It Takes a Village....

When iKeith and I decided that he was going to attend the World Wide Developer's Conference in San Francisco, I decided that I wanted to go with him.  I immediately thought about tricking  inviting my parents to visit.  They live in Dallas so visits are not very frequent and what better way to get to really know your grandkids than to be solely responsible for the care and feeding of them for 6 days.

The few times that I've left my little angels children in the care of relatives...it required two people to do my job.  In the past,  Nana and Uncle Andrew or Uncle Robert have cared for them and curiously they wouldn't return my phone calls for a few weeks once they returned home from their gig.  My guess is that they were too exhausted to answer the phone.

Before my parents even arrived they enlisted the help of Aunt Bobbi so she moved in to help.  Bobbi played the role of iKeith....taking over from exhausted Grandparents at the end of the day.  Grandpa Bob made the comment that iKeith doesn't pay me enough to raise his kids.  Oh, don't you worry...iKeith paid dearly on our trip! (hence the Eat Pay Love theme)

My Aunt Faith (sister of my Mom) arrived the day before my parents so that she could visit with all of us.  It also turned out to be very helpful to have an extra set of hands available while I finished packing and writing the Weiss Kid Instruction Manual.

Within minutes of the Grandparents arrival, Mallory put Grandpa to work drawing pictures for her.  This was the first step in her plan to wrap him around her little finger. Luckily there's lots of room there right next to her Daddy and her Poopa.  She also told us that we could leave for our trip now...she dismissed us with a wave of her hand.

 We all piled into my Armada for the trip to the airport (finally used that third row of seats) and before our plane even took off...Mallory was enjoying her first In-and-Out Burger after her first trip to Cabela's.  

A tent and tunnel (or a vestibule* as iKeith calls it) was purchased and erected in my living room.  Even though it is camo colored...I can still see it.  I believe there was an alterier motive in the purchase of this tent.  My suspicions are that it was used as a containment device since the tent can be zipped closed.  Since returning home...we've nicknamed it Kiddie Jail.

Much to the delight of the children, there were many trips to Lowe's for lightbulbs.  Our house was built by a crazy electrician who loved canned ceiling lights.  Many of them had burned out and in this poor economy....I didn't want to spend the money to replace them.  My Dad made it his personal mission to re-light my house.  Thanks Dad!

There were also many trips made to local fast food establishments.  When they took Alex and Mallory to  McDonald's they asked Alex what he wanted on his Burger Cheese (that's what he calls it) and he said Ice Cream.   They also went to Burger King.

One day they went to Chick Fil A and the kids said that they wanted to eat in the car while watching Tinkerbell.  Grandma went inside to get the food and Grandpa hopped in the backseat to get the movie started.  And then he couldn't get out because the child safety lock was activated.  Grandma returned to find all three of them trapped in the back....so they ate back there together while watching the movie.

Grandma and Grandpa like to read and Grandpa told the kids that the Grandparents Union requires him to take a 15 minute break every hour.  Pretty soon...Grandpa's reading glasses (both pairs) had gone missing.  When Mallory spied him wearing Grandma's glasses she informed him that those were not Papa glasses and he told her he couldn't find his.  She finally fessed up that she'd hidden them from him and brought them back.  She's so sneaky!

Once we returned we had a family dinner at Maddox in Perry to thank them for all of their hard work and for taking care of and loving our kids as much as we do. Thank you Grandma Diane, Papa Bob and Aunt Bobbi!

In the words of Mallory: All of us...We're a Family!

Definition of Vestibule:

1. Enclosed or partly enclosed space (vestibulum) in front of the main entrance of a Greek or Roman house or building, i.e. an entrance-court or fore-court.

2. Entrance-lobby or hall immediately between the entrance-door and the interior of a building.


*job update*
We are still unsure when the lay off will happen.  It appears that nAS.a will not be making any more payments on the FY2010 budget so now we wait to see if Keith's company is willing to play this game of chicken and wait out the decision from Congress.  It feels a lot like we're scheduled to go before the firing squad...except that most Death Row Inmates know when they are going to be executed. 


I just realized....if things really go bad....we can live in the tent.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
- Serenity Prayer