Mothers out there - help please!

I'm panicking and I need help (more than usual!). This weekend, I have friends coming to stay with their three children who are aged between 9 months and 5 (I think she is five anyway).

I am now in a complete panic about what to buy in the way of food and what to do about toys etc. Their mother has been very lacksadaisical about what I need to get in the way of food. I don't think she has really understood the lack of local shopping if I don't have the things she would have in her store cupboard. What should I stock up on? Do five year olds and three (ish) year olds eat the same as grown ups?

The only experience I have is of Chutney Mary's boys who eat strange food free of gluten / dairy / taste and definitely don't eat grown up food.

I'm also worrying about the toy status of this house. My toy supply does exist as I got fed up with children arriving and saying "do you have any toys" and then seeing their look of horror when I said "No." Consequently I have a little Noah's ark and a couple of other miscellaneous things. I also have packing boxes which I have found to be hugely successful as child entertainment. Various forts can be constructed and there is always the ever popular option of 'how many children can fit into one box'. I do also have a few children's books. What else should I bed / borrow / steal?

I am used to children who live up here and can spend hours playing outside but these are London children who are used to on tap entertainment and the equivalent of Hamleys in their own house.

I thought I could make some fairy cakes that they could ice. Perhaps I should borrow some DVD's? What else?

All ideas and suggestions are welcome, and much needed......

The joys of being childless

Ok, so now it is raining really pretty hard. This is good. I need rain as I was bored of watering the garden and was also (and possibly more importantly) running out of water. So to celebrate this noah like downpour I lit the log burner in the office, put on the radio and pretended to work for a few hours. Actually drank a lot of coffee and diet coke, made a futile plan to go jogging (which I can't bear but feel I should start doing) and read a book. Not much really done on the actual work front then.

Having said all that this is a moment to be grateful for the no children situation. If I had small children (or large ones come to that) then my day would have been a dazed blur of school runs, snot, feeding and feeling inadequate. Now I am not saying that I don't feel inadequate occasionally, I mean unless you are Madonna and believe your own press, everyone feels inadequate sometimes (you all do don't you?? Please say you do and that I am not a freak....), sorry a bit off point there. Getting back to it, I can feel as inadequate as I like because I am not potentially warping someone elses life by doing so - Hurrah. Thought I'd share that with all of you before returning to my book and a new cup of coffee.