Mom Practice

Last weekend, I babysat Jack and Sophie for approximately 48 hours.  Amy and Dan went on a vacation and the Grossen grandparents and I split up the days to watch Jack and Bugs.  I took a half day of work on Friday, and headed down to the Grossen's.  It was lunch time and then nap time.  I took a nap.  Sophie took a nap.  Jack did not take a nap.  That made me nervous for the long night we had ahead at the BYU football game that didn't start until 8:15pm (the kids are usually in bed at 7:30pm).  The kids did not want to go to the game or change into their BYU clothes.  I lost that battle and we hopped into the minivan to headed to Provo.  Soph had been up every hour the night before, so Amy wanted me to take her to the doctor's to make sure her ear infection wasn't back.  I don't know how to do these mom type duties, but it went ok.  We got there and were told we needed to make an appoint with a physicians assistant.  So we set an appointment for later that evening and headed to McDonald's (Jack's choice...I tried really hard to talk him into Cafe Rio or Kneaders...no go).  How do you get a tray of food, two kids, drinks, and Happy Meal toys into the playground area and keep the kids from running to the slides before eating amongst a sea of BYU and Utah St football fans?  I'm not sure, but I did it!  Dinner went well...interrupted twice by Jack needing to go to the bathroom (once to pee and once to poop), which involved taking him and Sophie out of the play area and over to the bathrooms leaving our food on the table.  I was scared a worker would throw it all away.  We made it through dinner and the kids had a grand time playing on the slides until it was time to head back to the doctor.
I'm fairly certain the doctor thought I was the worst mom on the earth.  I had to think hard about when Sophie's birthday was...she just turned 2, that means she was born in 2010!  I wasn't sure what insurance we were using.  I didn't know any of her symptoms or if she'd been having a runny nose or if she'd been pulling at her ears.  I tried to explain the situation, but she didn't understand.  She checked Soph and everything looked great.  Yeah!  Then we were off to the stadium.
We parked by the new broadcasting building and walked to the stadium with blankets, backpack, empty water bottles and two kids in tow.   At this point, I was planning on this adventure being a total disaster, but the kids seemed excited to be going to the game.  We met Tricia and her brother, Spencer, by the cougar statue and took these stellar shots...

 

Then Tricia took over carrying the blankets and headed to our seats.  Olivia was in Hawaii on vacation by the way.  That is why my usual game day companion was M.I.A.  Its just not the same without her!  Jack, Soph, and I waited by the cougar statue to meet my friend Josh.  Now this becomes funny.  I'm back on the LDS online dating scene and had been emailing Josh for quite some time.  We were finally going to meet up this weekend, but since I was babysitting all weekend, we couldn't do a normal first date.  I invited him to the game and warned him it was going to be mostly babysitting and we probably wouldn't get to talk a whole lot.  He was on board.  Interesting times!  Jack destroyed this bush while we waited...I don't know why.

 

The kids were getting restless and wanted to go to our seats.  So we headed into the stadium.  Josh was still parking.  Not 5 minutes after I sat down, Josh called and said he was there.  Of course!  He had run to the stadium so we wouldn't miss kickoff.  I like him already!  I left Jack with Tricia and Spencer and headed down with Sophie (she would have nothing to do with anyone except me) to meet Josh.  Josh jumped right in with Sophie and was great.  We stopped by the concession stand and got the requested cougar tail (foot and half long maple bar) and popcorn, refilled the water bottles, and headed to our seats.  The football game itself was the worst thing I've ever seen, but it was the perfect game to be distracted by the kiddos and a first date.  I wasn't invested in the game at all.  The kids were so good.  The cougar tail and popcorn kept them busy for a long time.  Tricia, Spencer, and Josh kept Jack busy while I entertained Soph.  Jack fell sleep on Josh's lap during halftime. Sophie fell asleep during the 4th quarter.  They woke up just as the game was ending and we made it to the car.  Josh helped me get the kids and our loot all secured and then I drove him to his car.  He was such a trooper and so sweet and cute!  I'll probably be seeing him again!  I wouldn't have made it through the first quarter without him and T, and Spencer!

This lady puts away "popoo" like nobody's business!

 The kids stayed awake the whole ride home, and we were all in bed around 1am.  What a day!  Am I the worst aunt in the world for keeping them at the game the whole time?  I like to think I was just teaching them where their priorities should be.  Oh ya, and the Cougs won 6-3.  Boring!
Jack was up at 7:30am the next morning with Sophie not too far behind at 8am.  We ate breakfast and played until General Conference started.  The kids watched Up and The Lion King while I watched the whole first session of conference.  Such good kiddos!  Then it was lunch time and nap time.  They both took really long naps (football game hangover I think), so I watched most of the afternoon session while they were sleeping.  Then we colored, made cookies, and played until dinner.  Jack really wanted to have a picnic for dinner.  We made a pizza, and headed outside only to find the sprinklers were on, so we set up shop on the deck.  It was pretty chilly that day, so we didn't last long outside.  We brought the pizza inside to the kitchen floor.  I asked Jack that night when I was putting him to bed what his favorite part of the day was and he said it was the inside picnic.  He chose pickles for the vegetable for dinner...pickles and pizza...dinner of champions!  After dinner, we blew up a bunch of balloons and had a dance party.

Yes, we all stayed in our PJ's all day

 

 

I love dance parties with these two!!  Next it was bath time and then bed time.  They both had a little bit of hard time going to bed probably because they took such long naps.  Jack came out of his room a couple of times and I asked him if he wanted me to lay down with him and he said yes.  Two hours later, I woke up passed out next to a soundly sleeping little Jack Jack.  I love that kid!
On Sunday morning, we made blueberry pancakes, and then got ready to head to grandma's.  I was so far behind schedule this morning.  I wanted to get the kids to Grandma Grossen's long before the morning session of conference started so I could get home and watch the session there.  Nope, rolled up to grandma's house at 9:55am.  It takes a long time to get myself and two kids from point A to point B i learned.  We had skyped with Isaac for his birthday and cleaned up the house a little.  Jack knew it was Sunday and was so confused about why he wasn't wearing church clothes.  So he put his church clothes on, and I put Soph in a dress.  I wish I had thought to take a picture.  They looked so cute!  I even successfully transferred both car seats from the minivan into my car.  All that took way longer than I thought it would.
I listened to most of the President Eyring's talk on the drive to my house, but I would consider my mom practice a success!  I think I might just be able to do that whole mom thing someday!  I immediately had Jack and Buggy withdrawals!  It was exhausting, but I sure do love those two!  Feel free to go out of town any time, Dan and Amy!