I am spending a few days in Detroit with my nieces and nephews. I am never sure what to expect when I move into my siblings homes. This home has a 15-year-old, two 13 year olds and a full of life 8-year-old. My Mom and I arrived about 3pm and Sonta (13)and Noah (13) were already home and doing their homework. Shortly after Jean Marc (8) and Olivia (15) arrived 
home and they also got their snack and sat down to complete their homework. It was so much fun to listen to them share with each other about their day and help each other out with graphing and spelling words and talk about the paper that is being written….almost seems too good to be true!
For dinner we enjoyed a delicious Lasagna that my brother created for us (yes, my brother does amazing creations in the kitchen) and the dinner conversation was light and fun. Before I knew it, the table was cleared, dishwasher emptied and filled again with the dinner dishes, left over food in the fridge and it all seemed too good to be true! (by the way, the arrangement here is when parent’s cook, kids clean up. We were told that the parent’s might cover for one of them if it is their birthday or something! 🙂
Ever since dinner we have enjoyed conversation and stories about school and life, watched tumble routines and enjoyed conversation and relationship with these four kids. No one has argued, talked nasty, been unkind or seemed uninterested in one another…almost too good to be true!
And so, as the night draws to a close, and each child has cheerfully gone to bed, I am surprised how easy it is to be on kid duty in Bellville, Michigan. Two will leave for school by 640 am and get up on their own and told us we don’t even have to get up (although I will to make them breakfast) and then I will deliver Jean Marc to school and take Olivia to get her braces off.
I am thankful for my routine and my job and my life. But I so welcome these days when I can enjoy a different routine and get a small taste of family life with children I love dearly. It doesn’t matter if it is Chicago, Detroit, Muskegon or Grand Rapids, I am an aunt who really does believe that my time spent with these kids is often too good to be true….
Sleep well sweet children…tomorrow is a new day and let’s live it to the fullest!