Is this how ALL kids act?

I had a pretty wild day baby-sitting/nannying whatever you want to call it.. And after reading a former employer's post about having a mini-breakdown with her kids I felt inspired to write this out and let her know there are some A LOT WORSE out there..
Plus I don't think my current employer know's i have a blog ;-)

I get to work around 3:30. There are three kids from a authentic local Jewish town. The kids are 15, 12 and 9. The 9 year old is this cute chubby, stumpy, red-head with quite the potty mouth, oh yeah his name is Michael. The other kids are all ready and gun ho about going to the beach ( wasn't aware we were going btw) and Michael is in a funk and dead set on not going. I don't really care because by the time we get everything ready to go and actually down there ( if were lucky by 4:30) I have to leave the beach at 5:45 just to get back in time for mom to get home from work. More hassle then it's worth but either way I was willing to do WHATEVER! Mom hasn't left for work yet, the kids start arguing, no let me rephrase continue arguing and start name calling ( not unusual) I just say another day it's not a big deal. Now it is time for the mom to leave for work Michael runs out, seeming fine to me, and run's into his mom's van (with no shoes on) and he refuses to get out. So the mom goes inside to get her other keys to take the other car he isn't in. She even offers for him to come with her to work if he goes to put his shoes on "NO NO I DONT CARE NO NO NO NO." She runs to the other car trying to get it started and on before he can get out of the other one, but she doesn't make it in time and now Michael is standing in front of the car refusing to move...It is about 4:00pm now which is when she is suppose to be at work. She gets out. TRIES SO HARD to reason with him..Being SOO NICE..TOO NICE! Just trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with this kid and all he gives her is "NO NO NO I DONT CARE" Now he wont even let her get IN the damn car. She is pulling at him, asking him what he wants, saying he can do whatever, we dont have to got o the beach blah blah blah just trying to bribe him to move out of the way...She say's to me "you might have to hold him back for me". OK.. So I bear hug the kid long enough for her to drive away... Oh wait it get's better..

So Michael decides to stay outside and cry in the street for 20 minutes or so, fine I don't care I will let him take his "time-out" and recover. Finally he comes into the house and goes into his mom's room to watch TV. She calls me, and says "I feel bad because Michael called me crying and so I am going to come home for a little bit to talk to him," and this point im thinking hey you made it out of the house best to just stay at work right??? No..Before I let her hang up i try to get Michael to talk to her thinking if he says something she might logically just stay at work and let him cool-down..No go. He won't talk to her so she comes home..

She get's back goes to talk to him for 15 minutes, I don't know what transpired but there was a little screaming and hollering and then it got calm. She comes out and want's me to go to McDonalds and get a 6 piece happy meal with an extra 4 piece. Ok fine I can do that, i took the other kids along we got the food and get back. Well I had made a giant mistake that I didn't even see..

1st mistake was they had HI-C and NOT orange soda (big effin deal i thought) and when i get home his mom say's "oh he is not going to be happy about that" I kind of just looked at her with no expression..2nd..I didn't get the mcdonalds ketchup packets..SO WHAT RIGHT?? NOPE!!! BIG DEAL the kid won't eat the Heinz ketchup they have at the house (which is the same stuff) or ketchup from a Wendy's they have..So what happens?? He REFUSES to eat it!! at this point it is 5pm. Mom say's ok I have to go back to work Michael starts crying saying "NO NO NO" Well Mom hesitates too long and now Michael is in the driver's seat of her car, first he locks her out, then he lets her in and scoots over as if saying well I am not getting out. She tries to pull him out for HALF AN HOUR. I am dumb-founded this whole time by the whole situation. At around 5:20pm she drives off with him in the car. They come back and he has a new happy, with his ketchup and then just goes in his room...

I left at 6:30!! I know that not all kids are likes this and some have tantrums but wholly crap isn't there a point when you can send them to boot camp or reform school for a week? Or to their damn room at least? SOME type of punishment or is it all about bribery these days???? I was just relieved to be able to go home and not have to take the kids with me..

But it is ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER!

