Sisterly Bonding!

There are big age gaps between me and my 2 sisters.  9 and 14 years to be exact.  To be honest, I felt like more of a mother figure to them when I lived at home!  Even more mind blowing to me, my baby sister doesn't even REMEMBER me living at home.  How weird is that?  I guess she was 4 years old when I left for college but still...that's pretty weird.  

So it has always been important to me to try to strengthen the sisterly bond.  With Nikki this was pretty easy.  I was her confidante while she was in high school, her sounding board, the one she could tell anything to.  This may have been hard at times because like I said, I felt like more of a mother to her growing up.  But I would have killed to have a big sister to go to for advice when I was young and reckless!  Not that Nikki was reckless, in fact she turned out pretty dang good!  But I think you know what I mean, big sisters can be a lifesaver!  

Nikki and I have stayed close, especially now that she's married and lives a few miles away.  But what about Sari?  How do I forge a bond with her since I'm so old and have 3 kids?!  (let's face it, 31 years old is ANCIENT when you're 17 and have your whole life ahead of you!)   

First, we have officially started SISTERS' NIGHT.  What do we do at SISTERS' NIGHT?  I'll tell you what.  We do this:

That's right, we have Easy Cheese fun!  Just look at this work of art by yours truly:

My name was so long I had to use a double waffle pretzel.  

Then we do fun things like watch the best movies ever.  Like this little gem:

That my friends, is one of the best movies ever made.  Don't believe me?  Watch it!  (if you can find it)

Anyway, my point is this.  Huge age gaps mean NOTHING when it comes to your sisters being your best friends!  All you need is some Easy Cheese, and a cheesy movie.

Summertime and the living is NOT easy...

In fact, it has been kind of stressful!  

sometime between 5:30-6:30: The boys wake up with a vengeance.   I long for the day when they will sleep in.  

6:30-10:00:  A lot of yelling, screaming, fighting, watching cartoons, eating as much cereal as humanly possible, and spilling as much cereal as humanly possible ALL over the place.

Sometime before 10:00: I do laundry, dishes, vacuuming, general cleaning of messes, breaking up of fights, etc.  I also run.  Oh dear sweet treadmill, how I hate you.  But running outside in AZ summer weather is not an option.

10:00: I pull my hair out while I get all 3 boys ready for swimming lessons.  Swimsuits, sunblock, towels, ear plugs, blah blah blah.

10:35-11:05: Swimming lessons.  "S" proceeds to scream and refuse to do anything he's supposed to do in our "Mommy & Me" swimming class.  But at least I'm in the water and not sweating poolside!

(Yes, I swear that giant floppy hat, and nothing less than SPF 50 at all times.  I'm anti-tanning.  I don't care if I look ridiculous!)

11:00-12:00: I take the boys to the junior high across the street from the pool to FREE LUNCH for kids under age 18!  Yes, the food is disgusting, but it's free.  The boys call it the "restaurant" and they LOVE it.  Probably because they've only been to a real restaurant a couple of times in their lives.  

12:00 - 1:00:  Rush home and I shower.  Boys get dressed.

1:00:  I take "B" to his summer camp program.

1:15:  Rush home, put "T" and "S" down for a nap.

1:30 - 3:00:  I transcribe my fingers off, and try not to fall asleep.

3:00-5:30:  "T" and "S" wake up and yell, scream, fight, watch cartoons and make messes while I try to finish my transcription work.

5:30:  Load up "T" and "S", go pick up "B" from his summer day camp program.

6:00:  Think to myself, CRAP it's dinnertime!  Throw something together and feed my family.

6:30 - 7:30:  More screaming/fighting/mess-making.

7:30:  BEDTIME!!  Oh sweet sweet bedtime.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  

I love how it's finally QUIET!  

p.s. 27 days till school starts