The Munce Family: Ollieworld

Sullivan, (sometimes) Kenzie, (sometimes) Dave and I packed up and moved out to the Oliver's for the week. Maggie and Jeff went to Costa Rica with some friends and I volunteered to watch her kids. What a week it has been. The first four nights were difficult as Sullivan had a hard time settling in to the pack and play I had set up in Maggie and Jeff's closet. There are different noises and things going on our here, so I can't fault him for the transition, but it made for long days. The final two nights went much better. The week was filled with lots of fun, a little frustration; hours of playing, minutes of discipline; tons of sweets, and a few veggies.

Anna is a pistol, she is 100% two, but is also the sweetest little girl in the city. She has her favorite activities, like taking tubbys, requesting candy (at 8am), strolling here baby, and talking to Sully. The first thing she would say in the morning as I would take her out of her crib was "Hi Sully!" in the sweetest morning voice I have ever heard. It was almost like she was instantly happy when she realized that yes, Sullivan was still here, for the most part. At times she would get a bit territorial with me and want me to hold her when I had Sully, but fortunately, she was easily coaxed into another activity. She has been missing her mama and daddy, drawing them in pictures, requesting me to draw them in pictures, and saying "mama bye bye, daddy bye bye" every morning. She will be so excited when Maggie is the one to get her tomorrow morning.

Isaac was a champ. He is the best big cousin in the world. He loves having Sully here and takes advantage of it every second of the day. The only way I could get him to go anywhere with anyone was to send Sullivan along. He picks him up, sings to him, talks to him, plays the ipad with him, takes tubbys with him, and sits as close as he can to him at the dinner table. This morning it was only Isaac and Sullivan eating breakfast before Isaac had school (Anna was still sleeping), and Isaac said, "Suzie!! Sylvan just said '5 plus 5 equals ten!'" He was so proud of him. I told Isaac his parents would be home tonight and he got really quiet. I asked what was up and he said, "but I'm not ready for you guys to go home yet." We have been brainstorming about ways to spend more time together on a regular basis ;).

I taught Isaac a couple of small things this week that he is so excited to show his parents. He learned that the short hand on my watch tells you what hour it is, he isn't quite there with the longer hand, but we are working on it. I also showed him how to change the garbage can bag. It is actually really fun! You pull out the new bag, put your hands just so, and wiggle wiggle shake shake until it is fully expanded. He was so proud of himself when he was able to do it all by himself yesterday. I told him that could be his new chore, he liked the sound of that.

Dave and my mom were also a big helps this week. Dave came out every evening through bed time at least, and stayed over night on the weekend. Its amazing how just one other person makes the job so much more doable. We took all three kids swimming on Sunday at the gym and it was a lot of work, probably worth it in the end, but a lot of work. We both want more kids, so this week was great practice. My mom was the chauffeur, carting the kids to school, Miss Jaspers, music class, and even took Isaac to the Children's Museum in Brookings with Cappy and Owen on Friday. Big thanks to both of them for keeping me sane :).

I had a dream last night that I did weeks and weeks of training and just completed a somewhat impossible feat, I had climbed this incredible mountain. People were stopping me in streets asking about my experience and wondered what my inspiration was. I woke up wondering what inspired that dream, then I remembered what my week was like and realized the irony. I have successfully completed the climb and Im almost home.

Here are a few photos from the fun and busy week.