Adventures in Babysitting

I'm not that uptight about babysitters. My only expectation is that my kids are alive with no permanent damage when I get home. That leaves a lot of room to find humor in all the gray areas in between. Take this picture for example. I'm not home. John's asleep on the couch, and the LG has found the camera and is taking some pics.



I'm trying not to think about what the TP is up to. Sometimes the real meaning behind a picture is what you can't see. This brings me to our babysitting adventure (well, technically not my adventure) from last night. My mom had tickets to the Opera, yes I am in Logan UT and yes they have a pretty decent opera. Grandpa decided that he would generously and selflessly offer to babysit so that I could go. He's either really selfless or really hates the opera that much.

The plan was that the TP would be put down at 7pm for bed before we left and sleep until morning so that Grandpa would really only be watching the LG. The LG was put in front of Peter Pan with a bowl of popcorn. Grandpa only received instruction on how to use his own DVD player, and to keep the LG in the house and alive (this is actually a pretty tall order).

Mom and I happily left and enjoyed a very entertaining few hours at the Barber of Seville. No phone calls, no messages. I was already impressed. It's been a while since Grandpa has been in charge of the destructive forces of a 3 year old. So you can imagine our shock and surprise when we walked into the dark house at 10:30pm to hear, "a ba ba, a da da, noooooo, no na". Hmmmm, it sounded suspiciously like a TP. A very awake TP, who was sitting on the couch next to a sleeping Grandpa (he claimed he wasn't really sleeping, only setting an example), with the LG curled up on the chair happily watching some strange Japanimation version of Star Wars on the Cartoon Network. I really almost lost all bladder control I was laughing so hard. So did Grandma.

Not quite sure that Grandpa found it so funny that the TP woke up 30 minutes after we left and refused to go back to bed or be separated from Grandpa without serious tantrums and tears. She was fed popcorn (Grandpa did express remorse about the popcorn, but couldn't really handle the tantrum and tears that ensued when she was told no), and chased around for the next 3 hours (you'd have to know the TP to fully appreciate the level of energy required to supervise her - she kind of blows the LG away) while the LG happily watched weird cartoons all evening. Like I said, they were alive, and no permanent damage was done - at least to my kids.

The verdict is still out on Grandpa. What a trooper. Thanks Grandpa.

Summer Update

It's summer. I'm lucky to be posting at all. Nothing witty or interesting, just a few pics of what we have been up to.

This is what I get for asking a 3-year old to clean up his clothes.


Saturday trip to the zoo in the heat. I wish I had a bonnet, and could ride in a stroller.



The BK's work had a carnival day of sorts. Now the LG thinks that this is what daddy does all day - ride the gorilla slide. Not to mention that the LG escaped from our clutches a number of times, wiggled his little body to the front of the line and began scaling the slide before attendants could stop him. Wish I could say I was mortified. Way to beat the system LG. It won't happen too often.


Tea parties. Puppet shows.


Soccer banquets with a proud LG and Coach Matt. The LG won the award for keeping Coach Matt in shape. Still, we were pretty proud. That is until the LG pulled over a wine rack, knocked an elderly woman on the head with one of the bottles, and added the cost of 7 bottles of wine to our tab. Luckily it was cheap wine. Still not very lucky though. Ahhhh, LG, life would be sooooo boring without you.


Road Trips. It wouldn't be summer if we weren't doing another crazy road trip. San Antonio to Tucson. 28 hours. 4 Days. A few good hours with cousins, a nice evening remembering the BK's grammy, and another insane trip right back home.


4th of July. Awesome fireworks. No crowds. No bleachers. Plenty of kids to keep the kids entertained. Perfect 4th of July. The LG insisted on wearing his spiderman jams, superhero cape, superhero belt, and cars slippers. Wish the pic were better, but it was hysterical.


Off to Utah to enjoy the mountains, grandma & grandpa, and some dry heat and cool evenings.