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The SuperCousins: Generation Next

This past weekend when my family and Emily’s family got to spend the weekend at Fort Rapids, there was some awesome cousin bonding that happened. All four cousins played so nicely together, and were just cute and sweet and funny.  At one point, Kate and Sophie were sitting on the bunk beds in our villa together and I whispered to Emily, “I hope they’re picking out bridesmaids dresses for each other’s weddings!”  Then yesterday, Kate spent the day with us at our house.  She read books to Sophie, played Littlest Pet Shop with her (Joshua even joined in, don’t tell his friends), they all three played hide-and-seekm we broke out Busytown, one of my kids’ favorite board games…it was just really FUN.

Emily and her sister  Anna were kind enough to let me be  a sidekick to their sisterdom and form the SuperCousins.  I never had a sister, but I had the next best thing.  I got to be close to my cousins and I didn’t have to share my clothes! (Although as adults, especially during and after pregnancy, we all three of us shared clothes!  As a matter of fact I still have a bunch of Anna’s maternity clothes hanging in my closet and she still has a bunch of my regular clothes that she wore post-partum.)

Kate doesn’t have a sister, Sophie doesn’t have a sister, and Anna’s baby Lily doesn’t have a sister…*yet* – I suppose that’s still a possibility, right Anna?  But they have each other! Girl cousins!  We’ll have Lily designing the bridesmaids dresses in no time, I am sure she is going to be crafty like her mama.

My niece Murrin, who is 13, came over Wednesday to help me with the kids at the CRAZY pool.  She was so sweet and kept such a good watch on Sophie, and Sophie loved it. She told all her friends at the pool, “Look, I brought Murrin!”  Another girl cousin success. Murrin also has girl cousins on her mom’s side of the family with whom she is very close.

Sophie also has lots of girl cousins on my husband’s side of the family.  One, Isabel, is only 3 weeks younger than Sophie.  When they get together it is C.U.T.E.!!  Sophie also has two girl cousins, Gabbi and Katie, who are about Joshua’s age.  I hope they will all be good girl cousin friends as well.

I can’t wait to see how my kids and Emily’s kids and all their other cousins grow closer as they get older.  And based on my own experience, I am going to do whatever I can to encourage these great cousin friendships!  I’m so thankful for my extended family.

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Outsourcing

A couple amazing things happened today.

My house became sparkling clean.

My back deck got stained.

And I had nothing to do with it.

Let me back up for a moment.

A few months ago, I read this post from our friend Susan at Working Moms Against Guilt. When I read the opening line (“I am a big fan of outsourcing. Cleaning and landscaping are two of my favorites. There’s something wonderfully freeing about coming home to a clean, fresh-smelling house or a neatly trimmed lawn in the summer.”), I was immediately intrigued. Susan’s point was that we all have so much to do, and sometimes it’s nice to outsource the tasks we dislike most, so we have more time and energy to do things we like.

That, coupled with the experiences Jenny and several of our friends have had recently with EcoMaids of Dayton, convinced me that it was time to start outsourcing. I asked around town, got some recommendations, and found someone who comes in once a month and does an absolutely amazing job cleaning my house and it makes me so happy. It is worth every single penny.

Similarly, all last summer Andy and I talked about how badly our deck needed to be stained, and somehow we managed to not get around to doing it. That kind of thing is not our forte, and we were intimidated by the size of the job. So, we hired a good friend of ours who knows what he’s doing, and it’ll be done by Friday.

I have to tell you, this has been liberating! We are having a cookout over the weekend and it’s great not to have to worry about getting the house ready to go. I just have to find a way to keep my kids out of there until Sunday. Details, details.

So, what’s something you outsource – or wish you did?

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Grumpy Old Man

If you were like me and started watching Saturday Night Live when you were like, 11, even though it was totally age-inappropriate, but your cool older brothers grandfathered you in, you might remember a character played by Dana Carvey called “Grumpy Old Man”.  Grumpy Old Man would complain about new-fangled technology and how times have changed and say things like, “In my day, we didn’t have hair dryers!  If you wanted to dry your hair you stood outside in a hurricane!  And we LIKED IT!”

I’m feeling a bit like Grumpy Old Man these days.

The pool I have had a pass to the past two years went and CHANGED itself.  Did major renovations and now it’s like a mini-waterpark. We went for the first time yesterday and it was ridiculous.  Joshua, at seven, is too big for the little kids area. They don’t LET YOU IN unless you are six or under.  Umm…ok, I have a baby and a four-year-old, which child should I leave unchaperoned? The seven-year-old or the four-year-old?  (Thanks to a BabyEtte water wrap I had Jonah strapped to me.)

To make matters worse, the place was PACKED.  And we went after 2:30, when in the old days the place would have started to get un-crowded.  No such luck.

The area with the kiddie slides, which Sophie actually loves, was crazy packed and giving me an anxiety attack.  And of course, since there is a big bucket of water that dumps on the place every 60 seconds, Joshua won’t go NEAR it. So they four-year-old loves it and the seven-year-old hates it.  The seven-year-old would be perfectly happy to be in the little kids area with the four-year-old (she also loved the little kids area) but he’s not allowed.  And, trying to keep them both in my line of sight with 50 BAJILLION kids all over the structure?  Anxiety attack city.

I’m pretty pissed.  I pretty much want my $200 + that I paid for  my pool pass BACK.

And I want my old pool back.

In my day, we had a baby pool and a big pool…we didn’t have no new-fangled water park with a splash pad and a giant bucket of water and a twisty slide….just a baby pool and a big pool…AND WE LIKED IT!!

(Oh, and here’s a fun you tube video of Grumpy Old Man. Watch it! I couldn’t get it to embed.)

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