Nothin' Like Cousins

Matt and Loni made a quick decision to go to South Africa over the Thanksgiving break, so they needed someone to watch their kids.  The Astlings were up to the task.  Beginning on Thursday, Nov. 20th, I picked up the kids from their house (after making sure the pest guy sprayed and laid traps for mice) and headed to Centerville.  Thursday is our crazy day, so the Watson kids had to endure van rides and various cousin baby sitters while I ran Astling kids to piano, wrestling, swimming and scouts.  But they were happy to tag along and didn't complain when they got to join in on a game of crab soccer and eat Arrow of Light cake.

The following night, we went back to the Watson house to have a sleep over in order to give Uncle Mark a night off.  He gives me many nights off for scout camps and over nighters, so it was the perfect set up to give him a night off.  I helped Tessa start a little cross-stitch- a lady bug, and we worked on it, off and on over the week.

Chloe made a fence out of boots, purses and a giant lady bug.

Toward the end, I gave in and let the kids play XBOX games.  Chloe insisted that James sit in the pink chair by her and Chase got help with Skylanders from D.J.  D.J. also helped remove a mouse from the house, for which I paid a handsome sum.

We had to start a craft basket for Tessa to keep all of the creations in.  By the end of the week it was full of drawings, mandala pages, snowflakes, 7-string braids and buttons.

Chase built a small metropolis out of shape blocks on the table while Chloe played with buttons.

After the weekend it became apparent that little ol' me (and even Roxy, who was a helpful babysitter throughout the week and was very patient with little people and also happy that the little people liked to take her on walks) would not be sufficient entertainment for the four kids, so we went to Kangaroo Zoo, a warehouse like building full of blow up bouncy toys.  I caught up on a trashy magazine, like People, and played hide and seek and tag with the kids and a few other kids.

After hard play, we needed a little down time, so Chloe played some sort of Princess game which was apparently appealing to audiences of all ages.

D.J. helped Chase learned to play a simple song on the panano.

The next day we went to a trampoline park, but discovered it was closed during school hours, so we headed back to Kangaroo Zoo for energy output.

Can't be too cold to play in the sandbox! At least Chloe kept her shoes and coat on, Chase shed both clothing items, so I gave him a five minute limit.

Tuesday night was like our Friday night because the kids got out of school for Wed-Fri.  So we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2.  As you can tell, it was a little intense in parts.

Finally, the trampoline park opened during the day on a school holiday, so everybody but Spencer (who came down with a bad cold) spent three hours bouncing, jumping, flipping, throwing, dodging and falling.  Tessa got the nerve to do a front flip from the trampoline into the foam pit.

Chloe barley weighed enough to sink through one layer of foam.

I told D.J. I'd pay him $5 if he climbed up that net cylinder and into the net above.  He tried and tried and tried until he was just about to make it in and then one of the referees told him to get down.

So I made him a new deal: walk all the way across the slack line and I would pay him $6.  He tried and tried and tried for an hour, but never made it.  He got "a bit" of money for trying so hard.

Tessa also cashed in on the money challenge by climbing to the end of this flip ladder THREE times!

The royal foam.

Hide and see foam.  Can you see Chloe?

Thanksgiving dinner was a wonderful with a full table.  Granna was very helpful with keeping Chloe and Chase entertained while Mark and I finished up the food prep.  She spent time on the floor with Chloe, and empty egg cartons and buttons. 

The big boys spent a lot of time in the basement building all sorts of creations and listening to music (they thought they were so cool) and also singing very loudly to the music.

Football and one last movie (Mr. Peabody and Sherman) before returning home the next day.

We had so much fun with the Watson cousins!