four months old had SIDS incident that DAY and my mother, although present, was mere weeks from her own death. I’m sure I am not adequately expressing my angst at the day’s trauma and how I just tried as hard as I could to play along, while I really just wanted to grab my D and run away. BTW, that marriage didn’t last.</p>
<p>/////separate incident/////</p>
<p>A few weeks later, in another part of the country, my mother died. In this small town, there was one department store. In answer to the “what can we do questions?” I asked a friend of my mother’s to pick up a pair of pantyhose for me…Hanes Silk Refections, Travel Buff, Size A (I still remember). The reply? What you have on looks just fine.</p>
<p>A day later, after the funeral, burial, and reception back at the house, my parents golf friends said goodbye about 3pm, because they were all running off to a tee time together. My father was crushed. Really, it would have been better off unsaid.</p>
<p>Mom22039 I’m so sorry. How thoughtless. I don’t ask what can I do anymore, I just say I’m going to the grocery, the cleaners, etc., what and who can I pick up and when.</p>
<p>This thread is a riot. Ok…how about a relative who, upon arrival at the wedding reception of a family member, switched a BUNCH of the table numbers because this relative wanted certain people at tables near her? We insisted she mind her own business and put them back on the original tables! Oh did I mention that her swaps included the wedding party? Nervy!</p>
<p>How about this one? My mother hosted her mother’s 80th birthday party at our house. My cousin’s husband was the snobby oenephile type who brought his own wine to parties and didn’t share it with anyone else! So this time he sneaks out to the kitchen and takes a slice out of the big cake, BEFORE it had been presented to my grandmother. Can you believe it?? He thought it was hysterical. Fortunately, he divorced my cousin so we don’t have to contend with him anymore. It reminded me of the recent episode of Housewives of Orange County where someone ate the sugar bow off of Heather’s cake before it was brought out!</p>
<p>Sue22, that chef would be a welcome guest to most of us. Please let us know when he has a hankering to visit Honolulu! We could use a great chef. LOL! I would definitely invite the guy back & not wait for a storm!</p>
<p>Morning she left she got up early and stripped her bed and washed and dried her linens</p>
<p>My mom taught us to always do that when we stayed at someone’s home. (thanks Mom!)</p>
<p>At some formal event for my folks, we had H (who at the time was my BF) watch sister’s infant for her, as NO children were invited to the event. He was comfortably esconced in my parents’ room (which they got for having a party in the hotel ballroom). H was told that the baby would NOT be hungry because she had just been fed. H was very unused to babies, but being a good sport, was game to try. He ordered himself room service & baby proceeded to get very fussy–he changed diaper, walked baby, sang to baby, and finally gave baby bottle, which baby wolfed down immediately & then quieted! H was amazed but pleased that he was able to enjoy his meal & baby finally settled. My sister was astounded that baby was hungry and drank the entire bottle so quickly.</p>
<p>My SIL comes from a large family and several years ago her parents planned a trip to Disney World for SIl and her 4 siblings, spouses, and children. Our MIL (SIL’s and mine too) announced that she had always wanted to go to Disney World so she was going too. She didn’t even cough up money for her own room and instead slept on a cot in the same room with BIL, SIL and their 2 kids! She could afford her own room. I was glad that we had not yet told her we were planning a trip to Disney later that same year.</p>
<p>Oh yea, that reminds me of groomsmen who decided to go on the honeymoon with the newlyweds! That happened to one of my best friends AND my brother! I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of having clueless groomsmen! The good thing was the brother & SIL got all their thank you notes done on the honeymoon–amazingly they remain good friends with the groomsman. My friend also remained good friends with the groomsmen who wanted to share the ROOM of her & her new groom! They’re all a LOT more tolerant than I am/was. :)</p>
<p>My mother and I have speculated many times on how my sis kept the kids clean! (They didn’t look like Pigpen or smell particularly bad, so they must have been getting SOME sort of washing.) All we could come up with was that she must have given them sponge baths. </p>
<p>I think the oldest was about six, or maybe seven. Old enough that you wouldn’t expect uncontrollable screaming. I think my sister must have just given up on any project where the kids were acting up. My mother, bless her, is made of sterner stuff. She really is a saint! She was also the one who insisted, later, on getting the kids swimming lessons because they were terrified of any sort of water and would act like they were drowning if a wave washed over their feet. So they definitely weren’t getting washed in a pool!</p>
<p>Oh yes, my parents took them “camping” once (not actually in the wilderness, as my mother refuses to go camping anywhere without flush toilets, ha ha!) and my father started a campfire in the firepit, to roast marshmallows . . . My father later told me in a wondering tone, “You would’ve thought it was a forest fire. The kids came out of the cabin, took one look at it, and ran inside screaming.” After a lot of coaxing, my parents managed to convince them to get within ten feet of the fire. But that was IT.</p>
<p>And that was several years later, the oldest must have been about nine by that time.</p>
<p>I just remembered one that combines Outrageous Wedding Guest Request with College Campus Drama.</p>
<p>My H has 4 brothers with very strong personalities, all of them. At our wedding, one BIL who was a professional percussionist had written a piece to play at the reception, as a surprise gift to us. He assumed there’d be a drum set there because he heard we were having a klezmer band. Our budget only allowed for a small number of musicians, and we had chosen a vocalist rather than drummer. So, no drumset on hand.</p>
<p>One of the other brothers made it his mission to FIND A DRUMSET in this little college town. My parents were professors, and the reception was in their backyard. I don’t want to know the details, but I think he found someone with a passkey to the musical instrument room of the college, and “borrowed” a drumset for that Sunday afternoon. Suddenly we had a drumset on our back lawn, and the percussionist brother was able to play his original piece for us. </p>
<p>I think my parents could have gotten into big trouble, had anything gone awry with the drum set. It was returned to the band room by sunset. The percussionist brother – who is honest to a fault – is embarassed today that this was done “for” him. The brother who “provided” the drums is fond of retelling the story.</p>
<p>Just curious, is there some reason you and your mom just “speculated” about this? I would think it would be hard to not relate to your sister how upset her kids were to just get a bath and ask her what she thought might be up with that,kind of play dumb.</p>