Sag Harbor

Let me just first point out that it is not even 6AM, and I am already on cupa #2. Been up since about 4:30, it was almost funny when I woke up this morning. I heard crying, but my mind said, someone is handling it, go back to bed. (And that was the truth, someone was handling it.) But then it continued, so I struggled to roll over and look at the clock, and the 4 jumped out at me and scared me half to death. I managed to pull myself out of bed and go see if there was anything I could do to help so we could all sleep sooner, and there was nothing to be done. So I slinked, or rather stumbled, eyes half-open, back to bed and crawled in. Just one problem... My mind was now awake, so I just lay there not asleep, and listened to the crying that I could do nothing to help. And at 5:15, I decided to make coffee. So now I'm on cup number 2, and finally finding the time I have been looking for to blog. To be completely honest, any other moments I have had have been fleeting and my first thoughts are to quickly pick up my knitting before it's too late! But a week and a half ago, I spent the morning all by myself tooling around Sag Harbor.


It was great, and I needed it. While we have been here, I have explored many of the Hampton Towns. So far I have made it to East Hampton, where I bought the cutest bathing suit ever to be seen in all the planet! The movie theater is also there, and I have made it to see "The Switch", as well as "The Kids are All Right". I have also been through Amagansett, where I found the worlds best coffee! If you are in need of a delicious roast, let me know, and I will send it your way... I'm only here until Sunday, but I see on the bag that their main location is in NYC, so I'm sure I could make my way there to get some as well, and if not for you, most assuredly for me! Montauk was nice as well, but that was while a friend was out for a brief visit, so I'll save that post for another day. And other than this post, it is the only place I took pictures.. I'm sorry, but in ritzy East Hampton, you don't wanted to be spotted looking like a tourist. As for Amagansett, I have no excuse.

So Sag Harbor. It is a little Harbor town (never would have guessed right?), with big beautiful yachts, small storefronts, great sea food, and even houses with buoys attached. So I jammed in the car to my favorite toons on my way, windows down, sunroof open, and I arrived around 10AM. I really wanted a smoothy, but couldn't find one right away. So I simply meandered through the shops, and around the town until I came upon a farmers market. Very small. Very quaint. But really who has wine tasting tents set up at the farmers market to sample wine before noon... and yes there were multiple wine tents. So I tasted a sample. Then I successfully found a smoothy, mango-pineapple. And then I found my way to lunch at a little dock-side shack. I had an amazing lobster/seafood roll, with fries doused with malt vinegar. And even though I was full to the brim I ordered a cup of their clam chowder to bring home with me just in case I needed it when my body found room. And when I ate it, it was well worth it!

It was a wonderful and much needed day. But alas, the children are all awake now, so I am off to entertain. Or rather have fun with this kooky smile bringing boys!

Have a fabulous day!

Munckin-ing at the Beach

The boys were just ushered out the door by yours truly, to be taken to camp by Mrs. Bean. Although Freddy and Jock will be attending the same camp, they will be in different groups and enjoying their own activities. Today is their first day, and I do hope they have fun. They are signed up to go for the remaining weeks that we are here, but based on their spirits, and how much they enjoy the camp, Mrs. Bean is thinking she may have them complete only the first week. Or she may have Jock, who is younger complete one week, and Freddy complete two. So cross your fingers that they have fun, because the more fun they have, the longer they continue going to their day camp, and the less cranky I will be! (See how it comes full circle?)


Last week, we were trying to come up with all different fun activities for the boys to do around town and at the beach to fill the days. We have been doing quite well, and I think they have only fulfilled their 30 minute daily tv limit three times!

One thing that we did that was particularly fun, was we had a beach breakfast! I made pancakes, and scrambled eggs, cut up some fruit, filled some water sippies, and packed Freddy Goes to Florida and we headed down to have a waterfront breaky.


It was great! Not a difficult task, and when we finished eating, we read two chapters from our book before heading out on an adventure. Can you believe that a beach breakfast was a big enough thing to fill the morning. Not only were their bellies full until lunch, but they were having so much fun, they forgot to complain until they became hungry at lunch time. What a great thing! This is definitely on the list of keepers. Anything that keeps them happy, keeps me happy! (Full Circle again... It's all relative!)

Happy Munchkin Monday!

