Vacation, VBS, colds/hot

Our vacation was amazing! I enjoyed 7 full days of not worrying about cleaning this house. (We had zero showings while we were gone, unfortunately.) That happiness lasted about 12 hours after we got home - right up until the point we had to go out again.
Oh well. On the upside, we also enjoyed 7 full days of the beach and pool! It was lovely. Not too hot, not *quite* as crowded as it might have been and the kids had so much fun. We rented a house with another family, and we cooked every meal at home except for when we swapped date nights and the morning we left, so we saved a lot of money that way. It's so nice to have someone to watch your kids too, so that you can have a date night! I had *2* dates that week, and that's more than I've had all year up to this point! We celebrated our 12 yr anniversary while we were there and also D's 34th birthday. All in all, a lovely week.

Once we got home, it was back to the grind. We had VBS this week and although having to get the kids and house show ready and be gone by 8:30 AM every day was challenging, it was WORTH IT. I was kid free every day from 9-12. Of course, I ran errands, took the dogs to the vet, finally got my hair cut, etc, etc. However, I also went to Target (TWICE!) by myself. I was able to meet a friend for coffee! I even read a book! During the day! And no one bothered me!

Several of us are down with a summer cold right now, including me, so this week will probably be mostly staying at home until everyone is feeling better. Also, summer temps are here to stay. It was already in the mid 70's when we woke up at 6AM. We'll probably break out the water slide again soon.

Some vacation pictures:

Searching for shells was O's favorite.

The world is my sand box...

It rained several afternoons while we were there. It only really changed our plans once though, and it never lasted too long.

These two love riding the waves!

Shell Island

C was worn out after boating all day.

St. Andrew's State Park - my favorite of the places we went!

Novels & other stuff

I love to read, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy a romance novel now and again. I recently read the first in a historical romance series by Eloisa James, (The Essex Sisters) and then promptly gobbled up the subsequent three. If you look down on me for reading romance novels I'm OK with that. I need a feel-good, easy read every now and then and her heroines are much less insipid than most. It's not for the racier parts either, as I often skim those, but the love and romance and happy endings... *sigh* I'm a sucker for such things!
Now, I'm a practical person by all accounts, but reading these stories made me have odd mental conversations and irritation with my husband and myself.
Why isn't our love like that? (Was it ever? This is called a fantasy for a reason.)
Why doesn't he look at me with stars in his eyes? (WTH does that even mean?)
 Do his eyes darken with lust at the mere thought of me? (No)
I think I'd like to dress like these women. Those giant dresses could hide so much... (But, think how hot you'd be. Also, being a woman kind of sucked back then.)
Would he rescue me? (?!)
Why doesn't his thumb caress my cheek in a way that makes my stomach roll with butterflies? (Because this is real life you idiot. The only thing rolling around here is our eyes.)

So, um, Ms. James is a very convincing writer apparently and I'm sure I'll be reading more of her books in the future but perhaps I should read something first with a crappy husband so that I'll feel better.

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For Mother's Day the kids (D) got me a cute little sign for the kitchen, but my favorite thing was the keychain thing he got me. It's a large ring with 4 little kid figures on it, and has two clips on it. I can clip one side on my purse ring or zipper and attach my keys to the other side. I am FOREVER losing my keys in my big ass purses so this was genius. He thought it up all by himself too, so while he may not be a hero in a historical romance novel, I think he's right up there.

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The puppy? She's growing! She's more than doubled her weight since we've had her and her coat is no longer the soft fluff that it once was. She's still soft but her hair is much curlier and thicker now. She's too smart for her own good and causes mischief left and right. She and Miss L are the first suspects for most things that happen around here...

Penny's 9th birthday is coming up! Piper is 19 weeks.

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We spent some wonderful time at the beach despite jelly fish and ridiculous-for-May-in-Florida weather and ICE COLD ocean water. As with every ocean trip, I spend the next week wishing for the funds for my own personal beach house. (ha!)

We went with another family, but I don't want to post pictures of her family here without her permission.

One of the best parts of going with another couple was that we swapped date nights/babysitting! SWEET!

This pose has become sort of a "thing" for us. We have 2 canvas prints from previous years hanging in our dining room. This one will join them.

