Four kids equals how many plastic cups?

I'm getting a new wood floor and dishwasher in my kitchen this week. Dear hubby took out the dishwasher last night after making sure I was okay with the idea. He is so trained. Anyway, I asked him to run one more load of dishes so I only had to deal with breakfast dishes today. As a side note, let me mention that I really dislike washing dishes. My hands don't feel pampered soaking in hot soapy water. Instead, they feel dry, and my nails are so soft that they bend and break. I don't like it. At all.

Okay, so the dishwasher is out on the back deck, tossed out for the lastest, greatest, newest dishwasher available. That's a whole other blog. Breakfast is over, lunch is over (take-out leaves no dirty dishes) and I just washed the breakfast dishes. Well, I washed the bowls, spoons, and seventeen plastic cups. Seventeen. I had four kids home last night. Figure one each last night, one each this morning, count with me here. How did we get to seventeen? Are the cups multiplying during the night?

Last summer I took the kids to the store and they each picked out their own unique plastic cup. (Never mind that this is a margarita cup and this one is a wine glass.) My idea was that they would use their cup each day, one cup, and they would know it was theirs because, well, they picked it out. It didn't work very well because they didn't want to put soda pop in the same cup they had put milk in earlier. It was a good idea, just didn't take. I think I'll instigate this Unique Cup Program again and show them how to wash their cup between drinks.