[Imported] I give myself an A-

Two weekends ago, my cousin and her husband went out of town for an early anniversary present, and I watched their three kids for them, which was the longest time I've ever watched this many kids all by my lonesome. I like to think of it as practice. Anyway, I feel like such a bum when I babysit kids and all we do is watch TV, so I came up with a few activities to do.

First, since their mother needed these done for a cookie-exchange later that week, we made some chocolate-covered pretzels:

Let me just say, this was THE SINGLE WORST ACTIVITY IN THE WORLD. The only thing that takes longer to cover the pretzels in chocolate is cleaning up all the caked-up, dried chocolate that's left over in the bowls, on the forks, and on the table. This is one food craft thing that I will never do with my kids, or even by myself. They taste better when Nestle makes them, anyway.

We did end up watching a movie that night ("The Emperor's New Groove," which is just about the greatest movie ever), but after the HELL that was dipping pretzels, I needed the vegging.

The next day, I taught the girls how to make paper beads, which I did all the time when I was their age (boardgames don't work too well when you're an only child, so you gotta be creative). I must have been insane to risk using glue after the chocolate fiasco from the previous night, but it wasn't messy at all. Hallelujah.




Then after lunch, we baked and decorated cookies. There wasn't really any reason for it, other than the fact that in the end we had delicious cookies to eat, and really, what other reason do you need?




I bathed Travis a bit later. He was being fussy, and that always cheers him up. You can't tell in this picture, but I promise...he's having fun.


Later, we walked to the park about a mile away. Jasmine and Daisy could entertain themselves...


...so I spent most of the time pushing Travis on the swing.


Awww. He's a doll, don't you think?







I don't know what exactly was going on in this photo, but I think it sums up their respective personalities pretty well.


So, kind of impressive, huh? The crafts, the cleaning, the exercise? Yeah, at that point I was pretty much patting myself on that back for the ease at which I was sinking into the role of pseudo-homemaker, too. Then we walked back to their house, where we were met with a locked door and no key. Yep, I locked us out of the house. Luckily, I at least had a cell phone so I called my Aunt who had a spare, and she came to our rescue about a half hour later.

So, if you ever need anyone to watch your kid, I think I'm a decent enough choice. Just be sure to keep a spare key under a rock in your yard somewhere.