Nature's Beauties

The Hamptons are definitely a place that I would have on that list. It is gorgeous here. We are nestled in a residential area in East Hampton, near Amagansett. We can see the Bay from the house, and it is just a two minute walk (at kid speed) to the beach. Simply wonderful.


So far work-wise, things have been good. Extremely better than past Nannying work trips I have been on. I have my own room.. enough said.

We have explored a little bit of the area. Took the kids putt putt golfing the other day, and I won a free game for the next time. We have spent a lot of time adventuring by foot, at the beach. The weather has overall been great. Although as I'm sitting here typing this, it is overcast, a little chilly, and there is actually enough fog in the air that our view of the water has turned into a view of smokey-white abyss this morning. All in all a great time is being had.

I have been knitting and jogging daily to keep myself sane. The knitting is my zen, and the jogging is just a wonderful breath of fresh air. I have only missed one day since arriving, and that was simply because I was the adult on duty and couldn't leave the kids here to go out.

My spirits are great, and we are almost finished with week one. Hopefully things keep up in the direction that they are going! More to come soon!

Sad Munchkin Monday :(

The kids don't really understand why I am moving into my apartment, and why I'm not living here. So this morning while we were getting Little Ann ready for Girl Scout Day Camp (which she is loving) we talked about it. I think it would be easier for them if they had someone to replace me so we could say "you are going to have so much fun with (insert name here)! I heard she is planning so many fun adventures for you!!" But unfortunately, they are still hunting.. So it comes down to trying to tell an 8 year old, and 4 year old that I am just moving to a new apartment and starting at a new job.. I have told them that my apartment is close, and that we will go there so that they can see it sometime this week, and I will come and play with them whenever G & S need me to (so long as I don't have anything else going on)... But when it is all said and done, it is simply sad that after a little more than two years of seeing them every single day, and taking care of them for 11+ hours Monday through Friday, I am done. Although I am not crying yet, and this is going to be a very exciting new chapter in my life, I will be crying on Friday, and I will probably show up on Sunday before they leave to board their plane with S to visit their Grandpa, and on Monday (my official last day) when it will be just G and myself with Little Baby... It is going to be sad.

It has been a pretty good two years, with some fabulous adventures, fun, happiness and love, as well as some hardships too (after all they are kids!)... but I am very glad to have had this experience, and it will be sad at our house at the end of the week.

Here's to one last week filled with little laughs, little hugs, and lots of fun!

Happy Munchkin Monday :)

Back from the Block

There are some pretty strange traditions that occur in Block Island... mostly things that the Block regulars or residents are involved in... They have this rock on part of the Island that is referred to as "Painted Rock" that is painted by someone different in a different color or different words all the time I don't have any photos of it, but it is pretty cool that people run out to paint it randomly in the middle of the night.

They also use rocks on the beaches of all different shapes and sizes to build Rock Statues. This little thing I did participate in:

They are pretty fun to see all around the beaches, and some of them are huge!

Another tradition is going to this restaurant/bar called the Oar, and having mudslides there. They are located right in the new harbor area, and the views are great! People also bring in paddles (or oars) that have been painted or carved with little slogans on them. Last year (and I'm sure several years past as well) the family has discussed doing an oar for our family and bringing it in. Well, this year S carved an oar with the shapes of puzzle pieces, and then put last years group photo from BI in the center of the puzzle, then G painted the handle to read "Piecing together Great memories sense 1992" with the 3 family names following. It turned out really well, and they hung it up in the Oar the next day.. and we came back to have lunch (and more mudslides) and admire it.

The puzzles are another tradition. We always bring puzzles and that is something everyone will work on while we are there. This year we were only able to complete 6 and a half. We work from easiest to most complicated and with the final one, we ran out of time and had to take it down when it was half way finished. But I think that last year we only did 6 puzzles, so we still beat our record... if you can count half of a puzzle that is.

This year it was a lot of fun, and we had many new memories to add to the sea of old, and one new family member to bring to keep the traditions alive, and make new traditions with.
What kinds of Vacation traditions do you have in your family?
I think one thing that I will do when I get a family, is to vacation in a new place each year, but to do some of the same things with the family at each place we go... I think that would be fun!

Here are my beach feet, waving good night!

(oh man could I use a pedicure!)

I'm So Proud of my Munchkins!

