8 hours a babysitter

Sunday was day two of babysitting, this time it was just the girls. I hadn't intended on babysitting again after the crazy day previously. Actually I hadn't intended to do much of anything. But I was more than happy to do so. As usual we started with breakfast and a movie (have you seen 'The Tooth Fairy' with 'The Rock'? It's pretty good!). I found an origami kit in the back of my closet and let them get creative. They made little fishes and drew me a sweet picture of ladybugs. We got out some old school board games and played hungry hungry hippo. Only now it's called farmville or farmhouse or something like that. Same concept, same everything, but instead of hippos it's random farm animals. But I still couldn't believe kids still played that game! I wonder what other games are being recycled for this new generation...

In the afternoon I got them dressed and they helped to pack up the car with all their toys so we could return once again to the park. We stayed for nearly 3 hours! I was thinking dang, aren't they tired yet?! NOPE. They made more friends and I got another workout. I even got to chat with a couple of parents! That was pretty nice, being able to talk to another adult after seeing no one but kids for two days.

When lunch time rolled around O and M were jumping for joy when I rewarded them for being so good with McDonald's. We ate and ate. They talked and talked. Once we finished their dad met us there, chatted for a bit, and went our separate ways. Everybody had a great time. I'm feeling pretty good about my babysitter skills!

Now it's time for clean up...

12 hours a babysitter

Saturday was very hectic. I left my house and got the kids at 6am and everyone went home around 6:30pm. That's 12 full hours! And I mean FULL. If you've read my last post you know I like to have an itinerary. Most things went according to plan, others not so much. We started out with breakfast and a movie. Immediately followed by doing arts and crafts outside on the porch. The sun was so bright and warm! I let the girls take some pictures throughout the day. I love letting kids use my camera to see what things they find and see the world through their perspectives. In fact, the majority of these photos were taken by a 4 year old!

We played outside for a few hours to burn off the morning energy and when they got sick of that we came inside for a few rounds of dress up. What little girl can resist dresses and heels? Certainly not any I know. I cannot tell you how excited they were to raid my room! I can't blame 'em though, my wardrobe is pretty great haha. M's eyes lit up when she saw my prom dress, once I got her all zipped up she didn't wanna take it off! O tried it on next. They both looked like little mermaids; they were swimming in all that fabric! Complete with a sash, wand, and tiara. Watching them waddle like penguins in my too big shoes was the funniest thing. We listened to music and danced around for what seemed like forever.

Around noon my little cousin was dropped off and added to the party. J's a boy so dress up came to an end. I took them back outside to draw so everyone could get acquainted. The three of them got off to a rocky start but we headed to the park as planned. It was a great decision. They had more room to play and even made some new friends. I, however, got a workout. Endless pushing of swings, running around chasing kids, lifting the little ones when they couldn't reach, I was everywhere they were. But it was so great. I felt like a little kid myself and it's always a joy to watch children have fun.

We came back to the house around 4:30 and had a late lunch. J went home and it was back to me and the girls until their dad came back. We filled the time with iphone games, music, and another round of dress up. As you can see in the last two pictures I passed out at the end. Haha! I have never fallen asleep while babysitting before! O had laid down to take a little nap and I guess I did too. Luckily my mom watched M for a bit. I was only out for about 10-15 minutes, but that's a true testament to how exhausted I was! Never in my life have I had to take care of more than one child at a time. Yet there I was with three!

It was confusing, trying, and draining. But above all it was so much fun.
I love children. I'm learning so much about them and through them.

Christmas breakfast with my coworkers

About two weeks ago my manager decided to take us all out to breakfast (her treat!!) at a local restaurant.The only downside was that I had to get up at about 6am to be there at 7am aaaaand I had to work at 11am. But it really didn't matter. I was glad to spend some quality time with my coworkers and get to know them all a little more on a personal level. Thurston (black beanie pictured in car) picked me up and when we got to the diner we were greeted by 4 of the lovely ladies we work with; Cheryl, Pat, Carolyn, and our Manager Mila. I had never been there before so I was taking a bunch of unnecessary photos of everything in sight. But Mila was instagramming the whole time so I thought Ehh what the heck. We had some really good food (giant portions, win!), good conversations, and really good laughs. I love my job. But we all know that what really makes a job enjoyable is the people you work with.

Obligatory Christmas post

Christmas was fantastic. Cheers to the new year.

What do I do all day? - FOLLOW ME AROUND!

