Hanging with the kids . . . . .

As many of you know, I don't particularly care for large groups of kids. They smell, are noisy, are dirty and usually touch things they shouldn't.

Not sure what compelled me, but I agreed to "babysit" Eris' kids EVERY Tuesday evening. In the past it was Mondays, nice to get it done for the week. I think this time will be different. As I have aged, I have become more tolerant of these little demons.

The Littlest disliked me from the beginning. It wasn't until an Easter miracle a year ago that this changed (sure it had nothing to do with the bubbles I was blowing). I needed to pick her up from "school" today and I wasn't sure how she would react, she did cry when her dad dropped her off this morning. She was excited, took my hand and said "Do you have a car seat for me?" How grown up! She chatted the entire time it was just the two of us. Her brother got in the car and they started bickering.

As always, I don't cook, I make it extra special and the kids get whatever they want for dinner. Tonight it was Wendy's, ice cream and all!

We ended the evening with a friendly game of Wii bowling, Little and Littlest battling it out. Littlest was in the lead until Little bowled a spare in the tenth frame, Little won by 4!

Their father showed up at 8:30, the first thing out of Littlest's mouth was "I don't want to leave". This almost put a tear in my eye. I walked her out to the car and since I forgot to show her our twinner backpacks walked her back in the house for a quick peek. I gave her a hug and reassurance that we would play again next week. She reluctantly left.

I enjoy these kids more than my sister will ever know. It's so different being around small ones when a. they aren't yours and b. I'm this much older. I now understand why my friend, who is 56, amazes me with how he deals with his kids that are 13 and 10. Thanks sis!