Babysitting comes to an end... for now anyway...

Thursday afternoon went by smoothly, for the most part. Gabby sprung a leak during her nap, so I stripped herself and her bed and washed everything. As I was getting her all changed Angelica came home. She was kind of bummed, wishing all day long that school would have been canceled for the weather (it had been alternating between snowing, sleeting, and icing from the sky all day long), and her younger sister was getting on her nerves. Plus I think they both missed their parents a lot. But there wasn't any school Friday, so I know that had to help cheer things up a bit. Jake didn't have soccer practice, and there was nothing else scheduled for the evening. Hooray!

I made German Pancakes for dinner. As I was slicing up bananas for a fruit salad to go along with it, Angelica came over to the counter and casually asked, "Can we do something tonight?"
"Like what?" I asked.
"Well, sometimes my parents take us out for dinner, but I really wanna go see a movie."
"Your parents take all of you to the theater?" I questioned, with Gabby in mind.
"Yeah."
"Well, let me think about it." I didn't really have to think about it for more than a few seconds. I'm broke, and paying for more than one movie ticket was way out of the question. I know Angelica hadn't realized that--what nine-year-old would? But they have a three-day weekend! I decided we had to do something fun and different from the previous two nights.

I think everyone enjoyed dinner. Who doesn't like breakfast at any time of the day? Jake had some library books due, so we got all loaded up in the Toyota Sequoia and returned them. I noticed a Blockbuster on the way there, so as Jake got back in the car from dropping the books off I said, "So how about we go rent a movie? I saw a Blockbuster on the way here..." Everyone responded excitedly, and I figured I could drop five or six bucks for it. We all went in, and it took a while, but we settled on Beverly Hills Chihuahua and a couple older DVDs for 99 cents each. $6.27 total. Not bad at all.

We got back, and Gabby wasn't in a good mood, though the other two kids were. So Jacob took her up and put her in bed. I'd forgotten until after he'd put her down for the night, but her bedding (and more importantly her favorite blanket that she never ever sleeps without) was all still in the drier. Oh, what a hard night for the poor little girl. Moody, morose, missing mommy, and to top it off, no favorite comfort blanket to sleep with. She got to sleep pretty quickly though. Jake and Angelica and I got some snacks and turned on the movie. It's ridiculous. Nobody see that movie unless you've got someone under 10-years-old with you.

Afterward we headed downstairs to just hang out for a bit longer before bed. Jake got on the computer, and Angelica and I stood around snacking on food in the kitchen and just talking. We wound up playing a short, unplanned game of indoor soccer around their house, in socks on the wood floors. No, we didn't break anything (I tried to be extra careful), and it was actually really fun. Angelica kept getting sillier and sillier as it got later and later. She started bothering Jake as he was at the computer, so he started chasing her around the house. Angelica ran towards me for protection, but I just stayed in my chair and explained that she got herself into her predicament and she'd have to deal with the consequences from her brother. I finally decided it was bedtime around 10:15pm, so I got her to change into pajamas and grab her scriptures. It took several tries to peel Jake away from the computer, but he finally came over and plopped on the couch next to Angelica. Then they wouldn't stop playfully picking on each other. I suddenly found myself quoting my mother exactly: "Do I have to come and sit between you two?" I just blinked after I said it and understood only too well why my mom always said half the things she did. I moved to sit between them, and neither of them moved out of the way as I paused before I sat down. Jake had his legs across the couch, with his feet squishing Angelica, and she was squirming and tangling her arms around his legs. When I realized they weren't moving, I just sat on top of them. Jake didn't think I'd actually do that, so he thought it was hilarious, and Angelica was happy that I'd finally defended her from her brother.

