Peace and Quiet

I love watching my girls. I love the laughter, the giggles, the creativity. I am always sad to go home and even more sad to think about leaving them, for a few weeks or even for the school year. (So the topic is banned until absolutely necessary.) But, even though I love all the noise and love being with them, there is always a sense of relief and calming that comes over me when I find out I will only be watching the baby for any given period of time. Today, well actually this whole week, but lets start with today, was one of those days. It started out with waiting for her to wake up, then we fed her, changed her, played for a bit and then after a few screams and tears she was asleep again



And this is how she stayed, with slight variations in her positioning, for the last 2 hours of my watching her. Now I could have put her down in her crib and been free to text, Facebook, do homework, watch tv sitting anyway I wanted, or a variety of other things...but really, who would want to give this up:

"Yup, it's 3D'd"

It's been a very full week for all of us. Coming straight from VBS to watch these four munchkins is exhausting, but for some reason I am still loving every minute of it! We've been looking for ways to keep busy both inside and outside from the pool, to chalk to 45 minutes of "nobody is allowed to talk" needless to say it has been a very full week AND its only Wednesday. the girls have said some funny things that I either don't remember or can't repeat (here) and have kept me laughing all week. Well...so to go with the title.
Today we tried out the 3-d chalk that is advertised all over tv. Some of it worked well, some of it not so much, but the girls ran around looking at their chalk drawings with their little 3d glasses and would say "oh, yup, that one 3d'd. or the red 3d's better or other things along those lines. I love the cute little voices talking about it as if they know exactly what they are saying




We have also spent lots of time in the pool swimming laps to burn off energy and splashing around and giggling. It is so entertaining to listen to the games they come up with to play while they are swimming. Love the imagination.



My favorite part of the week though, so far, has to be when the girls were singing into the fan. Brings back many memories of doing the same thing when I was little.



Some very fun summer days we have had. Starting to realize how few are left, but I am sure they will be silly, slimy and (hopefully) sunny!

Tea Time and other Silly Happenings.

Last Friday I brought Courtney with me to work and we had a tea party...complete with nilla wafers, grapes and of course cherry kool aid "tea." Greta had a blast and would says "cheers" and tap her tea cup to ours everytime she would take a drink. She was such a cutie through the whole thing. Hopefully there will be many more tea parties throughout this summer.


This was our last week of the summer with just the two little girls. The big girls got done with school on Friday so after a week off, I will have all for of the girls for "summer vacation." These are just a few of the things we did and silly moments that occurred during the last week.





"Just hangin' around"


Our resident "Greta the Explorer"


One of Ava's many naps.


I get a week off now, while they hang out at the beach then back to the silliness for me!

Special Skills

I have decided that the next time I fill out a resume, that I have a great new addition to include in the special skills section. Lately I have found myself making grilled cheese, waffles, pouring juice, texting a question to the kids mom, making a bottle, tying a shoe, fastening a helmet or playing Wii, all while holding a 20 pound 6 month old in one arm and using the other to complete the task at hand. As easy as this sounds (HA) in reality, its pretty ridiculous. Needless to say my next resume will include, "Able to do a variety of tasks with one hand."

In other news, I am currently defeating Dora the Explorer with a score of 2:0. I now know what channel DOES NOT have Dora on in the morning and it has become my new favorite! Our current favorite Dora replacement is Chuggington on Playhouse Disney, I can just about sing the theme song so that just goes to show how often we watch it (as if the all day marathon today was not enough).

Well time for me to rest up for the final day of work before a week off...WOOHOO!! Haven't decided what the day will hold, but hopefully they sleep past 7:45.

Quote of the day: While playing Wii with all 3 of the girls (age 3, First grade and fifth grade)
The 3 year old told us all that "We better watch out cause [she] just might beat us."
-I won! :)

Ahh the joys.

Monday and Wednesdays are easy work days because I only watch the baby. My day consists of sitting on the couch catching up on the latest TV shows while simultaneously listening for baby to wake up to be fed, changed or to play. Today went just like any other she woke up, was changed, we went for a walk and then I put her in her bouncer chair and gave her a bottle. Eating is always a messy task as I am convinced more of the bottle contents end up on her clothes than in her belly, but she smiles when she is done so that is what matters right? Well when she was done I went to pick her up and as I was holding her could feel that her clothes were went and so was my arm. I just figured it was from her bottle and didn't think much of it. As I layed her down on the changing table I began to realize, nope that was not from the bottle and no that was not milk on my arm...needless to say I had to wipe off my arm and shirt before changing her and then went on a search for a shirt to borrow for the rest of the day. Luckily my gag reflexes are not high and I was able to laugh through the entire process, she laughed too. So we both went through a wardrobe change today, regardless of a couple of messes i'd say it was a typical day.

Summer has begun

This marks the beginning of week four of Summer 2010. I am already busy thinking up projects and ideas to fill my days with the kids in my care every day. Let's hope that I can keep the ideas fresh, in addition to remembering activities from previous summers, and keep the kids happy! Throughout the summer I hope to keep up with this and post pictures, recipes, ideas, and stories. Who knows, maybe they will be useful someday!

Today we made Kool Aid Playdoh...it started out as a sticky mess, but in the end turned into a "glob" of fun. Traces of fruit punch can still be smelled on my hands.



This was the final product. For some reason the cookie cutters were being buried in it and it was there new home. I guess you just never know what is going on in the mind of a 3 year old.