Baby-Baby-Baby

For my job, I run a little daycare out of my home.  I LOVE my job and I love the kiddos I watch.  Depending on the day, and the time of the day, I have kids from ages 8 months - 14 years.  Each day is different and I love bouncing back between babies one day, and bigger kids the next.  No two days are alike!  Well today, I ended up with a group of 1 and 2 year olds.  Let me tell you, you just can't beat this age for entertainment.  The kids are so smart, and so sneaky.  They know exactly what they want, and they usually know that I am not going to let them do it.  These days usually play out like this:

They have "jobs" which they have appointed themselves.  One very important job, which they must never forget to do, is to clear all magnets off of the refrigerator.  This gets done first thing in the morning.  And during certain times of the day, Miss Jayne tries to tidy up the house and like an idiot, picks up the magnets and puts them back on the fridge.  When will I learn?  Their radar goes off and its back to work!  Until every magnet is in the floor again.

Recently I have tried to pull one over on them, by buying small puzzles and attaching magnets to the backs of each puzzle piece. I figure if they like playing with magnets, maybe they would enjoy doing something constructive with them.  They don't, that just gives them more "magnets" to throw on the ground.  And sometimes peel the magnet off the back in the process.  Double the things on the ground to pick up.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

A couple of months ago I went to the eye doctor.  He was a very kind, knowledgable man just about retirement age.  During the exam, he was making small talk, and asked me if I had children.  I said I did, and boy and a girl.  He commented on how nice kids are and how I must be so proud.  Then he asked their ages.  17 and 13 I said.  And then I swear I saw fear in his eyes.  He told me a story that I will never forget.  He said that when his son was 17, he sat him down with a notebook and a bunch of pens and made him write down everything he knew then, while he had everything figured out, so that as he grew up and ran into problems, he could refer back to his own teenage knowledge.  And that now as an adult his son admits that he did not really know it all after all:)

Well, contrary to what I hear and read about children between the ages of 12 and 20, for my husband and I, our teenagers are actually pretty enjoyable.  I do miss them being little, but it is very nice to be able to escape for a whole Saturday morning together, childless, and return to the house hours later to find the kids in the exact same spots doing the exact same things.  And now they are old enough to go on more trips/experience more things that Bret and I also find stimulating.  I don't believe in the parenting style of just throwing kids out into the world and letting them make their own mistakes.  And I also don't believe in coddling them and sheltering them too much.  I like to give them new experiences and step back and let them find their way, while maybe letting them make a mistake or two in the process.  I feel that is's how they learn.  And I sure have had some fun along the way.

And now...let's check in with Finn and Lucy

The last few weeks we have been busy!  Busy talking about summer, and holidays and school functions and all the hijinks that go along with them.  I think now it is time to check back in with my family's two furry mascots.  Our dog Finn and our cat Lucy.  Let's see what they have been up to lately!

Finn has been keeping up with her reputation of embarrassing me and mostly our daughter Tatum who takes her outside in the afternoon.   Tatum likes to ride her skateboard right after school and we live with a park directly behind our house.  She rides after school, and lets Finn run alongside her for her afternoon walk.  Only thing is...Finn is never put on a leash, and she had a short attention span.  She will be running beside T, which she thinks is her job and takes very seriously.  But all of a sudden - A FAMILY!  Have you ever seen the Disney movie UP?  If you have, then you know the dog on there I am talking about.  It can talk through a computer chip.  Every couple of sentences the dog will stop, POINTE and say, "Squirrel!!!"  That is always Finn, except for squirrel it is - Bird!  Person!  Guy on a lawn mower!  GOLF CART!!!  Today is was a guy - poor guy - riding on a golf cart around "our" park.  Finn ran halfway across the park after the golf cart.  Barking I'm sure.  Tatum and I had to do the call of shame from our yard.  Alerting everyone that the crazy dog belongs to us.

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer

It is September  now, and this morning was the first time I turned on our heater for the year.  You know that wonderful smell it makes when the heater gets turned on for the first time in months? I love it.  This time of year is a transitional time.  During the day you can still wear shorts and flip flops, but when Finn and I go out for our morning walk, I bundle up in a jacket and long pants.  Shivering but loving it!  Fall is my favorite season ever, but even though I am starting to get to do all my favorite seasonal things, I am a little sad that summer is drawing to a close.  This summer was a great one - and tonight I would like to reminisce a little, about summers of day's past.

For my job, I run a little daycare out of my home, so I get to spend the hottest time of the year with lots of adorable little ones.  We live with a big sports complex right behind our house, and it is like a personal playground for us.  One of the best things about this are the sports fields - particular the soccer field.  Because when the summer drought sets in - they set out sprinklers!!  Large sprinklers, and I love to get swimsuits on everyone and run down to them.  No one can resist the powers of the sprinklers.  Inevitebly, someone will not be in the mood and will pout that I am making them go, in the process refusing to put on a swimsuit and absolutely declaring with crossed arms that they ARE NOT getting wet, and am not going to have any fun.  Fast forward 5 minutes and they are running through the sprinklers, their clothes soaked, screaming the loudest of all - and not that I would point it out to them, because that might make me petty - but they are having the most fun.  ( My favorite year for sprinkler hijinks was the year that kids got the bright idea to bring umbrellas down.  So fun!)

Be True To Your School

School functions.  When your kids are little, and not in school yet, they sound fun.  I just couldn't wait to be able to go on school field trips/be a homeroom mom/carpool.  It sounds so fun - and it is!  There are frustrating times, like when literally you are saying goodnight to your child at the very end of the night and they tell you that - by the way - they need a pair of black dress pants by tomorrow - a work day - at 4:00.  Or when they tell you they need an angel costume for a Christmas play.  An angel in a Christmas play!  How cute is that?!?!?  Do you know that at Christmas there is no place to buy an angel costume?

A Thousand Miles

One of the best parts of the year is when you get to take a vacation.  While on a vacation I am always ready to come home at the end.  But then after being back for a few days - I am always ready to go back.  Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow, and my family has lots of little bits of us made up from all the places we have gone.  I have so many memories - too many to list.  But here are a few.

Have you ever been to a wax museum.?  A couple of years ago we went to Washington D.C. and one of the places we went was a wax museum.  it was very nice and well lit and not scary - the wax dummies looked like wax.  But years earlier on our honeymoon we stopped at a small potatoes wax museum somewhere in Kentucky.  That museum scared the s&*$ out of us.  You had to walk through a door into a long dark walkway, and the door locked behind you with a thud/latch.  Along the way were dummies.  W were certain we were traveling down a walkway to our deaths.  We were making our peace with God - and then we rounded the corner to the final display.  Which was a wax figure of Jesus.  We knew it was a sign.  And past Him was the only way out.  A single black door.  Do we open the door?  If it is a door to death can you just crack the door and peek out?  Then if it is bad, run back through terror tunnel and bang on the locked door?  We decided to join hands and push open the door together - bonded against certain demise by our love.  We opened it, closed our eyes and took a step.  Into the parking lot.  AND THEN RAN TO OUR CAR AND SPED AWAY!  Death - come back another day.

The Autumn Carnival

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, I am hearing a lot people start to talk about fall.  And already it is starting to feel a little bit like it.  Tonight I stepped outside to sit on the porch and got chilly.  Fall is mine and my husband's favorite time of year, which prompted tonight's post to celebrate the season we call Fall.

Fall has it all - football games.  We live next to a high school and can hear football games from our house.  I love it!  Listening to the band practice weeknights for the football games.