Well like most mornings I was a hot mess upon waking up. So I got dressed and slapped on some makeup. I had the house to myself (extremely rare these days) and despite it being 9:45ish in the morning I turned my speakers up and sang along (horribly and off-key) to all my favorite songs. I made myself some tea and toast and tidied up a bit, finally. Actually, all morning I was organizing and dancing around my apartment. But around 1pm I knocked out. One minute I was re-watching some Doctor Who episodes and the next I was asleep. When I woke up I wrote in my diary for a while, did a little research, and then wrote up a new to-do list.

My mom and dad came back soon after. They had borrowed the car that morning to take my mom to the doctors he had to drive alllll the way back to pick up my sister from work. Now because she wanted to get in the fast lane I had to come along. We left a little earlier than we usually would because he wanted to allow some time to stop by the store before picking her up. BUT there wasn't enough time once we got there. The car ride over was pretty fun. I found a radio station that played only Christmas music! How fun! For about 30 straight minutes our car was like a mini Christmas party, complete with silly dance moves. I'm sure the neighboring cars got a kick outta that. In fact I know they did because I got stared at by some dude in a white pickup and I could see he was trying not to laugh at me. But I just laughed and waved. At this point with all the car dancing I do I don't even get embarrassed anymore.

OH! And it was brought to my attention that my socks matched my sweater, unintentional but still kinda cool. Especially because I bought that sweater at the thrift store (remember this?) and the socks were a hand-me-down from my sister. My guess is that they came from Target though. I mean I wish I could make you feel the softness of that sweater. We all know that there is a certain quality about Target clothes... idk what it is but it just feels like a Target sweater. Does that make any sense? Whatever, I JUST REALLY LOVE TARGET OKAY.

My sister keeps this little tin can in her car. It's funny because when she first put it there I remember thinking Wow okay, homegirl really has a thing for spam. Just can't get enough, but really? In the car?. When I picked it up with the intent to make fun of her I realized it's just full of change. But it's a great idea! Rather than letting them play hide 'n seek all over your car and getting on your nerves just store them neatly in a fun little box placed conveniently in the cup holder. By the way, I know that it now is darker much earlier due to daylight savings... but the sun seems to be going down soooo much faster than I ever remember. Do you notice that? Like, the sky was clear blue when we started our way back to the house. Keep in mind that the drive is only about 20 minutes or so. Before we even got close to the house the sky was almost completely black. What?! But the upside was that I got a little peak of Christmas lights on all the different houses. In that second photo of the view from our car that's actually a refinery! It sounds bananas but trust me it is so glittery and pretty!  *the magic of christmas*

When we got home I was starving. Soup and crackers it is! I love soup, and recently I've been loving tomato soup. So good and good for you too! I ate way more Saltines than I probably should have but who cares. I was full and my tummy was happy. I've been eying the cake mixes in the cupboard for a couple of days **SIDE NOTE I've been having weird sugar cravings lately.... like level 9 cravings** But I decided to go with some good 'ol Hostess cupcakes instead because I could not wait the 30-45 minutes it takes to mix, bake, cool, and ice a cake just to get my chocolate fix. BUT I still wanted more. My mom was feeling a little sick from the medication she got earlier from the doctors appointment. She was hungry so I heated up some leftover pizza and baked her a cookie. I thought while I'm at it I'll just make everyone some cookies. We're a family of cookie monsters in case you didn't know. But I'm sure you do because this is the millionth time I've talked about baking cookies. It's always the same chocolate chip and almost always from Pillsbury.

My sisters dog despite being completely covered in fur loves to feel warmth. She loves to sun bathe (like a cat!), sit in front of all the heaters, she'll even lay down next to you and steal your body heat if you let her. Poor thing, my dad usually cuts her hair because it grows back so fast that it would be silly to go back and forth to the groomers. And for some reason the hair on her face grows the fastest. It gets in the way of he eyes when it's left alone for too long. We don't have any special puppy clippers or anything. We literally just go at it with whatever scissors are nearby. Look at her! Little ragamuffin. She has no idea. Or maybe she does and she secretly hates us for jacking her up. Hahaha! Oh if only animals could talk. Wait, just kidding that would be scary. Never mind.

I finished off the night catching up on my shows with HuluPlus, my favorite candle, and writing letters to friends who are very much in need of some holiday love.

So that was my day! Usually I'd spend my day's off from work either sleeping or sewing but not today. I had 3 consecutive days off - Sunday, Monday AND Tuesday. You know I was happy. Especially in this crazy busy Christmas season at work. Who knows when I'll get more than one day in a row off again. It was much needed though. I'm feeling so recharged! Ready to get back to work.

How do you feel today?