Yesterday we left for block Island, and Little Ann was feeling a little nervous about bringing her bike. A while back G & S took the training wheels off, but really didn't feed her enough confidence and support to get her going on the bike. So it has been sitting in the garage getting dusty and taking up space...
Until, I told her that everyone gets nervous about riding there bikes, and in fact, Last summer when I purchased my bike, and hadn't ridden in about 7 or 8 years, I was nervous! So I told her she should try and I would help her get started. After holding onto the back a few times, I pretended to hold on a few more times, and then I let go.. She did it! And then, she did it over and over again.. moving onto the street, and biking up and down hills, in circles, and even once, letting go with a hand to wave at a friend we were riding past!

I'm am soo proud of Little Ann! I knew she could do it, she just needed to know she could do it too!
And Little Dan, has been practicing building sand castles, so that while we are in Block Island, he can make some mean castles on the beach! For the longest time it was "No Krystle! You can't do this, it's my sand table!!" But finally I convinced him to let me show him so sandcastle building tips... and voila, while I was making dinner and he was playing with his sand table (on the patio, right by the kitchen window, don't worry, I'm not a negligent nanny) he built, 5 sand castles all by himself!

Way to go Munchkins! We will use these skills for the entire BI trip!

Obstacle Course!!

So sense we have a new baby in the house, I have been trying to keep the older two out of the house as much as possible.. with all of our wonderful June weather (rainy one moment sunny the next, and then rainy again all day long) it has been difficult. But one afternoon, while we were enjoying a lovely spurt of sunshine, I set up an obstacle course, and the kids rode their trikes and scooters up and down it all day long (even when it started to rain a bit!).
This is the last week before we head to Block Island for 2 weeks.. We have a few play dates scheduled, and I think we'll go to the aquarium one day, and then just hang at the house, and play with sidewalk chalk or go for a bike ride or something on the other days. It should be fun, and then we'll be off to Block Island before we know it! I guess I should go start the kids laundry so they have something to bring with us... and on that note, I should probably do my own laundry too!!

Happy Monday!

The Newest Little

Baby little has arrived, and she was so tiny. With all the bed rest that G was on, she made it to 38 weeks. Miss OKP arrived this past Thursday (6.18.2009) at 4:50AM... They barely made it to the hospital... she came out five minutes after getting to the labor and delivery wing. She is the smallest thing that I have ever seen, and I hope that she receives all the love and care she deserves for a wonderful childhood.

Here is a pic of the new family:

Little Ann is loving having a new baby sisiter, but Little Dan on the other hand isn't so sure.... he is excited to be a big brother, but mostly just because it sounds cool. He hasn't even touched the baby yet, but he will sit by her and read stories together. She likes it when Little Ann and I read... when we stop it wakes her up.. it is very cute :)

Here is one of Miss OKP and myself:

I like it because, even though you can tell that I had been awake for about 18 hours at that point on only 4 hours of sleep, it looks like we are smiling at each other. So sweet!

Welcome to the world Little Baby! We are happy to have you :)
(and even happier to be moving out of the house in a month, and to not hear all the chaos of three Littles well into the night..even though I love you all)

Monsters Munchkin Monday

This past Friday I took the littles to go see Monsters vs. Aliens



It was really cute! I highly recommend it to anyone with kids, or who can use someone elses kids as an excuse to see little kid movies...I love little kid movies, and its a good thing I'm a nanny because there are a lot of great kids movies lately. This movie had a lot of good humor for the kids, and the adults too, I may have laughed more than any of the kids in the theater... oh well...at least I was enjoying myself :)

So basically... it was a good movie, it had great animation, the expressions and details were amazing (as they are in all dreamworks/pixar movies), the plot was cute and easy to follow, nothing really scary happened so it was good for the little guys too... all in all I think its a winner.

Next on the list of Kid Movies to see is Up :)

Other than that.. I woke up Saturday morning, and I was sick...booo. I'm still getting over the last little bit of it, and of course I'm still working..so today we are taking it easy--here's hoping for easy kids today, and hoping to get better by the end of the day too :)

Happy Munchkin Monday..Have a great day!

Taste Test....

So, Little Ann really likes steak when her parents make it... but not when I've tried to make it... hmm.
Anyway, I thought I'd make meatloaf and instead of having it in a loaf, putting it into cup cakes... and calling it Steak Cupcakes (in an effort to get them to try it).

I served them with french fries and peas, and told them that if they wanted dessert later they had to try two bites...

that is the general rule for them... at least while I'm in charge. So they both tried two teeny tiny little bitty nibbles, and decided they didn't like them.... Little Ann ate French Fries, Peas, and Rice Crispies for dinner, and Little Dan had Peas, Yogurt, Apple, and Peanut Butter.