PS- She gave me a raise ;-)

More Texas Pictures

Here is another batch of pictures!! I just want to say Charlie is an excellent wakeboarder! The pictures that are on this time around of him on the wakeboard are a wipeout and just kinda hanging out back there, I have some great one's of him in the air I just haven't gotten to them yet!!! I just gotta give him the credit he deserves :)

Each couple did had a night for dinner, for our night we made like 8 pizza's!!! THey were all verrrry good. We did pepperoni, chicken, peppers, feta, cilantro, onions and cheese! We did different variations with mostly those ingredients. It is quick easy and relatively cheap to make, also fun! I would HIGHLY recommend it :) There is a photo of our work and my cheese ball smile.

This goes with out saying really but we also did a lot of sequences and adopted boggle to the list of games!!

So the night we were suppose to leave they canceled our flight (without telling us GRRRR) but it ended up being a great night. We went back to the lake house and between Charlie, Hannah and I we caught at least 20 fish! Then because of the beautiful sunset we had an excellent photo shoot and probably snapped about a 100 pictures between all of us. Those ones will stick out, Charlie and I got our great kissing shot that night so it all turned out for the best. I love all those pictures and it was really nice to spend another night there. :)

Lake Travis, Austin, Texas

The Psillos family held a mini-family reunion at the Williams family [Jessica's (Charlie's sister) in-laws] house in Lake Travis, which is near Austin. They were kind enough to let us stay there for about a week. We fished, wake-boarded, wake-skating [ when your not strapped in] cruised around on the boat, went on jet skis, ate, swam, and just plain ol' relaxed. It was really nice. I have a TON of pictures because by now all the women have swapped!! I may break up this post in section as to not overload onlookers eyes :D

The house had a dock on it where we spent A LOT of our time. We were surrounded by some multi-million dollar homes. There was one storm when we were there and the sky got pretty dark! We got some great pictures of it though. There were also some GREAT looking sunsets which we too got pictures of. Charlie's parents rented a hotel room for a few nights because we weren't sure how all of us sleeping in a 2 bedroom house would work out [especially with a 5 months old and the twins, luckily it worked out great] so we went to the pool a few times and played some volleyball! I also caught my first fishing on the last day we were there, which happened to be the day that our flight got canceled! Anywho I could almost a dozen fish that night. BUT Charlie & Hannah caught too many to count!

All the pictures are pretty much out of order!!

Here is about 1/4 of them!! :)

A Poem

I have been reading a biography on Jim Morrison. I have always enjoyed reading the Doors and about him because I really enjoyed him as a writer AND a musician. I have read a few of his poetry books and although some are totally bizarre a lot of them I understand. Well reading it has been inspiring me to write more! I always keep a journal but I have not written a lot of poetry since I have been with Charlie. I think being caught up in love sort of veered me away and distracted me from that for a while [probably should have inspired me HA]. I have also been doing creative writing sessions from a "writers theraphy"" book I bought. I wrote this while we were in Texas. There was talk about a snake being in the water, I never saw it. But, one day on the dock I started to think about it and a poem began to form in my head, I went with it, and I told my mom I would put it on here..

As the waves roll in, swaying the dock
My body joins the rhythm of the water.
The energy lifts me up, and pulls me out.
I am not in tune with its beat-
It calls me to touch it,
absorb it,
feel it,
and soak up it's life.

I see ripples approaching,
No-
It's a moving "Ssss"
It's a naturalistic pattern approaching.
Pushing it's way through the waters,
as if apart of it.

Now I can see the snake,
He is watching me,
Attempting to understand my presence,
I am this alien being in its familiar body of water.
He circles me, in his elegance.
Absorbing me,
As I him.
THe body brushes my legs, slivering around me
sending chills down my spine.
I calm myself, my energy, to the flow of the water
I make myself apart of this water
-I am not a threat-
And he leaves me..
I stay.
Now I am in-tune.

6/4/2010

Old Pictures

I went through Kathy's[charlie's mom] SD Card's for pictures from our trip to Lake Travis, Austin and I stumbled on a lot from the last time we were in NY around summer and from Christmas. There are also a few of Charlie and his brother Danny in the mornings before work/school. I am going to post these and then get the one's from the vacation up later!!