Parents for a Day

Friday night we watched Andi's cousins Taylor, Kylie, Ellie and Mia (ages 13-6) while their parents went to Vegas for a long weekend. Four kids. Overnight. One small house and two adults accustomed to doing exactly what we want to do, when we want to do it. Lucky for us, the girls were super fun to spend time with. Here's how our night as parents went:

6:30pm
Girls arrive. They've eaten (check!) so we brainstorm activities to do for the evening.  Take the dog for a walk? Play games? Go bowling? Movies? Andi and I offer the parents each a martini to 'start their vacation off right.' We, of course, have a cocktail too. After all, we'll be parenting for the next 24 hours. We may need it.

7:00pm
Andi drops the parents off at the airport. Meanwhile, the girls and I take Chloe for a walk.

7:30pm
We finish our walk and break out the games. Good idea to get one started before Andi gets home so he's forced to play when he gets back. It's all about strategy.

Mia and I

Me, Mia and Taylor

9:30pm
Mia promptly announces it's time for her to go to bed. I decided to go lay in the spare bedroom with her so we could read books while the rest of the crew watches a movie. I'm so impressed with how grown up she's becomming! She read 1 flip book and the first chapter of another. It's amazing to see how fast little kids grow.

10:00pm
Mia and I call it a night while Andi, Taylor, Kylie and Ellie watch a movie. I'm not at all sad to be in bed early!

Saturday
7:00am
Mia wakes up but everyone else is still sleeping. I convinced her to come into our room and watch some cartoons so everyone else can sleep a little longer. I think Andi and I finally understand why Saturday cartoons are such a God-send. Busytown and Fairy Odd-Parents bought us 2 1/2 hours of sleep/laying in bed. Thank goodness!

9:30am
Everyone's up and we all get dressed. Andi and I decide to treat the girls to breakfast in Highland Park. We load all six of us into the family roadster.

9:45am
At Chatterbox restaurant, the girl's chose a game to play at our table and we all ordered something to eat. It's takes 5 minutes to explain to Mia 'flapjacks' are really pancakes. "But I want pancakes," she says. We know.

Andi, Mia and I

10:00am
Breakfast arrives. It takes another 5 minutes to explain to Mia the butter's in the little cup on her plate. Finally I just take over and spread it onto her pancakes. "Try the maple syrup whipped cream" we say. It takes her 10 minutes to get up the guts, but once she tries it she's in love. Now Mia eats the whipped cream by itself.

10:10am
I ask Mia if she wants me to cut up her pancakes. She says she can do it by herself.

10:12am
Mia knockes her pancake plate on the ground. We order new pancakes for Mia.

Mia picking up her pancakes

10:30am

We finish breakfast, pay the bill and head across the street to Patina. As we walk in, the store greeter gives us a wide-eyed look. Lots of little kids, lots of breakables. We tell Mia not to touch anything.

10:40am

We make it out of Patina without incident.

11:00am
Next we decide to dye Easter eggs. We hitch Chloe onto her leash and the group walks down to Walgreens to get eggs and coloring. On the walk, Mia tells me she got gum in her hair. Luckily it's only a little piece at the end. Have to cut that out when we get home.

Mia and I

11:30am
Andi Googles boiling Easter eggs. How long do 24 eggs take anyway? The girls and I cover the table with newspaper and get ready to color.

Noon
Coloring Easter eggs!

Mia

(L to R) Kylie, Ellie, Me, Mia and Taylor

Kylie and Andi

Mia and Taylor

1:00pm
Time to clean up the mess and pack up the suitcases. The girls are going to Grandma's house for the rest of the weekend.

Mia

Ellie

Andi and I have a great time parenting the girls. Lots of laughs for sure! I think we're ready for the real thing :)