Adventures in Babysitting!

 Michel and I have been looking forward to the first few days of Spring Break for awhile because we got to babysit our sweet niece and nephew! And yes, this was a treat for us :) Most anyone who reads my blog, or Facebook, knows how much I adore my niece and nephew. I think they are the sweetest, cutest, most well-behaved kids that I know. However, I do realize that I'm a bit biased :) Anyways, Michel and I thought it would be fun to keep them for a couple of days during my Spring Break, and he was able to take a day off during the week as well which gave him almost a full week off from work. This gave us the opportunity to take the kids to do fun, special things with just us, and it also gave my sister and brother-in-law the chance to just have some kidless time to do whatever they wanted/needed to do. 

We wanted to make sure that the kids had a great time with Uncle Michel and Aunt Julie and planned special things that they would love. Monday morning started with a breakfast of champions: donuts! And to top it off they wouldn't eat very much at the table, but when they were in front of the TV they suddenly were hungry again. So breakfast was served while watching endless episodes of Bubbleguppies :) Then we got dressed and ready to go and headed to Celebration Park in Allen to feed the ducks. 

There were a lot of ducks and birds out that were more than willing to eat the bread we had. Karys did a great job throwing bread to them. Zane ended up just putting it in his stroller. And I will apologize that I don't have a TON of pictures....keeping up with 2 young children was much harder than I thought it would be!

After we fed the ducks we walked over to the playground and let the kids play. Unfortunately, most of the stuff was too big for Zane, and it was a little overwhelming for Karys because there were much bigger kids there, but we still had a good time! It was really windy as you can tell from my one picture I managed to take at the park :)

 

After the park we headed to Chick-Fil-A. Since we had been playing all day we hadn't done any snacks and both kids were pretty hungry! Then we went home where both kids crashed! I have to admit I needed naptime for myself. I was exhausted, and I had gotten more sleep than I usually do during the work week. I seriously have a new respect for how hard stay-at-home moms have to work. Our house was a mess at naptime, but I didn't have ANY energy to clean it up. Oh well...it got done later :) Seriously...stay-at-home moms how is your house not a mess all the time???

When we were driving back home I took a few pictures of Zane since I hadn't gotten any all day while we were playing. Who wouldn't love this sweet boy? He was so much fun! He was very willing to give me a big grin while I was snapping pictures of him :)

Seriously...he's just so dang adorable!

Once the kids were up from their nap it was time for the crazy fun to begin again. Karys chose to watch the Cowgirl episode of Bubbleguppies for about the 7th time that day, and Zane entertained himself by carrying my flip-flops all over the house :) At one point, I didn't even know where they were and I said "Zane go get Aunt Julie's flip-flops"...

...and look what he brought me! My flip-flops! It amazes me how little ones understand so much even before they can express themselves! Correction...he's definitely expressing himself - just not in English words :)

All day on Monday Karys was telling us "I want to go to the zoo" and I kept telling her "We'll go tomorrow." I think this ended up being a mistake because she woke up at 4:30 on Tuesday saying "I awake. I want go see lots of animals at the zoo." And yes, she stayed awake! However, she actually was pretty good despite of her lack of sleep. I was hoping that this would be the case seeing as how there was so much going on at the zoo she didn't have enough time to think about being tired, or get cranky. We had a blast at the zoo! Apparently all of Fort Worth decided to go to the zoo because it was pretty crowded. 

It took us almost an hour and a half to drive to the zoo. The kids did really good in the car until about 20 minutes before we got there. Then they started getting a bit rambunctious - not fussy, just vocal! So I entertained Zane by becoming really goofy, and again resorted to picture-taking. 

Karys was entertained the best by playing with....

....my cell phone! I have a talking Tom app where a cat will repeat anything you say and she just loves it! So we had happy kids when we arrived at the zoo. The last time Zane was at the zoo with us he was only 6 months old and not that into the animals. Today was completely different!  He was looking at the animals, pointing at them, talking and waving. It was so precious!

He tried waving at an alligator....so stinkin' precious!!

Karys also had a blast at the zoo! Again, she had been talking about it all day Monday and woke up ready to go to the zoo at 4:30 on Tuesday, so she was REALLY excited to be there!

Such a ham! She's actually in front of a big aquarium, but the camera flash messed it up

I also took advantage of getting some cute pictures that didn't feature animals :)

Karys and Uncle Michel

Karys on a big lizard - she loved all the alligator/lizard exhibits today!

Karys and Nana

We were at the zoo for about 4-5 hours today. Neither kid had a nap, and Zane lasted a LOT longer than I thought he would. There was so much going on he wouldn't let himself fall asleep! Eventually he lost his battle with sleep though :)

"I'm not tired...I'm not tired."

"I'm still not tired...."

"zzzzz...."

 

The lion was the most exciting thing to see! When we arrived at the lion exhibit it was laying down sleeping. We had only been there about a minute and it stood up and gave about 10 really good roars, and then laid back down...it was awesome!

Eventually that 4:30 a.m. wake up started wearing on Karys as well. She gradually stopped wanting to walk and only wanted to be carried. Luckily Uncle Michel is strong :)

I had to grab a picture with her while she was still awake...can you tell it's the end of a long day?

I think it's time to go home now! The kids are fading fast!

Seriously, we had so much fun getting to keep these sweet kids and I love that they love us and have fun with us! I know it's peace of mind for my sister that she can leave them with us and know that they're going to have a lot of fun and not be sad! Can't wait to do it again!!