My Week with the Kiddos!

Picture it, if you dare:

4 Kids

1 Dog

1 Auntie

8 Days

Last week, I spent 8 days (192 hours) taking care of my 4 nieces and nephew (2 of whom are tweens now and pleaded to not be photographed and put on the internet) while my sister and hubby took a well deserved vacation.

Here's a glimpse of half of the gang:

Of course, DP came along for the adventure:
While the parents were hanging in Mexico, the weather turned viciously hot right here at home and I had to improvise with some "cool" play tactics:
...and so we headed to Rite Aide, where I spied a 90% clearance rack with kiddie pools!!
$3.00 for the bigger one and $1.49 for the smaller one!

All went well until two rambunctious ten year old boys started throwing action figures at each other in the pool and managed to split the side of the bigger pool wide open. Here you see the 3 year old pathetically attempting to stem the gushing tide of water while auntie was kicking the boys' asses!

But never fear! Auntie had purchased many more of the smaller inflatable pools (Note to all aunties out there - DO NOT leave the pools out overnight! Raccoons tore up the first inflatable one!)

Here the toddlers do a little light fishing while the older kids were in school (god bless school days!!)
Now, from the very start, Auntie had a plan:

Wake kids up

Get older ones off to school

Concentrate on wearing out the younger two for naps:
my evil plan worked:
I put DP on the nap patrol:
After naps, time for some imaginative play, or as I like to call it...lets make a mess withPlay doh!!
I made this all myself:
YES, as a matter of fact, that IS an elephant!!

The searing heat kept Auntie, kids and dog outside every day - here the girls are taking a break from the pool to graffiti the yard with stick figures and such:
Since auntie does not cook, I left the menu planning and dinner time labor to the girls:
Baths to wash off the remainder of dinner:
Bedtime stories - IN THIS ORDER:

* "Rikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Peri Pembo" - 1970's classic!

* Curious George Goes to the Hospital - classic, teaches not to eat puzzles

* Bear in the Big Blue House - a classic still, even though he's not on TV anymore

* Very Quiet Cricket - lots of interaction in this one

* Runaway Bunny - damn, that mom is a STALKER - let the kid go already!!

* Good Night Moon - classic

Here are the girls, awaiting their nightly books while the older two are doing homework:
....and repeat this cycle for 8 days. Add in things like:

* Picking up the 10 year old from school when carpool didn't work out

* Football practice prep

* Walking the dog and kiddies after dinner

* Laundry

* Organizing the INSANE AMOUNT OF TOYS these kids have

...and OH YES, did I mention I had sprained my ankle the day before this adventure began?

Despite this ankle injury, I managed to get the toddlers off to bed by 8:30 (every night mind you!), then spent the remains of the day checking homework with the older two. The highlight of the homework checking can be seen below (you may have to click on the photo to see it a bit larger):

The object of the homework was to answer question #7 with the following choice: "Human Interaction with Environment" - I just had to photograph his answer before correcting it!!

Here are some highlight photos from the week:

Popsicles in the Pool!
The 2 year old poser:
The three year old poser:
Isn't this one cute??
she's such a ham:
and here we have Harley, the world's most patient dog, who was in a quandary here: Nap, or continue to eat the snack Auntie brought me? Why choose, really?
The tween girl presented me with the following award for all my services that week:Sorry to all you other aunties out there who presumed to be "world's best". Too bad!!