We read the beginning of Alma 27 and discussed briefly what they each understood from the series of verses. We had family prayer, I hugged Angelica and walked her to her room. As she went to borrow her brother's mp3 player to listen to some music as she went to sleep (a normal occurrence) I turned down her blankets for her. I hugged her goodnight one more time and left her room so she could read some scriptures on her own and go to sleep. As I went to straighten up the house, I reminded Jake that he knew when he needed to go to bed and not to stay up too late. He's the most responsible 14-year-old I think I've ever met. I went and changed, and by the time I finished brushing my teeth and washing my face he'd already gotten off the computer and turned out the lights downstairs. That kid impresses me more all the time. I called Bob (once again) but he didn't answer, so I just left a message. I was so exhausted once again that I went right to sleep, even though I debated waiting up for him to call me back.

Friday. I love Fridays. I woke up at 6am to my alarm, then I turned it off and closed my eyes, subconsciously listening for Gabby on the baby monitor. I didn't actually get up until 7:00am, and I was surprised that Gabby was still asleep. I went and sat on the couch in the TV room and turned on the morning news. 15 minutes later I hear her talking in her room. I opened her door and peeked in. I asked if she slept well and she said yes. She asked to watch one of her TV shows and then asked for a snack. As she kept entertained I got out the makings for pancakes and retrieved all the laundry I'd left in the drier over night. As I went back upstairs with Gabby's blankets to remake her bed, she saw me walk in her room and followed me in.
"What are you doing?" she asked. Then she caught sigh of her blanket and gasped. "My blankey!!!" she squealed and yanked it out of my hands. She dramatically collapsed to the floor and hugged it for a good long minute or two in complete silence. Then she stood back up and observantly said, "It's nice and clean now."
I laughed in agreement then asked her, "Was it hard to sleep without it last night?"
Without any hesitation she clearly stated, "Yes," with her little arms folded across her chest, still clinging her blanket to herself.
I smiled. "Isn't it nice to have it back now?"
"Uh huh!" she replied, then handed it to me so I could finish making her bed.

Angelica and Jake both eventually woke up at different times. We enjoyed pancakes at different intervals and then we all just lounged around. It felt like a Saturday. What a treat as a child, to have two Saturdays in a row!

Gabby got back in a bossy little mood later and didn't want to do anything any of us said. I made her take a bath around 10:30am. After I got her dressed and combed her hair I sent her right upstairs for a nap. Then I got in the shower. When I got out her room was quiet at first, but then I heard her bustling around in there. I just wished she'd go to sleep! Maybe she got too much sleep last night, not waking up until 7:15am. I left her in there though, hoping that she might figure it out and doze off or something.

Angelica requested a grilled cheese sandwich, so I made both her and Jake each one. Jake decided to make more cookies as Angelica and I watched one of the 99 cent movies we'd rented. When it went over I headed back downstairs to tidy-up the house a bit before the parents came home. I finished putting the cookies on a plate and washed the pan I'd used for making the grilled cheese sandwiches. As I was drying it off I turned around and there were Tracy and Shane standing in the doorway to the kitchen, quietly grinning as I was putting things away. How long had they been standing there?

We chatted and I filled them in on all the happenings. They had a wonderful time away but were so happy to be back home. It was really pleasant to talk to some adults again. I got kind of carried away, and after an hour of fun conversation I finally left and drove home.

Angelica was sad to see me leave. She was so sweet! She gave me a picture she'd drawn and a big hug goodbye. She was excited to know I'd be back to babysit some more in April.

And Tracy gave me the biggest compliment ever and she probably doesn't even know it! She said that she could tell I did a good job with her kids because "there was a good spirit" in their home when she walked in. That's what I'd been hoping and praying for the whole time! Seriously, it's more than just watching some kids and keeping them out of trouble. I love children! We played and had so much fun together. I felt bad getting any money out of it because it was seriously such a blast. But it'll be very helpful to me to have any extra cash right now, so I appreciated whatever it was they gave me.

Now I get to go on an absolutely wonderful two-week vacation to San Diego. Oh, that is going to be so great and I can't wait for it. Three days to go!