a great day

First off, for anyone wondering why I have not posted my journal entries, it is because I lost my journal. But fear not, it has to be either in my house or in my car... in both cases it may be a while before I find it.

Anyway, I want to write about yesterday.

I started of the day on the wrong side of the bed. I woke up late, which would seem like a good thing because then I got extra sleep, but when I do that I get mad at myself and feel bad. Andrea depends on me to get to her house on time so that she can be at work on time. I ended up meeting her at the school after Nicholas' doctors appointment. The boys and I went to Chili's and picked up lunch for my mom (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM) and Andrea and a bunch of their co-workers. We brought it back and ate lunch with them, which was really nice. Then came my favorite part of the day. Michael and Nicholas and I went to Cosley Zoo. For those of you not from this area, Cosley is a small petting zoo near my house. It's great. The boys were adorable (as if they are ever not). They would go up to the animals and say "hi, cow" or "hi, owl" an so on. They got to pet a llama which was hillarious because llamas are kind of weird animals anyway. Then they saw this big bird that was kind of chicken looking and they went up to it saying "hi bird" and it ran to the other corner of the cage, so they followed. Again, "hi bird" and it runs off and they follow. They were just laughing and laughing and pretty soon a crowd of people gathered around to watch the two boys laughing and running around with this bird. I was getting all kinds of questions like "oohh, how old are they?" "are they yours?" "what's your relation to them?" "do you always do fun things like this when you are babysiting?" "are they twins?" "how are they so cute?" It was great. When I was asked the "are they yours?" question my answer was, "no, but if I ever have kids I want them to be just like these two."

Seriously, I have had some ups and downs with these boys... for example potty training -- not the best experience of my life. But these boys are really what keep me going throughout the days. I love coming home and telling my roommates another cute thing one of the boys did or said. They are so fun and I have a great time just being able to be a kid with them. I have recently started doing all of my favorite things my brothers and parents did with me as a kid with them. I introduced them to the tickle monster, even singing the sung my brother would sing to me. I sat in the garage with them and watched the rain. We enjoy our picnics and taking walks. I can't wait until we can play in the snow... actually I can, but...

Another blessing in my life is their mom. Andrea is a great mom and I admire her a lot. She loves these boys so much and I hope that if I ever have kids I will be as good to my kids as she is to Nicholas and Michael. She is also a great friend. I have come to value the fifteen minutes after she comes home when we just stand there and talk. I love talking to her and getting to know her better. I didn't realize the influence she had on my life until I left for Spain and missed her and the boys incredibly. Andrea and the boys also came over for dinner last night and my entire house joined us, which turned out to be really good.

After they left, my housemates and I had a lot of fun in the front yard. We had the trampoline out there and two hula hoops. Gerry and I were jumping through the hula-hoops and landing in a somersault and just being goofy. At one point we had two hula hoops being held high and Gerry and I jumped through them going opposite directions at the same time. Then we held one hula hoop up and Gerry jumped over it while I jumped through it at the same time. I still cannot believe no one got hurt last night. But it was fun. The last couple nights everyone in the house has been around and it has been a lot of fun just goofing off with them. Now this is what I was expecting when I moved in.