Saturday, June 30, 2012

Nanny Diaries: a funny, a sweet, and a gross



For a year and a half now I have been the proud full-time nanny for the three silly little Potter girls: Rylee, 7 years; Emory, 3 years; and Lucy, 18 months. In that time I have learned a lot about kids and myself and yesterday reminded me of all the reasons I love my job, as well as how strong my stomach has gotten!

It was Ashlee's (Potter mommy) birthday on Thursday so I hung out with the girls extra late so that the Potter parents could celebrate like adults with adult friends. We made a totally pool party day of it and had a blast!

Funny
While in the car we always listen to Disney songs on shuffle from my iPod for the simple reason that the girls love them and I don't have to answer a million questions about why I have so many love songs and why did "they" break up. So we're driving to the pool yesterday morning and playing "I've Got A Dream" from Tangled and Rylee takes particular notice of an unfamiliar phrase. 

The line goes: "I've always yearned to be a concert pianist!"

but Rylee turns to me and asks: "Bethany, what's a concrete penis?"

OH MY GOSH! I almost wrecked the car for laughing so hard!*  

Sweet
Around 2, after stuffing ourselves with pizza my mom brought and playing in the sun, I had to make a drug store run to pick up a prescription and more swim diapers because Lucy was blowing through them! But when I walked off to my car without Lucy she squirmed down from her chair and waddle-ran after me and threw herself on the concrete sobbing. I couldn't just leave her there with my mom when she was being pitiful, so I loaded her up and took her with me. She was being very good waiting in the long line and quietly yammering on in baby speak about whatever she saw. 
I've been with Lucy since she was 15 days old and I've gotten pretty attached to her. I love all the girls, but its quiet time that reminds me of my special connection with this kid. I kissed her little forehead and gave her a squeeze. She looked up at me, giggled and returned it with a sloppy, open-mouth, baby kiss on my cheek, gave me "taters" (a fist bump), and snuggled her head on my shoulder. I love Lucy and I am really going to miss her when I grow up.

Gross
We finished our pool day around 6, ate and played at Chick-fil-A, and finally got back to their house for baths and bedtime. Poor Lucy has missed her nap for three days in a row so she was barely out of the bath water before she nodded off. Emory convinced herself that she wasn't sleepy long enough to make it to the couch and curl up next to Rylee before passing out. I had Rylee hide so that I could tell Emory that everyone was in bed and she needed to be too. Yes lying is bad, but I at times like this I don't care much!
I picked Em up and started to carry her to her room went the perfect day went to pot. She raised her head to say, "Where my mo--" VOMIT SPEWING EVERYWHERE! On my face, in our hair, down the left side of my body. I stood her on the floor, more puke. Grabbed her hand and drug her to the bathroom to finish, leaving a trail down the hallway. I kid you not, it looked like the scene from Sixth Sense! I put her in the bathtub (she was so groggy that she couldn't understand why she needed two baths) and went to clean up, but luckily (luckily?) their giant red lab, Forbin, had already eaten most of it. I tucked Em in bed, borrowed some clothes from Ashlee, and washed my hair in the sink. When I got home I super scrubbed myself before Tommy or the dog could love on me. 

Kids are so pitiful and confused when they get sick. When she was in the bath Emory looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I so sorry. I need clean up the floor, Bee?". Broke my heart. She's so precious, even when she's a barf monster. To think that I used to get sick at the sight of baby spit up. I was such a weenie! 

Hope you weren't eating when you read this! Happy weekend!

*I did not actually "nearly wreck"
**Couldn't find a recent picture of all three girls. Age that one about a year and you've got it!


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

fast and easy

Yeah, that's how I like it. Dinner, that is.

As a new-ish wife and a relatively unskilled cook, I'm always on the look out for simple, yummy recipes. Our first couple of months we pretty much lived off of Hamburger Helper and take out so out butts got a little fluffy. But don't worry! My dinners have improved greatly since the discovery of Pinterest and blog-surfing!

Last night I finally tried two recipes from my friend Brooke's blog and they were DELISH! Not to mention super easy! Minimum input, maximum reward. Naturally, I have to pass them on to you!

Our neighbors/landlords brought home their new baby boy yesterday so we brought them a cake to congratulate them. This cake, you guys, has major yum factor. I didn't actually get to taste is after it was baked (They would probably wonder why there was a giant slice missing!) but the batter was so rich it bumped me into a new tax bracket just from licking the bowls!

Flourless Chocolate & Vanilla Marble Cake


After we delivered the cake (a little begrudgingly) and went to the gym, we finally sat down to dinner and, boy, was it great!! My mom has always made stuffed shells but these had a yummy twist and were way easier. The recipe didn't call for sauce but we like to smother everything remotely Italian in Classico vodka sauce. So good! I also doubled the topping cheese to make it extra gooey and completely cancel out our workout. Can't have those calories sneaking away. HA!

Pesto-Chicken Stuffed Shells


Yum-o! Hubs woke up this morning still talking about how much he liked them!

I hope you'll give these recipes a whirl and let me know what you think!
Do you have any easy and tasty recipes for me to try?