I’ve had my sister’s boys for the weekend and must say, I’m not sure how my dear sisters can handle the sheer energy of them! Wow!! Don’t get me wrong, I love them dearly and we had fun, but I found I did not really sit still for longer than it took to eat sandwiches and soup in the middle of the living room on my coffee table last night. We dragged out all the pillows I had in the house, and ate in front of the television. After that, I think I wore them out. They are still asleep and it’s nice to drink my coffee in silence for another hour or so!
Fun with the guys
After this long weekend, I thought that I was going to take advantage of the weekend and do nothing. A phone call from my sister changed all that. I have the three boys for the next two days. I’m sure we can find something interesting to do. At least I won’t have to play dress up and fashion show, like I usually do with my nieces. Though fun ( in it’s own time ) we usually end up trashing my bedroom, bathroom and generally the house. With the boys, blanket tents and inside camping out, is not as messy. Guy movie are always cool too!
Air soft guns look like the real thing
Okay, my nephews came over last weekend with and air soft gun. I was totally taken back a bit because of the gun. Now, I try to be a “Cool Auntie”, but had to draw a line somewhere, since these guns totally are very neat, but come on…seriously they look very real. In my town, if anyone had one in their possession, they would get checked out to the max for carrying a weapon. Actually I have to say that I was impressed with the likeness of a real sort of assault gun, but hey… these are my nephews so I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.
Okay, I hit plan B. I called my little brother, to ask about air soft guns. He is a hunter and is into guns of all kinds. He said these were safe and that I should go out and play with the kids. I took his word for it. Have to say that indeed it didn’t hurt much getting shot at by these and quite frankly I had to also admit that they are much safer than even BB guns. Still, like any weapon, of any sort, they still can harm someone if not aimed properly.
The boys had a great time though, and I did after keeping an open mind, let them go for it with their air soft guns. I’m actually thinking about getting one for myself, just so I can play with the boys. To be honest, there is a lot of equipment that goes with them also that is really cool.
T-shirts for a cause
My niece is into donating blood for people who need it, and she called me and asked if I would please help to find her, or at least look into finding some custom t-shirts for not only donating blood, but also for various cancers and other causes she is involved with. I have to say, that where I live there is no place that I am able to grant her request, so I had to do some online searching.
Custom t-shirts for her causes are important to me. My niece is so dedicated that I really admire her and when she does her walks and supports what she believes in, I indeed want to help her. While looking online, I also found that I could have shirts made up that I would like to distribute and also tell people where they could get them, considering the fact that the nearest big city from where we live is an hour and a half away, that has any shops that we could get these shirts from.
Of course because I wanted to help my niece, I went online. The custom t-shirts I found, not only could be made to pertain to her causes that she is interested in helping, but also the wording can be basically anything that a person would wish to put on a shirt. I like this idea, since I can also buy shirts that can be worn with my niece’s and nephew’s sports and activities to show support to them, or for the fact that I am proud of what they are involved in. I can also have the shirts made up as special gifts, at a great price.
What a blast
Seems I didn’t have to take off work for the apple festival at all. I got off work a bit early, picked up the kids from their schools and we came to my house, I had them do the weekend homework they had no argument at all, which was a plus. After that, since I knew there would be plenty of food at the festival, we took off. It was great since it was warm enough out that I just had the boys bring hoodies, in case it did get cooler out. We had a blast. There was a pumpkin carving contest, saw how cider was made, drank cider, there was a hay ride and all kinds of other great things to do. I have to admit that this year was the best apple festival I’ve ever been to here. Of course the kids got a bellyache from drinking so much cider and eating the caramel apples and other food, but they didn’t complain. I’m sure I’ll hear it from my sisters…LOL! Oh well, that is what Aunties do, right? Spoil the kids! 😉
Apple festival
Every year a local orchard has a really great apple festival. I’ve made plans to take my nephews to it with me. The weather has been totally beautiful, and it’s supposed to be for the next week, especially the weekend… high of 80 degrees, but breezy. It won’t be to warm for the kids to be tromping through the orchards, going on hay rides and their favorite…eating caramel apples, drinking cider and having a blast with the activities that they participate in every year there. I’m really looking forward to going to this so much that I’ve taken off work. Oh, it’s cool with my boss, she is going also. This is a great event around here for both kids and adults.
