Still Alive & Learning!

That's right.. im still alive here and ive been doing the "parenting/babysitting" thing for 3 days now.. today is day 4. The kids are still alive too! It's amazing! And my sister was worried? pffff.. piece of cake! NOT!.. So for today's post, I decided that instead of giving you the day to day details of my week, I would give you a list of things I learned so far about being a parent of 3 kids.

1). Kids dont like to take showers

2). Kids dont like to brush their teeth.

3). Things dont change much between 9 & 37.. we all hate getting out of bed in the mornings.

4). Kids dont care what they look like when they go to school.. as long as they can sleep in that extra 10 minutes.

5). Im 37 & still dont know if im ready to have kids yet. They are a lot of work.

6). Bribery still works with the 5 year old!! Yeay for bribery!

7). Bribery does NOT work with the older 2.. they just dont care if you take playstation(or whatever it may be) away from them.

8). I realized that im super organized and have no problem coordinating everything.

9). I also have a good memory and didnt forget to take out the trash on "Trash day" (even though that was Kelsies job).

10). Happy that the school serves breakfast in the morning so I dont have to.

11). Ive learned that I sleep like CRAP at my sisters house.. I only love my bed!

12). Im wondering how many activities parents can fit in to ONE day (from after school til 9pm).

13). Im a lot better at this than I thought I would be.. and Im in control of myself.. not getting pissed off so easily. Take everything with a grain of salt.. esp when dealing with these kids!!

So, weve had fun so far. Ive had a little time to myself.. not a whole lot... but for sure cherish the alone time I get. I took today off work so that we can do something fun for the weekend. I have already sent Camryn (my youngest niece)off with her grandma, who is taking her up north for the weekend to Grand Marais (which is way up near the Canadian boarder.. in the arrowhead part of MN). Johnny, Kelsie, 2 of their friends and myself are meeting my dad and his 2 boys at a hotel/water park this afternoon. We are spending the night @ the hotel. There is a halloween party for the kids and of course, the water park and never to forget that there is a BAR in the water park for the 2 wacked out adults.. myself and my dad!! lol... Tomorrow we are heading up to lovely Aitkin, MN to my aunt and uncles house for the remainder of the weekend.

I am officially off kid duty on Sunday evening... Then my life can go back to normal. I see how I have settled in to my single lifestyle so comfortably, now that ive had it taken away from me for almost a week. A couple of my friends have asked
me to go for happy hour.. or meet them later for a beer, to which I thought.. hmmm.. who can I get to babysit for me already? lol.. But to calm everyones mind.. I rejected all the requests for socializing because it's more important that Im with my wonderful nieces and nephew! See, I dont need treatment after all! :)

This has been a great experience for me to see what it's like to have kids, work, have activities, keep a home clean, keep the kids organized and in line, feeding the kids, getting them to bed and up in the morning.. plus getting myself ready for work, etc. Yes, it's a big job, this parenting thing. The one thing I thought about the other day when I did have about 45 minutes alone was: How do families do it? Both parents working, kids in school/daycare, after school activities, dinner, baths, fighting (lol), keeping up with the house & laundry, etc... all of it? Geez, it really makes my life seem quite easy! I only have to take care of ME! And for now, that's how I like it!

Have a great weekend. I will post again on Sunday.. pics and stories from the weekend.. if there is anything good to talk about!

~Peace!