FREAKIN' OUT!!!

Ok, so this picture! It totally faaarrreeeeeked me out, I mean, I didn't realize that my son was thrown so precariously into the air. This is what happens when Momma sneaks down to the port-a-jon with her roll of toilet paper, hand wipes, Purell, & a flashlight. Sheesh, that's why I hold it. Things like this happens when Momma is outa sight (that, and the porta-jon things? Ewwwwwwww!).

Here's a pic of us camping (yes, again) and you should appreciate being able see it and the blog you're reading, because coming back to civilization has taken quite a toll on me. I had a hard time answering the phone, I couldn't type, burnt the toast, just sorta FLIPPED OUT, ya know...just like always.

So here I am, home, typing away after yet another fun-filled day of taking care of other people's kids. I don't mind it so much, but I have a new girl and we have to establish the rules, enforce them, learn her likes/dislikes, all that jazz. She's cute and sweet and nine years old ("Geez, I'm not a little kid" she informed me today) and she's the most difficult child I have had the pleasure to watch. Why, you ask? How could this darling little blond stick of cuteness be difficult in any way? Well, because she's SMART. I mean really, really, smart. She read 500 books last year in school. F.I.V.E. H.U.N.D.R.E.D. My hubby hasn't read that many books in his LIFE!!!

So we have this super-smart girl, a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old. And she gets bored very quickly. When the little ones go down for their nap, I thought it would be fun to send up our tent in the living room. Oh, and it is soooo fun, for about 15 minutes. There we are, sittin' in the tent, and she says, "So...whatcha wanna talk about?" "Um," I sophisticatedly reply, "How about we look at the stars?"

Needless to say, I have to bust out with the learning kit that Gila Man bought for his N.A.U. class and try to trick her with money questions . But ACK!! She cannot be fooled by money. So I jump to patterns...piece of cake. Rubber band puzzles. Done. Counting tenths, & hundreths. Will I ever challenge her? Then I see it. The little bag of........fractions. She is going into fourth grade. She has done some of this, but not all of it (chuckling menacingly) so I go all the way. I present her with 1/6's, 1/8's, 1/3's, and 1/16's.

And she is fooled!! I WIN I WIN I WIN!! HEE HEE HEE!!! What? Like age matters when you're celebrating a well won victory?? BOOOO-YA!! Sheesh, people. Give me a break. Math is, like, my total, absolute, WORST subject and it was sooooo cool to actually know more about a math subject than the person I'm with. So she's nine years old, so what? Did I mention that she was a SMART nine-year-old?

She simply looked at me, basking in my glory over the fraction pieces that I was now doing my victory dance on, and said "You are the weirdest babysitter I've ever had" and walked out of the tent. I wonder if her mom will bring her back on Monday.