Sew Sew Grateful

Because my husband and I owe way too many people way too many favors, we try to avoid hitting up family for babysitting duty.  We instead employ various neighborhood girls for the occasional evening escapes to exotic events like school fundraisers or retirement parties.   

Crap we're old.  

Although my mom is madly in love with my kids, she is a retired nurse who lives alone. Because of this, dropping off 3 rambunctious boys is kind of like blowing a firework off in a church.  It's unsettling, and it can throw my mom for a loop.  We therefore try to save her for emergency situations only. 

But when our babysitter fell through at the last minute this weekend, we turned to Nana.  She thankfully agreed.

Several hours later, we returned to find my mom's condo covered in toys, tiny scraps of paper (courtesy of Jack's cutting obsession), and toast crumbs (courtesy of the boys' new toast kick). She looked a little worse for the wear and confessed that she could use a nap.

Yet as we left, the boys proudly showed off their "Pillow Guys" that Nana had fashioned together with old receiving blankets and buttons in an attempt to keep my sons occupied for a full hour:

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I now have to give the old gal at least 6 months off to recover from her ordeal, but these little fellows will be treasured forever.

And the next time she does babysit, I'm bringing her a Dustbuster.

And perhaps a little Valium.