Life in the 'hood... the 'parenthood'

Ok ok before anyone gets excited from the title of this blog posting, we are not going to be having a little one any time soon! Just had to say that right off the bat!!

We did, however, become 'parents' last week to a 10-year old and 13-year old as Lira, my boss, had to go to the States for a conference and left the kiddos with us! Yes, it was an experience to say the least. We get along great with them though, and they are so busy during the week with school and practices that it's not like we had to entertain them too much.

I did, however, learn how to brush someone else's hair, make fruit salad, make peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, do homework, pack lunches, study for spelling tests, sign parent permission slips, drop off at school and pick up at practices after school, and, of course, get the call from the school nurse saying "Leslie needs to go home because she's got a runny nose and due to the swine flu scare, I can't let her stay at school." Sheesh! Busy week!

We all ate dinner together every night and I was so surprised and pleased at how easy they were to feed - they ate whatever we offered, including asparagus, edamame beans, vegetarian corn dogs, spagetti, soy milk, etc. (not all at the same time though haha) They also loved Carl's new signature specialty - smoothies. Every night before bed we all got a smoothie made purely of frozen fruit and vanilla soy milk, nothing more, nothing less, and they were delicious!

It was really fun having the around though. They're very well-behaved and fun kids and are self-sufficient enough that they were not a burden in any way. We have two very lovely guest rooms now so they each got their own room, too. Thomas and Carl mostly played video games for a little while before bed while Leslie and I did homework or played online math trivia games. Good times. I know they were anxious for Lira to get home though, but I am pretty sure they'll be back again in the future, which is definitely fine with us.

Also, Saturday, May 2, Kelli and Dan had a Kentucky Derby party at their house. Now, if you've known me for any amount of years you know I love me some horses, and growing up I was plopped in front of the tv alllllll day on Derby day. The party was mostly for their German friends to learn about the Derby. We all got dressed up and the girls all even wore fancy hats in the tradition of the Derby. Because of the time change though, the race didn't run till 12:30 a.m. our time, and we had the kids coming over early the next morning, so we left about 11:30 p.m. and I watched the race half in and out of sleep on our couch at home. No, I will admit, I did not pick the winner. I was hoping for a little General Quarters or Dunkirk action myself. Maybe for the Preakness?

And, this evening we booked our next big adventure.... stay tuned to find out the details of that one in a later post!! ( I have to have something to keep you coming back!)