There is a jumpy house in my laundry room

Ok so there really isn't a jumpy house in my laundry room anymore but that sentence has been running in my mind like the words on the bottom of your t.v. on a cable news channel. The reason there was a jumpy house in my living room was because Katie gifted one to my children before her sad departure, and I tried to deflate it but the hissing sound the air made as it left the valves was putting me to sleep in the middle of the day. So I stuffed it half deflated into my laundry and pulled the door shut. The reason I was compelled to hide the jumpy house was because I was interviewing a new babysitter because the one I hired to "replace" Katie only lasted one day. That is officially a record.

The record before that was a day and a half. That particular girl quit in the middle of the day because Mike hit her in the face with a dump truck. I was pregnant with Jake and on partial bed rest and after Mike hit her in the face she said she just couldn't do this so I paid her for a full day, gave her some Advil and prayed she wouldn't sue us. The new record was not so spectacular; she worked 1 day, had a weekend off and was supposed to come in on Monday and called on Super Bowl Sunday and said she couldn't work Mondays at all in the future and she wouldn't blame me if I fired her. Of course she knew full well that Mike goes to school on Mon. and WEd. and I have to work there 2 days a month so it was an easy out for her. So part of cleaning the house before an interview is to hide the jumpy house and mop the kitchen floor.

The new baby-sitter is named Sarah and I liked her because in her interview she said, " I am very flexible and I don't get irritated easily.". Perfect! So far she has lasted 2 days. She let Mike get away with too much t.v. watching but besides that she was very sweet, playful and clean. She informed me that Jake had a poopy diaper when I went to pick Mike up from school so when she left I checked him out and his butt was clean enough to eat my lunch off of. I know what he is capable of, he practically does back-flips when you try to change him so she is talented and probably used half a box of wipes.

So Valentine's Day when you have 3 kids is certainly not as fun as when you don't have 3 kids. Erik got me chocolates and I got him champagne and neither lasted long enough. The most festive part of Valentine's day was that all 3 monkeys got pink-eye. So Feb. 15th the weather was gorgeous and we couldn't hang out with our friends cause the monkeys were goopy eyed. So I took them to one of my fave spots, Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz. The natural bridge was a rock formation that I am old enough to remember but in the '80's was reclaimed by the sea. There is still a beautiful stone arch, a fresh water stream and tide pools. The tide was too high to check out the pools, with 2 toddlers and a baby on my back there was no way I was going to traverse those slippery rocks. But Bekah and Mike had a blast in the stream and Jake ate his first handfull of sand. Bekah treaded lightly in the stream but Mike forged ahead until he was soaked to the waist and then started begging to go into the ocean. He is truly a crab.

Going to the beach with all 3 of my babies was very challenging but very rewarding. My mom used to take us to the beach but we were all 3 years apart. A 9 yr. old, 6 yr. old and a 3 yr. old is alot different than a 3, 2 and almost one year old. This was President's Day weekend and Erik and I survived being quarantined with our gunky eyed beasts.

Today my Dad and Cherie came to visit. It was a yucky rainy day so it was great to have them here to help with the monkeys. Cherie was wonderful chasing the beasts around and they were so exhausted they went to bed without a fight. My dad and I were able to get a Scrabble game in and he beat me by 2 points in an over 300 point game. Katie called tonight, she sounded very homesick even though she is home now in Seattle. The kids talked to her and Mike told her he missed her and Bekah that she loved her. When we hung up I had tears in my eyes. She is going to try to make Jake's first birthday, yay!