At least they tried! On the menu this week is all stuff that I know they like: Pork chops, mashed potatoes, and peas; Roasted Chicken with Apples; Homemade Chicken Fingers, with Green Beans and Rice Pilaf; Friday is a free night where they can choose something frozen for me to make....and last night we had Pasta, Apple, and Garlic Bread...pretty good week of dinners.

Now I'm off to the grocery store so we will have all the right ingredients!

A New Project to Work on

A little baby top down cardi!

So sweet:



I started working on this one when I was home, just so that I could have something small to carry around in my purse. I have about 15 rows of body left to go, and then sleeves!
I am making it for a woman I babysit for on the side, and I was actually working on it at their house last night.. When Mrs. A came home she was gushing about how darling it is.. so I have a good feeling that she will love it and she may even actually use it! She is Due June 18 so I have plenty of time to get it finished, though I have a feeling that it won't take that long!

I spend too much time with munchkins

This Monday instead of focusing on the kids, I will show you the playful, silly side that has added to who I am because I spend too much time with them!



I try on hats everywhere I go! I love them, they can look silly, or overdone, or whatever. Here I am trying on ears... obviously to look silly. And not only do I do ridiculously childish things in public because of those kids, but I strongly encourage those around me to do them too:



Then when I am around food... I make whatever I'm eating into smiles... like orange smiles, or you can do the same with apples... if you have other fruit you could make a whole smiley face. Here I've made a mustache, and a smile...toast crust can be very versatile!




Happy Munchkin Monday!

Tasty!

Another new addition to the "The Littles will Eat it" list:



Chicken Parmesan, served with Green Beans. Both thought it was simply delicious! G & S even wanted to try some... though the baby was in the mood for something else so they had something different :)


I must admit, I'm loving cooking almost every night, and experimenting with things to see what the kids will eat. Its fun! And makes it easier for me to plan a menu when I have more choices for dinners.

It's Wednesday...

...and I haven't posted all week. I've felt a bit overwhelmed, and had no time as both of the little are out of school. I thought I should at least post something. I'm hoping to upload pictures of the progress on my cardi... we'll see if I get to that. Not only are they out of school, but they are as "bored" and annoying as ever!! Ugh! Silly kids... (oh and of course all of my ideas are bad!)

Oh and to top it off, I don't think I've posted about it, but G is expecting, so we have one more baby on the way....to be here by July 3rd (if all goes well)....Anyhow, so to top off this already crazy week, G has been put on bed rest, so I get to have her lovely company this week :)

Oh the joys!

Hope everyone is having a great week, and maybe I'll even get more time to post later on this week, but for now I'm failing miserably at my goal of 20 posts per month this year...oh well!

Stir Fryday

Get it? Stir Fryday, like Friday... tee hee! Okay you get it.


So I have been trying to be better about trying to find meals that the kids will actually eat, that are healthy, and that I can eat too, that way I'm not preparing several meals every night.

In the past week I have made Pork Chops with mashed potatoes and peas (Little Ann like the whole meal! Little Dan liked the peas, and I ended up making him Chicken Nuggets instead). Then I tried to do Roasted Chicken with pasta and apples (They both liked it all)!! Next up was Stir Fry with steak instead of chicken (Little Ann liked the steak, but didn't want too much of it, and she also loved the rice. Little Dan liked the rice and not so much the steak, I gave him so of the left over chicken from the previous day. They both liked the shredded carrots in the stir fry veggies).

So what I'm wondering is if everyone can remember what their favorite meal was when they were kids, and let me know. I have got to get these guys to eat more of a healthful variety of food, or I'm going to go crazy!! Let me know if any of you have any ideas for me. Thanks!

Monday Monday

Saturday night G invited me to go miniature golfing with them while S went to a baseball game. So I went, and it was fun! :)

Little Dan was hilarious! He was swinging his putter everywhere! Paying no attention to where the hole was he was just whacking in the general direction of the ball and hoping to hit it... and we were all just hoping that it didn't end up hitting anyone in the process.


Little Ann was a whizz! She ended up winning... but she did hit first and was rushing through the holes while the rest of us were trying to finish one hole, she'd be waiting at the next one to go! She even got a couple of hole-in-ones... according to her anyway ;)

Then we went out to dinner... what a lame Saturday night for me that I had to spend it with G and the kiddos, because I had nothing better to do! lol but I did have fun, and I was glad they invited me!

