The most effective birth control ever

On Wednesday, we were asked by my sister Amy to babysit (overnight) Eliza and Porter while they went to a play. It would be overnight as the play would be getting out so late. On Friday morning, Mike received a call from Tait asking if we could babysit while Mommy and Daddy had their time together. Mike and I thought this was also an overnight babysitting visit. After discussing it, we decided we could take on four kids at a time and said yes. (By the way, if you want to read about Amanda and Cameron's date, catch up on their blog, The Skinner Scene.)

Because we were having so many kids, we decided the easiest thing to do was to get some Papa Murpheys pizza. By the time I got home, all the kids were here, already asking for candy and to watch movies. It was fun, but after a night of "Aunt Becky, can I...." "Aunt Becky can so and so..." or just plain crying, I was ready to put them all to bed at 8. Out came the air mattress to some excited, "It's a sleep over?" There was definitely a ton of help in getting the air mattress blown up. We get the kids (except for Porter who we lost to Granny when she got home from work) into their PJ's. This is when I noticed that the boys had no clothes for the next day, no pillows and for Blake, no nanett (his blanket). When I asked Mike about it, his response was, "He is getting to the age where he can do without his nanett." OK, he had it every other time, but maybe he would be OK without it.

So, we get them all ready for bed, listen as Tait prays and put them to bed, with the threats of no more noise. Mike and I, after only a couple of hours with 4 kids are exhausted, so we quickly join the hunt for bed. As soon as Mike's head hits the pillow, he is out, a feat that happens every night to which I am insanely jealous of...As I am dropping off, and responding to the "Aunt Becky, there is a monster in the kitchen." "Aunt Becky, there is a monster in the fireplace." etc, I hear a car door shut. At about 9:20, there is a knock on the door, there is Amanda to pick up her boys, kinda surprised that all the lights are off in the house.

After the confusion was settled, turns out Tait didn't want to go. Tait stayed for the night as Blake went off to home with mommy and daddy. I really think that I was asleep before Tait and Eliza. I could hear the whispering in the other room as I drifted off. Well, I can't really say whispering, I didn't hear Tait at all, but Eliza seemed to be yelling as she talked to Tait.

The next day started very early, at 7 AM. There should be some kinda law that kids sleep in on Saturday, but seems this won't happen anytime soon. Mike and I had a whole list of things that we wanted to accomplish on Saturday, so we decided to try to tackle this with 2 kids in tow. They included cleaning the inside of the cars, which needed it sorely, raking leaves off the driveway, cleaning out the laundry room (which included taking everything out, organizing, cleaning etc) and finally setting up the tent from the deer hunt to dry out. Oh yeah, and going to the dump to empty the green beast. As we started out, Tait and Eliza thought it would be fun to start cleaning also and started to rake the leaves. Tait asked me, "Aunt Becky, can I have a dollar for helping you?" I told him that I was sure that I could find a dollar because he was helping me to which Eliza responded, "Don't forget me!" "Don't worry, I can find dollars for both of you."

About the time that they finished their job, both of their parents showed up. As Amy left again to do my dad a favor, Amanda and Cameron were waiting for Tait to finish up. They were surprised that 1) He was doing work cheerfully and 2) He actually asked for more work to do. After they finished, Tait came up to me and said, "OK Aunt Becky, I am finished, can I have my $10 now?" $10? When did the price jump up? Tait has some smooth negotiating skills, but unfortunately, still only got his $1.

So, as much fun as the kids were, I have definitely decided that anytime you get baby hungry, you should take 4 kids for a couple of hours, even if it just ends up being 2 for the rest of time. I am happy that I had the opportunity though to watch the kids and am glad that they had fun, or seemed to. Blake even told his mom how Aunt Becky said that you went to the moon to eat cheese (this is from Wallace and Grommit if none of you have watched this movie.)