I love you the best!

By chance, do you happen to ever be left with three youngsters, who are depending on you for mostly everything, aside from breaking down their own glucose, and wonder, uh, "What am I supposed to do with them all day?" Because I do. Sure, we have days where we're taking someone here and then, inevitably, picking up someone from there, but I almost always have one kid with me, and this kid almost always has that bright, shiny, "Entertain me!" face on and why shouldn't I? I'm getting paid to give them glucose to break in the form of graham crackers and apple juice, and also to construct these Fun Ways to Make The Day Go Faster Until Mommy Gets Home. So, wondering what we do? Well, we do lots of things. And when I find something they love (aka the POOL), we stick to it. Hey, I'm a creature of habit. 

I've become quite crafty in my old age. In fact, I'm thinking of taking up knitting (mostly because it burns a whopping 100 calories an hour. Sign me up.) But lately, my specialty has been stepping stones. I know, I know, it's a cutthroat market, but I'm feisty, and I think I can make it work. 

Also, I've learned to teach, not just tell. And so we spend our days learning. We learn that there are reasons behind my "Please do"s and "Don't you dare"s. We can't jump into the pool next to the steps because we might hit our heads. We have to wash our hands really well- scrubbing while we count to ten- because that's how we get all the germs off. We have to pay attention to whether or not dogs in our care are prone to wiggling out of our care, and if so, we should also pay attention to the doors around us because, uh, problems will ensue. (I guess that one was just me.) And today, I broke down borrowing into terms involving apples and barrels and I could feel myself growing my patience one iota at a time as I heard, problem after problem, "But I don't know what to do." One more time. Let's go over it one more time.

And, of course, all hail the swimming pool, though today it was sort of stressful because there were floats that we weren't allowed to float on and, alright, Mister, you try telling that happily floating bunch to start treading water, okay? But, it worked out okay nonetheless, at least for a time, and when everyone started melting down (I think their glucose levels were low), we hightailed it out of there with the promise of a snack, and hey, Mom is home!

At the end of the day, I like to think they are pretty happy, even though Chris will always be chattering about the time we didn't get to spend at the pool. I'm serious, if we were there for ten hours, we'd leave and he'd say, "We only got to spend one minute!" Time flies when you're having fun, bud. You have to learn to take what you can get and cherish it, right, older, wiser people? Right. 

I have one more picture for you. My brand-spankin-new niece surprised us by joining us a good 6 weeks early. She's tiny- 3 lb 8 oz- but she's beautiful, and she's miraculous and she's all things good. Gracie Laine, we are so happy that you're a part of our family.

Let me know if you have any crazy, fun ways to entertain kids. And if you feel like sending up a prayer for little Gracie and her mom, Mandi, we would certainly all appreciate it!