We all enjoy those Friday or Saturday night get togethers with friends and neighbors.   Some like to entertain in a casual way,  others enjoy a more swanky atmosphere.   Here are three easy ideas that are sure to add ambiance to your patio regardless of your style.

Whew!  Last week was an incredible week for me.  I was asked to babysit my 1 year old GREAT nephew, Tristan.

Now let me just remind you, we have not been around Tristan very much,  just a few times.

Remember we lived in Hawaii when he was born.

He is the cutest with big blue eyes and dimples and when he signs, “please” he just melts your heart!  How can you tell that cuteness NO.

Tristan is one very important little boy in our family.  Tristan is the son of my oldest nephew, Brandon and his wife Lindsay (my niece who I just adore)

Let me tell you, if you don’t believe in miracles, you should!  Tristan is our true miracle baby.  Brandon has battled cancer since 2006 and after many rounds of chemo and 2 stem cell transplants, he was told that he would not be able to father a child.  Folks when the world says you can’t, FAITH says you can.   For the past few years, our family has had to walk by FAITH, and FAITH only!  Brandon is a very proud father of a healthy little boy who the doctors say should never have been made.  Now that is GOD!  Brandon has started a new blog and you can read about him at bkbrinkley.wordpress.com if you are looking for a Faith inspired read, I encourage you to read Brandon’s blog.  He is a brand new blogger and still deciding the direction for his blog.

A couple of weekends ago, my niece Teri and I made a trip to HOAKIE country!  We went to pick Tristan up in Virginia and brought him back to my parents home in North Carolina for a week.  Brandon and Lindsay were given an opportunity to go on a mission trip to Costa Rica for the week and asked me if I would babysit.  I jumped at the chance, but was secretly concerned about what in the world was I going to do when he starts missing his daddy, who he CLINGS to like saran wrap on a glass dish.  I mean he adores Hayley and Gabby, but when he gets cranky, Good LORD, he doesn’t want anyone to touch him but his mama and daddy.

Have you heard the saying “It takes a village to raise a child?”   Well let me tell you, it took a village to keep Tristan.  Lucky me, the week was in between camps, so my niece, nephew, parents, Nana Opal (Brandon’s grandmother) and his nanny (Lindsay’s mom) were available to help!  Thank God!!  We had such a great time getting to know Tristan, loving on Tristan, and having Tristan love on us too.  I went from being the one he would not go to, to being the one who his little arms reached out to.  Yes my heart melted!!

He was teething so we had a few rough days-bless his little heart!  But that didn’t hinder him from having fun.  As a matter of fact, it probably worked to his advantage because he definitely got to do EXACTLY what he wanted to do.

Here are a few tips that helped us have a successful week with Tristan!   And we really did not have many problems at all.

Bring out the golf clubs.

My dad has a homemade “greens” area where he practices his putting and driving.   All I can say is “Tiger Woods , you better watch out!!”

Play in the rain!

We were inside one day because it had been raining.  Tristan is an outside boy, he just loves the outdoors!  He was not a happy camper this particular day, he was running a slight fever and his molars were giving him a fit!  Tristan kept going to the door and crying to go outside, so what did we do?  You got that right!  He went out on the deck and had himself a great time playing and dancing in the rain!

Drive a golf cart.  The camp has a golf cart and large open area that Tristan was able to “drive” the golf car around!  He loved driving around and laughing! 

Throw rocks!

We spent countless hours at the river throwing rocks with Tristan.  It seems like this was the best way to keep him happy if Papa T was not available to play golf!  I am just thankful that we had so many hands to pass him off to so we could take turns hanging at the river with him.

Just rock him!

After Brandon and Lindsay returned, I found out that they did not rock Tristan to sleep EVERY night.  OOPS and sorry Lindsay!  Not only was he rocked to sleep every night, he was rocked to sleep for every nap he took too.

We had a few nights that Tristan would not stay down after we had rocked him to sleep.  Instead of doing what sensible parents would do, we did what grandparents and aunts do!!  We did not have the heart to let him cry and go back to sleep on his own, for some reason it seemed so cruel to do that to him, but seemed necessary when my girls were his age.   We picked the baby up and let him watch golf and rocked him BACK to sleep!!  I know, we spoiled him, but isn’t that what we were supposed to do.

Our week finally came to an end, and we had to return Tristan!  It was truly a sad moment for me, but when he saw his mama and daddy, his face lit up like the sky on the 4th of July!!  

In the end, we swapped Brandon for Tristan. Brandon came back to camp and Tristan went home with his mama!   Even though Brandon is very low maintenance, and we don’t have to babysit, we sure do miss Tristan!

So we have had a new week with new adventures and maybe even new blogging inspirations!  My sister arrived yesturday!

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