Papa for hire

Papa Ranere bravely offered to watch Finley overnight while Katy and Kit went to a wedding in New Hampshire. Grammy Ranere had already headed over to Italy, so Papa really was flying solo... or as "solo" as you can fly while following explicit minute-by-minute instructions from Katy. Upon leaving, Katy laid out 2 lists for him... "To-Do" and the equally important "Not-To-Do" list. Top of the Not-To-Do list -- "do not feed her pasta!"

When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, Papa was diligently checking off "Saturday, 2pm - Feed Finley bottle. When it's done, do not think she is still hungry and try to feed second bottle."

After a few hours, Dad called in the best veteran he knows, Nana, to help out. As always, she proved she still has the magic touch.

That afternoon, we thought that Finley and Owen may want to play together in their activity gym... but as you'll see, Finley had something else in mind... lunch!

Later that day, Tyler, Alex, Lauren and B stopped by to survey the scene. Even they couldn't believe we had it under control!

The next morning, Papa lined up Finley and Owen on the kitchen counter so they could learn how to make a "quick sauce." While Dad tried his best to entice them with spoon-fulls of strained tomatoes, Finley just wanted to eat Owen's ear and Owen just wanted to eat his toy elephant.

So 24 hours later, a hungover Katy and Kit arrived home, pleasantly surprised to see that Dad had followed Katy's instructions to the minute.... Finley didn't have her first sip of "Ranucci", didn't have her first bite of a prosciutto sandwich, and didn't stay up all night watching Red Sox games with Papa.
Yes, I may have used a little poetic license to exaggerate Katy's list making (and truthfully, I would have done the same thing!), but I did not exaggerate how great Papa was with her... you're hired Dad!

Here are some other pictures we loved from the weekend.