(oh and I got a new camera this weekend sense mine was broken and it was going to cost me to have it repaired.. I thought it was going to be covered under warranty. Anyhow no more cell phone pictures, so they should be of a better quality now! Yay!)

Dogs on Thursday..on Friday

A day late, a dollar short? eh..better late than never! :)

So Little Dan and I went to the library today, and we checked out a few books.. one about construction trucks, one about trains, one about all sorts of ramps, and then one less informative one that is very cute! It is about a dog named Smog. Smog The City Dog, by Adria Meserve; It is a very cute story, with great pictures, so if you have kids, check it out :)

And here are some pics of the four-leggeds that I love! Zahra, playing outside in the leaves, her colors coordinate very well with the fall colors that we are beginning to see around here.. and Kati is posing :) So adorable! :)

Sad day for the nanny :(

This past Thursday Little Dan had his first day of Nursery School. He will be going twice a week for 2 hours each time.. a nice little break for the nanny! So we got him all dressed and he looked so handsome! He was ready to go see his teacher and meet some new friends, and play and learn.. it was a very exciting day! S dropped him off, and then I was to pick him up an hour later (they only do an hour the first day to make the separation easier).
Well I arrived to pick up t he little munchkin, and as soon as he saw me he ran away screaming "No Kystle!" I was so sad :( so I went over and got down on his level and told him that he would be back soon to see his teacher and play with all of his new friends... of course then he ran away again this time towards his teach and said to me, "I don't want you!!" :( :( I was so sad, I wanted to cry! He didn't want me! (if you could see my face you would see that I was pouting!..the Littles have taught me to perfect the pout.)

Oh well, at least he likes school, and his teacher and everything! But it was a sad day for the nanny!

Munchkin Monday..BI wk 2

So in Week 2 in BI, we did even more fun stuff! Including Riding horses for the first time ever!!! I had a blast, we rode them down the street and then onto the beach. The total ride time was for an hour. My horse's name was Chester, and he was chestnut colored. Very handsome guy. We did this with, G, S, Little Ann, 2 of her cousins, and G's Sister and her husband, so it was quite the group of us.. my favorite part was when the horses started to gallop a little bit (although it took some getting used to), and then when we were on the beach S's horse laid down and started to roll in the sand! He had to jump off so that his horse didn't roll on him too. It was pretty funny and S was fine.

Then we went Kayaking in the great salt pond. It was fun, Little Ann and I shared a Kayak, and we went over to this shallow area with a nice sandy beach where we played for a while, until the clouds turned a menacing shade of gray and we decided to head back. By the time we got home, it was pouring down raining! (I have no pictures of the kayaking because I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to take my camera in a small boat in a large body of water!!)

Another fun thing we did was that the little neighborhood that the cottage is in had a bbq and potluck one day followed by a bonfire down at the beach! It was really fun, and the kids got a chance to run around and play with some of the other kids in the area.

Then of course we had more time at the beach everyday, taking walks, building sandcastles, playing in the waves with the kids, having picnics, and trying to relax, which usually ended with chasing kids and dogs down the beach!



One morning I woke up at the crack of dawn! (literally) So that I could watch the sunrise and get some pics.. unfortunately my camera broke, halfway through the sun-rising process..
I did get a few pics though. So the one on the left is the sun rising on the day I woke up really early and the one on the right is the sun setting some other night earlier in the week.



The day before we left, I was able to take a break to go into town and have some much needed "me time"! I bought a dress, a bracelet, and a pair of earings... oh and some lavender gelato! Yum Yum! And then we took the ferry back pretty late, and got home around 10pm on Sunday night which meant straight to bed, and then to work in the morning... but at least I was back at home in my bed!

Guest Blogger

The Princess is still alive and well - she's just vacationing with the Little on Block Island in the New Jersey Sound. Unfortunately, the day after she left her hard drive crashed. She gave me all of her super secret passwords and asked me to let everyone know that she is taking lots of pictures, composing blog posts in her head and as soon as she can either get her (not that old) computer fixed or replaced she will be back to regular posting - with photos even.

Meanwhile - please carry on enjoying the summer without her, but don't forget to check back as she will return.

Thank you - gmarie (otherwise known as "The Queen" or Mom)