Babysitters

So, yesterday afternoon I realized that Becca would not be home in time to watch the three young'uns while I went to scouts. I thought about just taking them with me, but then I remembered that Shayla went down late for a nap, and the lady whose house we go to has a dog that would scare all my kids.

I thought about asking Hilary to watch the kids, but then I thought better of it -- she's very busy these days and I'm using her all day Friday while I head to the Scrapbook Expo USA. (Hooray, horray for that ... but that's another story ...)

I finally decided that I'd just call a neighbor girl to come watch the kids for 30 minutes until Becca got home. With Shayla asleep and my boys fixed on the TV that I let them turn on, I figured it would be a very easy few bucks for the girl. I showed her where to find some good books I had as a teenager and said she could just read if she liked.

Needless to say, when I got home a bit later, I found that she had cooked mac & cheese. I asked the boys if they had asked for mac & cheese, and they said no. (I figured not, because I don't ever make it for a snack, and they had both had snacks before I left.) However, the entire box was gone. I'm figuring the girl must have been hungry and saw the mac & cheese box on the counter where I left it (after almost making it for lunch), so she went for it. Paul said, "Cooking the mac & cheese probably took the entire time she was here!"

I still laugh, because it was just strange. She knew she'd be there for only 30 minutes, and she made mac & cheese. I don't mind, but I do find it very funny.

It made me wonder if I had any other strange babysitting behavior. The only thing I could think of is a girl who called me to find out how to run the TV/VCR. I would have died before calling someone to find out how to watch TV while I was babysitting. (Not that I didn't watch TV, but I would have never called to find out how to do it!) This same babysitter ended up ruining one of our VHS tapes. She did try to replace it, but I told her not to worry about it since it was one that was given to us and I didn't think we'd ever watch it again.

We've been very fortunate here in Utah living by family and Hilary to not really have to use "outside" babysitters much. And we're very grateful that Becca is now old enough to babysit as well. (You'll all get your own live-in babysitter one day! :) In the meantime, any of you have strange babysitter stories?