Parent Training!

June 27 - July 1

Tuesday night, Nate and I drove down to Emily & Rob's to watch their children while they were in Canada for the Mormon Historian Association. Talk about preparation for parenthood. Nate had to work the rest of the week, so it was just me for the first few days. Emily had a fun bag for each day that we watched them. It was cute. 

Wednesday started off with the girls getting up, eating breakfast, unloading the dishwasher and practicing their piano. I put the baby show on for Jenetta; she loves it! We opened up the first fun day pack which was a Pixar xbox game. They enjoyed it all week. I felt bad cause Scott couldn't do much with the game, but once he's older, I'm sure he'll be able to do more. He kept turning completely around so his back was facing the tv. Lol. Later that night the girls went to play night games with their friends and Scott played with his friend across the street. I had some quiet time to prepare for my interview the next day. 

Thursday morning, I had to get ready for my interview at Birch Creek Elementary in Smithfield. Barbara and Larry were nice enough to come watch the kids while I ran off to my interview. When I got back, the kids were downstairs playing the wii. Barbara had gotten pizza for lunch. It was nice. They stuck around for about an hour before heading home. The fun day prize for the second day was a craft project with colored paper and glitter glue with rice krispy treats. They loved it! I even got in on the action.

 We then played with the xbox for awhile. Later that night, the girls wanted to make ice cream from one of their books. We had all the necessities except for multiple seal-able plastic bags. 

Friday was a bit of a struggle getting everyone up and moving. I let Jenetta watch the baby show and the rest take turns playing games on my iPad. Their fun day package included popcorn, candy and Puss in Boots movie. It was a cute show! I made everyone go outside and play. The weather wasn't too bad. 

 Cecily, Scott and I played Bubblegum on the tramp and soon everyone joined in.

 A lot of the kids played on the swing set.

 The kids got into a water fight with cups, which was hilarious! Nate showed up around 8 and the girls wanted to play the Pixar game again. We had chili & chips for dinner and cherry ice cream for dessert. When it came time to go to bed, Jenetta would not go to sleep. It took awhile, but eventually she konked out.

Saturday was full of adventures. The morning was spent cleaning up after ourselves for Emily and Rob. Jenetta watched the baby show, Scott and Nate cleaned his room and organized his bookshelf, Sophie mopped the kitchen floor, and Marri vacuumed downstairs. The girls cleaned their own rooms and put away their toys. It was great and finished up pretty quick.  

 The fun bag for day 4 contained the same as day 3, but with kung fu panda 2 for the movie. During "quiet time", I had everyone go play downstairs. Scott had been asking me for days to make a train out of graham crackers and m&ms, so I finally caved on Saturday. I was a bit confused as to what to do, but ended up making frosting from powdered sugar. We made a car. It didn't take long for the absence of Scott to peek the girls' interest.

 Marri made a Picasso masterpiece, Cecily made a pirate ship and Sophie made a house. During this delicious process, Larry, Barbara and Jake showed up to visit. The big boys soon left to check out the DI and a sportsman store. The Warburton men and the DI fascination remains a mystery to me. Meanwhile we finished their creations and put them in the fridge for the 'glue' to cool/harden. They soon played a game with Grandma to preoccupy their time.

 Once everything had cooled, I helped Scott put marshmellows on his car for wheels. The girls then used the leftover frosting to decorate with m&ms. Ashley stopped by shortly and the kids became fascinated with her computer. Lol. 

 They went downstairs to play the wii while they waited for the guys to get back and I stayed upstairs to chat with Smash and Barbara. When the boys finally got back, Barbara took me and Smash to Old Navy to give me a break from the nieces and nephew. We bought a lot of flip-flops that were on sale and then picked up KFC for dinner. At the house, the guys were in charge of the water adventure with the tramp and sprinklers. The kids had a blast playing with their uncles and getting wet. Unfortunately, Nate was on camera duty for me and Em, but forgot to snap any photos. :( Bummer!

 After Smash, Barbara and Larry left, I sent the kids downstairs to watch their movie with 2 of the 3 bags of popcorn. As soon as I started popping it, I hear this great exclamation coming from Jenetta, "Pop-co!" I turned to see her pointing to the microwave. Lol. We ate the bag together and I got her to laugh pretty well. I taught her how to eat off the table with her tongue (sorry Em! It made her laugh though). I took her outside for awhile to jump. It was SOO cute! We'd jump and sit down on the tramp. She would just giggle and giggle. She'd run around me playing hide and seek and then fall over me sometimes when I would be on all fours. This is what the uncles did during all that....play Halo. After Jake left, we put the kids to bed and Jenetta didn't cry at all. It was awesome! I let the girls and Scott sleep together downstairs in the family room.

 Sunday morning we forgot it was fast sunday, so I had all of the kidders get something to eat for breakfast. Jenetta LOVES bananas. The first two blocks of church were fine and then sacrament came and all chaos broke loose. I forgot to pack snacks for Jenetta or activities for the kids to do. So... I luckily had little bits of candy and crackers in my bag from student teaching to feed her. And eventually let Sophie and Cecily play with my iPad and iPhone. I had Scott draw in a part of my notebook. The fun bag for the day was given after church. They each got a Sea World stuffed animal, Scott got a car and Jenetta got a toy ball. 

Around 8:30, we loaded everyone up in their car and packed ours to go meet up with Rob and Em and drove off. They were tired and the kids were excited to see them. After talking a bit about the day, Nate and I soon headed home after meeting them at Maverick. According to Barbara and the events that happened, I think we passed the prep course. I hope whenever we have children that we will be good parents.