Adventures in Babysitting

Occasionally Kris and I like to get away or we have something we need to do that requires a babysitter. This week we were going to the temple to do sealings and because I had arranged it, we needed to be there; therefore, we needed a sitter. Carol and Errol have babysat a lot for us and we feel guilty asking all the time. Jen had already done a full day-shift this week when we went to Miriam's funeral. My mom was going to be with us and our typical neighborhood babysitters were going to a Granddaughter sleepover. That left only one person to come to our rescue - my father.

My father is not the most experienced babysitter. In fact, I'm surprised we survived our childhood when my mother left us with him. I felt that with the maturity he had gained as a grandfather, that perhaps it was time to try him out - and I had no choice. I didn't want to overwhelm him so I gave him 3 rules that I felt were fool-proof: 1) Kids need to have pulse when I return, 2) Kids need to be breathing when I return, and 3) The house needs to be standing when I return.

Kris and I went to the temple and had a wonderful evening. As we drove home with my mom I asked, "So, do you think the kids are in bed?" Without hesitation, my mom replied, "Oh I'm sure they are." We pulled into the driveway and I noticed Kyson's light was on; I assumed the kids weren't in bed. My mother proceeded to walk through the front door, while Kris and I were a few steps behind her. She walked in, and walked out almost immediately and started laughing. I couldn't believe what I walked into.

My father looked like he was asleep on the floor and the kids were cuddled up with him watching television. If only it ended there - this would be a successful babysitting adventure. Unfortunately,

my father had lost control of the children and I walked into a disaster. There was paper everywhere. As I looked around a little more, I noticed that Kyson had not only gone through the stack of scratch paper in his toy room, but a pad of paper and another stack of Post-It notes. Apparently Kodi didn't want to feel left out so she went to the basket of diapers and started throwing diapers everywhere. As I started cleaning up, I found marker lids and knew that there were markers missing in the mess.

As I grabbed the camera to capture the moment, my mom and dad were laughing so hard that they couldn't stop. And of course, Kyson and Kodi were very happy - they got to take advantage of Grandpa. After my parents left, we started

cleaning up, but Kodi was so tired she curled up in her blanket and fell asleep. She just looked like a pile on the floor. Kyson helped us clean up the mess and we found all of the markers but one.

In the end, I can only laugh. It could have been so much worse. There could be Sharpies on the walls, food ground into the carpet, or a broken bone. A harmless tornado of papers throughout the main floor is no big deal and the kids got to have a fun evening with their grandpa.