Aunt Chesed's House

I may or may not have had a successful night Friday babysitting all 6 of the Kelley kids. I can proudly announce that they are all still living and breathing, which I consider to be a huge accomplishment. The evening started out pretty great. They were having a large time in the pool and the cold hot tub, playing Marco Polo and having splash contests. Madison was content to explore the pool deck and sit in my lap a bit. Brady was "pushing" the older kids into the deep end, and no one was crying. "This isn't so bad," I thought to myself.

With McKinley's help I got everyone changed into dry clothes, diapers, and pull-ups before corralling them into my tiny living room. Everyone got a glass (no, I don't have any plastic cups) of either water, cranberry juice, or gatorade and they had chips and salsa (not spicy) to snack on until I had their lasagna heated up.

The question was asked, "Where are we going to sit?" In hindsight, I should have let them eat on the porch. Note to self. Instead they sat at the table and on the kitchen floor. Let me tell you, those kids can eat. I think they all wanted seconds and even Sunny ate as much as I would. Granted, half of that ended up on my floor, but she ate alot of that too. Good thing I swept before they came over.

For dessert they had sugar-free peanut butter wafers - Go Aunt Chesed!

High School Musical was on the Disney Channel, so they were mostly entertained for about an hour. Mauri was doing her part to annoy McKinley, and Brady and Sunny were a little restless, but not fussy. I did have to put Brady in Time-Out in my room for afew minutes for biting Marui Hannah (yes, she cried). Eventually he was willing to say he was sorry and was allowed to come back out. Still, I felt that things were going well.

Once the show was over, I pulled out the icing on the cake - Sparklers!!! All was well until still-glowing sparkler wires found a foot and then a finger and another finger and foot. Copious Screaming commenced. Tears poured as Mauri and Brady cradled their burned appendages. I do not have a working icemaker, so we pulled out the frozen berries and greenbeans. "It Burns!!!" "Ow Ow It's too Cold!!!" "OOOOOOOOoh it Burns!" For the next 20 minutes I did what I could to console them.

Needless to say, I was greately relieved when I saw Tony peeking into my window on his way up the stairs. The kids were thrilled to see their parents. Brady practically begged to get in the car and GO HOME! I think he needed to know that he was going to get leave my house.

The funny thing is that Sunday I had the wonderful discovery that I was Brady's new favorite. Hmmm.... I guess I did something right!