Jobs...

One of my jobs this summer is to clean 2-3 hrs a week for a couple here in Ankney. They own a very nice home and a very large home. => I have several photos on my facebook page for those who are interested. Its a hard job, but Im definatly getting lots of cleaning experience!

Working at the Fays is so much fun. I haven't posted about the kids recently and decided today that I really really really need to get a camera so I can acutally have decent pictures!

Dylan is just so cute...and he is growing up so fast. He seems so much bigger and just plain more grown up than just under a year ago when I first met him. He loves to play with his action figures, legos, read library books for quite awhile, watch just about anything on tv (one morning before either of the other two were awake, he watched a cooking show for 30 mins! and was like really into it too!), watch his brother and friends play the wii, play baseball and so much more. Today he wanted me to play with him..which meant to sit there with him and watch him play while he explained everything that was happening with the lego guys and the tiger and panda bear. => He is constantly making up new games for us to play and some of them are quite fun! He can still be very testy and likes to try my patience some days, but hey, thats good for me I guess. =>

Maddie is also growing up and is doing so much better at reading than she was just under a year ago. She is very much independent and loves making me laugh. => She enjoys my individual attention and often competes with Dylan for it. Her favorite thing with me is getting a piggy back ride which I give her often. She occasionally enjoys helping me make things to eat (muffins, cinnamon rolls etc) and can be a big help if she wants to. She loves playing with her baby dolls, reading the newest library books (but only for about 10 mins), and watching iCarly. This weekend is her dance recital and boy does she look so grown up when she has her stage makeup on!

Payton is at that stage where he wants to be a teen..yet still secretly enjoys hanging out with his siblings and doing "kid things" with them like the slip n slide, or playing legos or going to parks etc. He is very smart and very athletic! I don't know much about basketball or baseball, but when he plays with his friends, he makes more baskets and hits more balls than do his friends. I have yet to make it to one of his games, but soon I will. He and I have had some fun conversations together, but most of the time he likes to have his space and be by himself or with one or two of his friends.

All in all, Im pretty sure Im the luckiest 'nanny' ever! Dawn and I generally have about a 20-30 min conversation after work and has told me a couple of times that I am like family and am welcome over at any time. There's just no words to describe how special that makes me feel! Like none at all. Funny how nervous I was about actually agreeing to take this job and how many times I wished I didn't say yes or that I didn't care if I left them without a nanny...but thankfully I did say yes and thankfully I did care and didn't leave after the first few weeks. => That family has helped me grow in so many ways and I love them all. I can't even go swimming on my own without wishing the kiddos were with me!

(Oh, and can't forget Daisy! She is the silliest dog you ever did see. Some days you would think she is a cat! She loves to lay in the sun, chase flies, sleep on the back of the couch, greet me at the door each morning and join in on the fun when the kids and I get really hpyer => She is a barker..which can get very annoying, but she has mellowed down quite a bit from when I first met her and she decided to take a chunk outta my hand when I was letting her smell me! That was before even meeting the family haha! Good times. She also loves to cuddle up on my lap..or on Maddie's. She also no longer puts up a big fight when I tell her to go to her cage..although, she doesn't go on command...yet