Final adventures in babysitting...

Well I managed to survive the final day and a half of babysitting. Everyone was well behaved when we ventured into society and saw The Bee Movie and ate dinner on Saturday night. After protest from both boys about how boring church was, I decided that was a battle I would not take on, so we stayed home on Sunday morning. We all slept in which was nice and then after breakfast, we went exploring in the woods around their home, climbed the sycamore tree and played in their tree house (a.k.a. swing set/jungle gym). We had lunch and then the parents returned and I was back to my house by 2pm. I am so happy to be back to the single life.

After unpacking and making a quick trip to the grocery store, my friend Amy picked me up and we went to a cookout with our core group of friends from our Singles Sunday School Class. I enjoyed a great glass of wine and basked in good adult conversations. The fellowship was sweet and the food was delicious. We even made s'mores over the fire pit :-) It was the perfect way to end the day.

Control Freak

So I tend to be a bit of a control freak but try being "in control" when you are running a house of 3 kids and 4 animals. Just when I think I'm in control...WHAM...something happens and I find myself on my knees, humbled and thanking GOD for always being in control.
Last night was pretty uneventful at the house. Who knew that making dinner could be such a chore...especially when you have kids that are so particular about what they eat. I was a picky eater as a kid (and some would still say I'm pretty picky) so I understand a little bit better how frustrating it must have been for my mom to make dinner each night while trying to make something that everyone would like/eat. I made a casserole that their mom had already prepared in advance along with green beans only to find out that neither one of them liked it. Their choice of words to describe how much they didn't like it was hilarious. So we found other dinner options for them and I enjoyed the Poppy Chicken Casserole and green beans. Yummy! The boys of course enjoyed staying up late because it was a Friday night but everyone was in bed by 10:15 and that included me. I could barely keep my eyes open so I didn't even attempt to read a book. I also made sure that the bedroom door was shut so I didn't have any nighttime distractions from the animals. YEAH!
So here we are on Saturday afternoon, it's been a pretty low key Saturday. The boys of course have been playing their video games and we also took a much needed break outside for some fresh air. I played a game of h-o-r-s-e with the older one and got beat of course (and not on purpose...i mean who wants to get beat by an 11 year old). I also pushed the 9 year old on the swing set until I thought my arm was going to fall off and helped create a tight-rope line with the 11 year old for an attempt that he could walk across. Fun times! This afternoon, I am going to take them to see The Bee Movie and then out to dinner. And I'm even feeling really adventurous and will attempt to get us all to the 11:00 service tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

From single girl to working mother of 3...

Yep...that's right...I am now a mother of 3 boys...well that is until Sunday afternoon. I am staying with one of our partner's boys while him and his wife are out of town for the extended weekend. The seventeen year old is pretty self-sufficient but the 11 and 9 year old are plenty to handle. My adventures started yesterday when I picked them up from school after work. About half way home, the youngest starts to complain of a belly ache. Instantly, I am thinking "please don't throw up in my car...OH NO". He manages to be the good little boy that he is and waits till we get home to get sick. I believe that perhaps he was just car sick because he seemed much better after he got sick and was ready for me to watch him play his Nintendo game. I had a small battle to win about dinner options as one wanted to eat out and one was not feeling well again so we compromised and ordered pizza. The little one got sick again, so I had to get him taken care of. So while the older enjoyed his pizza dinner and watched Nickelodeon, I played the full on part of "mom" and took care of the sick one and got him to bed. By this time, it's 8 o'clock and time to get the other one in bed...it is of course a school night and there is a bedtime of 8:30 to observe. At 8:40, I was able to sit down with a cold piece of pizza and watch the last 20 minutes of Grey's Anatomy. Mission Accomplished.
This morning began at 5:15 which is about an hour earlier than I normally start my day; however with 2 kids to get up, feed and ready for school, I knew that I had to be up and ready for work before they woke up at 6 or I would be the one not ready for the day. It felt crazy at moments and thankfully the oldest helped manage breakfast of the little ones, while I took care of the animals (oh yeah...they have 2 cats and 2 dogs too). The littlest one seemed to be feeling much better...yeah...and we got everything accomplished this morning and were out the door by 7:00 :-) After dropping the boys off at school, I made a much needed stop at Starbucks and then got to the office at 8:00. Another mission accomplished...that's 2 for 2 so far.....

Running in a storm...

No, I'm not trying to make this great analogy. I was determined to run outside, despite the early sunset and the storms that were looming on the horizon. Since the darkening skies were approaching I thought I would do the safe thing and run in the business park that I work in...just get in a 3-4 mile run. How safe can it be when those dark skies hold thunder and lightning...probably not that safe. It was a little windy but no rain. I think trying to out run a storm despite maybe not being the wisest decision sure did make for great speedwork. Or perhaps the fear of being struck down by lightning was all the motivation I needed to run fast. The storms were moving much faster than I had anticipated and i barely got in 2 miles before I decided that I still valued my life and the safest place to be was inside. It was still pretty awesome and yet scary to be in the midst of the storm.

I'm changing my middle name.....

To Clumsy. I wanted to make sure this name change was appropriate so I checked out Websters dictionary and it says that clumsy is defined as "lacking grace or skill, as in using one's hands or feet; awkward". Well after you read what happened to me this week, you'll agree with the name change.
On Tuesday, while retrieving a glass of water for a consultant, I managed to smash (and I'm not talking about closing the cabinet door and pinching my finger...I mean smashed) my pinkie finger in one of the kitchen doors. It was hard to not scream expletives as I instantly had that throbbing sensation and a great indention right across my pinkie nail/fingertip. I took a moment to compose myself, delivered the glass of water to our guest and then grabbed a cold ice cub to soothe the indented fingertip.
But this little incident just set the stage for what happened last night. I had worked late at the office last night and I was cleaning up my desk to leave. I thought I'd make a quick trip to throw away my recyclable materials in the workroom. I rounded the corner at a brisk pace when my right foot (in heels i might add) hit a spot of newly waxed floor and I glided across the mail room catching myself just shy of our cabinets on the other side. I use the term "glide" as in I felt like I was suddenly skating on ice across the workroom. I wish I could watch the playback as I'm sure it would be HI-larious to watch especially since I am not an ice skater and our workroom is not an open ice rink. A large piece of casework (something like a work island) sits in the middle of the room and yep...you guessed it...I did not clear the casework but more or less ricocheted off it. I somehow manged to keep my balance so I didn't wipe out completely but I sure banged up my right foot thanks to the pointy corner of the casework.
So by Websters definition, I think I clearly cover the basis of lacking grace & skill with regards to both my hands and feet and it obviously would have been awkward for anyone to witness.