Kids

My sister’s 10^th wedding anniversary was July 7^th.  To celebrate her and Nick took a mini couples only vacation for 6 days.  While they were gone I had the twins and Kylie.   While I have babysat for my sister many times this was the first that I would have them over night let alone multiple days in a row.  

I tried to find fun things for us to do during the week.  Monday I took the kids to the store to get cards and ice cream sandwiches for the ISP officers as a way to say thank you for all they do.   A couple days before 5 police officers were shot and killed in Texas and I wanted to not only teach the kids why the flags were half staffed but I wanted to teach them the good that police officers do.   They had fun picking out the cards and were able to thank and high five multiple Troopers at the office.  The twins also loved sitting in the back of the police car and having Trooper Crapo show them all her stuff.  

We then placed 5 roses, one for each officer, at the Idaho Peace Officer Memorial.   

After that we came home and watched Zootopia which is pro Law Enforcement which I love.  

Tues K9 Trooper Dax and his handler Trooper Cottrell stopped by for a visit at the house.   The boys had fun hiding “drugs” for him to find and talking with Trooper Cottrell who did amazing with the boys!  

After that Brayden really wanted to work and play with Thor and spent a good hour outside with him.  
 

I  am not sure who had more fun, him or Thor!  That afternoon we meet up with Jen and her kids to watch The Secret Life of Pets, which was super cute!   All the kids did really good to and it was just a fun day! 

Wednesday the boys had scout camp all day so it was a girls day!  I had fun just hanging out with Kylie.  That afternoon we meet Jen and the kids at the park and Lucy and Kylie became fast friends, it was fun to watch.

Thursday was a rough day.  The boys woke up on the wrong side of the bed there was a lot of fighting.  I ended up taking them to the park to eat lunch and play.  One of the twins the whole time glared at me and would not play.  

Finally I waved the white flag and brought them all home and decided to fill up the dog’s pool since it was nice and hot outside.  That seemed to do the trick and before I knew it all the kids were playing and I turned on the sprinklers for them to run through.  Kylie decided the pool looked better and got right in with Molly.  It was too cute!!

 Friday afternoon we went over to my dad’s house for a little pool time and a BBQ.  The weather was perfect and the water felt good.

Saturday we meet Jen and the family at the park again and this time everyone seemed to have fun.  Kylie was so excited to see Lucy again too!  After we headed to get some shave ice Hawaiian style!  I love summer!!! 

Later that evening I dropped the kids off to Steph and Nick.  The kids were so excited to see their parents and as well as Austin and Emma (who stayed in Utah for the week).  There are some things I took away from having kids for a week.  I loved having Kylie!  She was like a little shadow that told me over and over how much she loved me.  She would give the best hugs and snuggle time was always the best.  She slept in my room and always woke up happy and ready for the day.  While she had her 2-year-old mood swings she was quickly over them and back to being happy.  She was my little buddy and when I dropped her off the house just felt empty.    

I also enjoyed the boy and had a lot of fun watching the relationship between Brayden and Thor grow.  Brennan would also always tell me thank you for everything and always wanted to tell or show me something.  They were also my biggest challenge.   They could be down right mean at times and say things knowing they would hurt.  I was told more than once I was mean and horrible and that I was not their mother.  It made me question if I could be a step mom to older kids and gave me a whole new respect for stepparents.  

Over all though I think the week went well and I hope the kids had fun!