Hiring Her
The Author of this post is Cheryl Martinez
Being a working mom is tough enough and I feel really guilty about leaving my kids in daycare all the time. I love them so much and I feel like I’m missing so many moments while they’re with someone else. My husband and I recently made the decision to hire a housekeeper/cook to come in twice a week and clean the house and prepare meals which so far has just been amazing. Martha is wonderful and sometimes she even picks the kids up from daycare for me if I have to work late! Her food is great and she keeps the place sparkling so I didn’t hesitate to give her our www.Securitychoice.com passcode so she could get in anytime it suited her schedule. I feel like she’s already becoming part of the family and though it’s nice to have someone here all the time I do still feel bad for working so much. It’s great having help, though, and I’m really thankful it’s someone we both really feel like we can trust with the kids.
Computer troubles
I’ve got to have my computer geek nephew look at my PC and figure out why it’s running way too slow. I’ve been having problems with my server for the last couple months, and they say it’s not them. Of course they are going to say that, right? I mean, as long as they get their money they don’t care what problems I am having. Hence me thinking about changing my internet service. This computer should not be running so slow, nor should I have problems waiting forever for pages to load. While my sister in law and I were looking at dresses for her, I totally froze up. This isn’t good, I don’t think. She suggested that I have her son look at it, so as soon as he can get over here, I’m sure he will try and fix the problem if possible. Gotta love that kid!! 🙂
Larger sizes
My sister in law was having a terrible time as she is a big boned woman and gained some weight that she really is having a hard time getting toned back up. I feel for her, as after her last child was born, she has not been able to drop the weight she had gained. She had a hard pregnancy with the last baby and had to be on total bed rest, which also made her put the weight on. She wears plus size dresses, but she is having a hard time finding a nice style, and she was always fashion conscious in the past and dressed really nicely.
We have a family wedding coming up and my sister in law is working out and watching her diet, and though she is loosing the weight it is slow going for her but she has really toned it and we are trying to find her a plus size dress to wear to this function. Bless her heart…she works so hard, and I see how difficult it is for her to drop the “baby” weight, but the whole family encourages her and she and I have gotten online to find that perfect dress to wear to the wedding. I’m sure she will be just beautiful, as I think she is and always will be both inside and out.
I know how hard it has been for her to tone up and also shop with the kids very young still, so I’m going to surprise her with one of the dresses she has her eye on. Its a lovely plus size dress, and it also has a slimming effect to it. It also can be worn places other than weddings!
Summers part way over
My brother has been in the Air Force in Europe for about 30 years now. He married a very charming and wonderful Dutch woman and they have two daughters who are now in collage age. It is kind of sad that in all this time I have only met them a few times, but when my brother is on leave, because despite of the discount enlisted men get on airfare, he usually visits by himself or he and my sister in law usually just come alone as the girls are off on their own holiday or have other plans that keep them in Europe. I do however keep in nearly constant contact with my nieces through the internet and also by the “old fashion way” by writing real letters. I see photos of them all the time and they are beautiful girls, both inside and out. I’m proud of the way my brother and his wife have raised them. It is totally a different way than in the US and it seems these two girls have very level heads on their shoulders.
My oldest niece Meeka will be continuing her studies in Amsterdam where she will be staying with her grandma, as my brother is now stationed in Germany. She is into art and I have seen her work over the years. She just continues to get better as her talents develop more and more. She had before mentioned trying out collages in the States, one in particular was Walden University.
While Meeka was looking at all the various information about collages, my younger niece was also thinking about where she would go. She is a bit more adventurous that her sister and would love to come to the states for school. She mentioned to me that Walden U ed had opportunities for scholarships and she was interested in checking out online schools as well but my brother nixed that idea. I’m not sure where the girls will actually be going but it sure would be great if at least one of them came to the States so I could see them more.