Chillin' With The Kids - Part I

Last week I convinced Geneva to leave her kids with me for a few days and head home without them after they were all here visiting for Esperanza's birthday party. Geneva's kids include Anycia who is 7, Antonio who turns 12 this month and Angelica who turns 15 this month. While they were here, Anycia made friends with the 6 year old girl that lives next door, Antonio was put to work with Armando and Angelica was more than happy to practice the domestic life and help me out with Esperanza. We had a great time with them. These kids are amazing! And not just because they share the same blood as me...well, maybe that has something to do with it. But really, they all are exceptional in more ways than I am capable of explaining. And having them around for a few days made life a lot easier in my daily routines, as they were so helpful with Esperanza - plus, they are all potty trained, can walk, talk and are pretty much self sufficient with a little guidance. Older kids are way different than babies!

Anycia helping cook (the older two are much harder to capture on camera)

I took advantage of having them around by taking them blueberry picking since my freezer is already thinning from the last blueberry picking. Only this time, I left baby at home and took the older 3 little helpers which made the picking much faster and the results more plentiful! Mmmm, now I'm set with berries for the winter (oh, wait - I haven't picked blackberries yet - come back kids!). Anyhow, I highly recommend using nieces and nephews as child labor for berry picking.

We also went to up to the Washougal river one of the days they were here. Anycia ended up wanting to spend a few hours with her Grandma and Grandpa instead of going to the river so we dropped her off at my moms house and headed up the river road to my favorite spot on the river where the Angelica, Antonio and Armando swam. Esperanza and I waded in the water but didn't feel up to getting all the way in. Unfortunately, I must have left my camera at home that day cause I just realized I have no pictures of that adventure. Oh well, we have the memories.

After a few days, I packed up the kids and headed back to their home.

Check in soon for Part II of Chillin' With The Kids...