Monday, July 26, 2010

The Kids Are Back in Town

This past weekend, Ian and I offered to watch our fellow trainee's kids. First up, was a family with four kids, ages 6, 5, 2, and 1. We picked them up at noon on Friday and headed to the Granville Island Splash pad.

We had a great time out in the sun, and soaked up all the warmth that we could!

My favorite moment was when R (above,) was singing "like a pop star," like most little girls do, ie: they think they sound WAY better than they really do! and Ian was all "what IS she doing?!?" I got to explain to him that this was what little girls do. hahaha




Then, because the kids were going to spend the night at our house, Ian hopped off the train to pick up a pack and play from our friends while I took the kids to ToysRUs to pick up stuffed animal for the baby, because hers hadn't been packed.

What do you call these things? Our friends called them loveys or woobies. I have no clue why, haha!

We watched a movie, had a picnic, and then made the camping tradition of Banana Boats, or banana s'mores (banana, still in its peel, sliced and stuffed with chocolate and marshmallow then wrapped in tin foil and baked for 5-10 minutes. Yum!)

The next morning we took it easy, made homemade blueberry muffins, and watched another movie, before hopping on a bus and heading out to an indoor wave pool/splash pad!





(below is the face that C gave me every time she got water in her eyes/mouth! It cracked me up!)
We took the kids back to our house, ordered pizza, and got them bathed and changed before taking them back to their house about 8 pm Saturday night.

Saturday morning, we picked up our other friends' two little girls and headed back to the Granville Island Splash Park.


At the end of the day, we took them back to our place for dinner and baths where we picked up our other friend's baby boy J. Ending our entire children filled weekend about 10 pm on Sunday. Crazyness.

A weekend full of babysitting really revealed our future parenting traits. We realized that we are strict disciplinarians, much like our parents were. That doesn't mean that we don't love hanging out with the kids and planning fun things to do together, it just means that we expect immediate respect and obedience! We also realized that it will probably be a battle for us both in this respect: I am much more strict than Ian is, but I don't want to be seen as the disciplinarian, I want it to be balanced. So I expect Ian to step in and discipline much more than he thinks is necessary. Yup, all this learned during this weekend!

10 comments:

Ria @ Life as a Wife! said...

OH MY GOODNESS! Amazinnnggg. I am sure that these parents were EVER grateful :) How many splash pads do you have??? So fun, Brittney! Love these photos!

Kristi McInerney said...

What a great weekend, and really great practice before mommyhood arrives! You and Ian sound like a lovely pair!!!

Anonymous said...

aww they are so cute!!

Alison said...

Wow! Ya'll definitely got lots of great parenting training this weekend! :) Ya'll will be pros by the time you have your own kids! :)

Anne @ Sincerely, Britches said...

Awww, kids are so much fun! :)
Wow, I've never heard of those banana s'mores. I want to try them!!! :)

Jessica said...

Wow, you had your hands full this weekend! Looks like a lot of fun, though! Baby-sitting together is probably a great idea, because like you said, it kind of gets you ready and lets you see what your discipline strategies are going to be

Unknown said...

You should have been my babysitters when I was younger! You choose the most fun places! x

Brittany said...

WHAT a blast! Seems like you had a lot of fun and learned a lot too! :))

Truly His said...

You guys learned so much. Also, I would love to have the recipe with the bananas. That sounds FANTASTIC. :) I love the face of the girl when she got water in her eyes...hahah!

Unknown said...

What a servant heart you both have! I'm sure kids loved it and parents will be forever grateful!