Adventures in Baby Sitting - Day 5

5 -freakin AM - WHA?!?!

Wait.  It's me.  There is no puppy scratching or whining.  Splenda is sound asleep.  The house is totally quiet and yet my eyes are wide open! *sigh*  Really, who am I kidding.  This is truly how my body operates best.  Early up, early down.

I laid for awhile hoping I could drift back to sleep for a couple more hours but gave up at 6:30.  I headed downstairs for an ice cold Monster and some quiet time, bringing Ruby and her crate with me.

(a VERY asleep Ruby - after she told me she loves me most)

First order of business, put dogs out.  The minute I opened the back door, GAH!!!  The house alarm went off!  DAMMIT!  Totally forgot that Tib explained, once I set the alarm to "stay" that I need to turn it off before opening any doors from the inside.  Caaaarrapppp.  Toss Ruby out (making sure she landed on her feet) and race for the key fob frantically pushing the 'off' button.

Stand still listening.......any sounds from upstairs?.........take a few steps up......any sounds?.....*whew*
All is quiet.  I can't believe I just did that. Wait, yes I can.  It's me we're talking about remember?

It doesn't stay quiet for long before the girls are up and getting breakfast.  No cookies or creamies this morning.  Cereal, toaster strudel and oatmeal while I shower and get ready.

The girls get ready on their own and after telling a couple of them to change out of flip flops and find some tights and shoes, we were ready to tackle hair.

I don't do hair.  Hell, I can't even do my own let alone someone else's!  The little's wanted pony tails and really how hard can that be?  About 20 minutes later.....we made it work!  Woot for me!  And truth be told - they looked pretty darn cute.

We went to my ward and I give props to the girls for such good behavior.  Reverent, kept themselves amused with drawing and coloring.  Kudos.

Primary time and I can see a little bit of apprehension as to where they are gonna go and the fact that they won't know any kids.  We first find Ava's class and I have to say, we have the best primary kids in our ward.  THE BEST.  Drew invited her to sit next to him.  She discovered Hunter was in the same class and any worries were gone.

The littles ended up being in the same class together so no worries there.  Olivia made a new friend in Abby and all three girls were happy.

Quick stop at my house for some slippers and then back to Reef for lunch and hopefully a quiet afternoon.  These early mornings (my norm) and late nights (NOT my norm) are getting to me.......

Annnnndddd...........commence the afternoon bickering.  Holy smokes!  I distract myself by folding some laundry, changing sheets, cleaning out the tub, packing and loading my car.  Maybe if I ignore them, they'll work it out?  Tib calls.  I clue her in.  Assured this is normal and status quo.   Coo.  Not gonna worry about it.  I give them the job of cleaning their rooms, making their beds and picking up around the house.  Whoa - "That's like cleaning the whole house on a Sunday!"  The Horror!  The Injustice!

We went back to my house for a real life Sunday dinner!  Proof that the girls got at least one REALLY decent meal in the past 5 days.  Of course, all due to Splenda Daddy, but hey....

Some hanging out with Splenda, playing with Tuffy and then we were getting word that Mom, Dad and Ethan were only about an hour away.  EEEEEEPPPPP!!!  Must get home!

The girls wanted one last prank on Mom so Olivia called and told her they were all on black card (highest threat level).

As soon as they saw them coming into the circle, they all raced up to their rooms and commenced weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth!  The Oscar could go to any one of them, their performances were stellar.   Once Tib and the boys got in, the girls got louder in their rantings and starting crying asking if they could come out.  Mid sentence with Tib, I stopped looked up at the ceiling and said, "SHUT UP!  I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD!" and snuck a glance at Tib hoping for some sort of fiery reaction.  Nope.  Only a "what did they do?"  I let her in on the punk that the girls were playing and she went along with it for barely a minute before the girls couldn't stand it any longer and came racing down to see their family.

(the weekend was really about this Rockstar right here - JDRF Ride for the Cure!  111 miles - he KILLED it and I couldn't be prouder of him)

One more picture - quick recap of each others weekends and then I was out the door to my next furbaby sitting gig (which didn't work out sadly).

But - a few final thoughts as I reflect on the past 5 days.

1.  Unless you really understand Tiburon and I's relationship - these posts could come across as me bitching and moaning about her kids.  There are no two people in the world that can reach the level of sarcasm with one another and totally 'get it'. So no fear, there was no offense given nor taken in these posts.  Just our usual back and forth crap we give each other every day.

2.  I am old and tired.  As much as I have always liked kids, and am usually pretty fun to be around with them, I had the stark reality bite me this weekend as I now lay here feeling overwhelming fatigue.

3.  Girls are the worst.  They are much harder than boys.  I give a serious hat tip to my friends who have nothing BUT girls (Erica, Kristin...)I don't know how you do it.

4.  Each girl truly has her own unique personality.  Ava is incredibly wicked smart.  I mean, beyond smart!  She's at the difficult tween age so she loves adult conversation but also has the need to play with her sisters. Her curiosity amazes me and she's delightful to be around when she's not purposely trying to antagonize you.  Which she did.  On several occasions.  She giggles as she pushed my buttons knowing she was pushing my buttons.  I predict she will be some brilliant scientist or storm chaser or something crazy like that.

5.  Olivia is the tender hearted emotional one.  Easy to tears.  Craves and needs lots of physical attention.  She is the snuggly, huggy lovey one.  That speaks to me since I am a hugger too.  She is kind and has a soft spot for just about everybody and everything.  She loves Splenda.  She wanted to make sure that he was there every night.  She has a sweet sensitivity that will make her a wonderful wife and mother one day.

6.  Amelia is the caboose whose calendar age reflects 5 but her personality is more like that of a 12 year old.  She loved the idea of punking mom and kept coming up with more and more creative ideas to tease.  She is smart and her usual response to ANY thing that was said is, 'I know".  She has a level of self confidence that will take her to class officers, leader positions.  She knows how to have a good time and how to make it happen.  She takes matters into her own hands.

7.  Don't believe a word that comes out of a kids mouth.  Every last one of them will fib while looking you right in the eye.  I think it's just something that comes with being a kid.  Like a genetic code built into them or something.

8.  Don't believe a new puppy owner when she tells you that she is practically house broken and easy to care for.  Bullsh**.  A new puppy is like a newborn infant.  And while she was cute as a button, a hella lot of worry about peeing on the carpet so an eagle eye had to be maintained constantly.

9.  Dogs feel stress when their Alpha's leave.  However, I can most def clean up dog puke much better than I can human puke.  And it was their carpet, not mine.

10.  I am starting to get a stuffy nose and a sore throat.  Kids are the epitome of petri dishes with germs.  If I get sick, I am blaming those girls.   And as my friend Clifton so eloquently stated it, "Kids are the worst"

And now, back in my own bed. Oh how my body loves it!  Erickson's are all tucked safely in their beds and the universe is back in order.