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.

Fun in the sun pt.1

On Wednesday my neighbor asked if I could watch his kids on Saturday morning. Of course I agreed! And just this afternoon I was asked if I could watch my little cousin at the same time, I couldn't say no. The more the merrier! I'll be taking care of three less-than-10-year-olds from 6am until about 3 in the afternoon. Can we just take a minute to absorb that?

I've never in my life had to watch more than one human child at a time. Funny enough the one time that I do, my parents will both be gone. So if anything goes wrong I'm completely on my own. I mean, I'm 20 years old and I know I can handle it but... phew this will be a stretch! This time of year the sun is out and it's so nice and warm. I'll be taking full advantage of the weather tomorrow by taking everyone outside to play. I'm so excited! I realized halfway through shopping that I want the toys more for myself than for them! Ha ha! I am a giant toddler. But it's alright, kids keep you young. Ain't nothin wrong with a little fun in the sun am I right? Oh by the way my budget was $30 and everything here (a and few more not pictured) are from Target and the Dollar store- score!!

Some might wrinkle their nose at this but I'm a planner. I like to have a detailed schedule and a full list of things and alternate things to do. Now I know what you're thinking, when it comes to kids schedules go out the window. True. But it eases my mind to have a game plan. I like for things to go smoothly so I plan it all out beforehand and get literally everything ready to go the night before.

Bad Girl vs Good Girl

"Bad girls ain't no good. Good girls ain't no fun."

 hm. well lets think abotu it for a minute shall we?

Scooter Shorts! Simplicity 8698

Thank God for Etsy! I've been going a little crazy over patterns lately. And I finally came across some vintage skirt patterns about a week ago. Naturally I snatched 'em all up! This first one I tried out has mini skirts about 15" long. Skorts, scooters, culottes, whatever you wanna call them. I like the name scooter, so cute!

I made view #2- it's basically a pair of shorts with one pleat on each leg with a front panel. 15" is much too short for me to wear to work so as usual I lengthened the pattern by 3". All it took was 1 yard! This time I'm using a medium weight stretch denim. Now, because the pattern is vintage they tend not to use linings. Facings are the name of the game. So that little section in the top right corner is perfect! All I need is my main fabric and a zipper.

As you can see there is one faux pleat on the back of each leg, one faux pleat on each front leg, and the panel in the center front acts as the center pleats. I've sewn about a third of the way down on the outer-most pleats and an inch higher on the center panel just to give it a nice effect. I don't have buttons picked out yet but I'm still deciding whether or not to go with them. What do you think? Overkill?

Here's the skirt so far right now! I'll hopefully have it finished up by the weekend.