I want chocolate. I'd probably settle for baking chocolate... which is not good... if I wasn't currently sugar free. I've been OK until today and now I WANT ALL THE SUGAR BUT MOSTLY CHOCOLATE. Want.

*ahem*

I can attribute this craving to several things. One being hormones, and also that I am sick with an achy body and sore throat. Secondly, three of the kids are also sick. Third, we had about a million and three things scheduled this week and it's just annoying to not feel well and deal with grumpy kids who also do not feel well. In my last blog I was talking about Miss L and how sweet and loving she is. Well, in the true spirit of a three year old, she has been a holy terror this week. JUST TODAY she tried to drink the honey bottle while hiding under the kitchen table so I couldn't see her (I could), she pee'd on ... everything... she didn't take a nap, she poured her entire cup of water on the couch and also filled up the cup holders, and she pushed the step stool over to my spice cabinet, climbed up on the counter and took out my Halloween sprinkles and helped herself to the orange sugar variety.
 All over my couch.

Um... I don't know who ate those sprinkles...

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On the upside, D isn't working overtime at work and it is kind of ridiculous how short a 40 hour work week feels after months upon months (years?) of overtime. The nutty cat seems to have mostly calmed down and is happier now that he's outside. We got good and bad news at the vet about Penny. Good news is she doesn't have cancer or a tumor, but the bad news is that she does have liver failure and we're not sure why. So, she's on special medicine and food but right now she seems to be doing well except for thwarting me at every turn when I try to get her to take her pills twice a day.
Things I've tried:
hiding pills in treats
hiding pills in food including cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter, lunch meat & anything else I thought she'd eat
smashing up pills in dry food, wet food and people food
shoving pills down her throat and hoping she swallows them, then shoving them down again when she spits them out

Things that have worked:
Shoving pills down her throat repeatedly.

It's fun.

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 I'm also trying to book a summer vacation for a family reunion type thing and since we weren't really planning to take a summer vacation (remember Disney? That took all our vacation money.) it's proving difficult to find somewhere we can afford. If we DON'T go, I will hear crap about it forever... but we also have to make at least two other trips this year and hello? Six people on one income here. I have a feeling that we won't end up going at all, and YES I DO want to go to the beach, but sometimes being a grown up means not spending money you don't have, so yeah.

Did I mention I really want some chocolate?

Apprehensive

I was apprehensive about going to Disney World, to say the least. Taking four young kids anywhere is a job in and of itself, so I was nervous. I did end up getting Safety Tattoos and those suckers stayed on and made me feel a bit better if anyone happened to wander off. (Spoiler: No one did.)

Anyway... we had an AMAZING time! The kids were really good, the weather was fantastic and everything went pretty smoothly. Seeing the wonder and excitement in them was like a week full of Christmas mornings!
No wonder people go to Disney all the time. I mean, when I went without kids I truly didn't understand it, but now? I totally get it.

We had planned to go to Magic Kingdom for 2 of our 4 days, but we ended up riding/seeing 95% of the things we had planned to in only one day so we changed our plans and headed to Epcot for our last day.
Besides the 4 Disney parks, we also went to Downtown Disney and the LEGO store was the highlight of that day. We toured the Orlando Science Center on another day "off" and swam and played mini golf at the resort on our other off days.  We only ate out a few times since we had a full kitchen in our condo, but the highlight of our food adventures were Rainforest Cafe (ribs. yum) and Chevy's (chipotle cream sauce on enchiladas? Yes please!).

I'm not big on huge crowds of people, and it was much more crowded than I hoped, although this is supposed to be a slow time of year, so that was the only thing that was a disappointment. However, it's Disney so I somewhat expected that!
Miss L was still too short to ride a lot of the bigger stuff, but being that a LOT of things scare her right now, I think it's just as well. (I don't like most rides anyway, so it wasn't a sacrifice to stay behind with her.) I was glad we waited until she was 3. There were no diapers to deal with, no potty training issues, and no one melted down if we missed naps - which we did 7 of the days were in Florida. haha
I can definitely see us going back, although we'll need 2-3 years to save up for it again!
Highlights in picture, below:

Vacation

D worked the weekend, and until almost midnight last night, so to say that I'm ready for our upcoming vacation is an understatement! We've also been staying home a lot... so we're all ready to go out and have some fun.
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The last two weeks' weather was interesting. First, it rained, and rained, and rained some more. Then, it got cold, sleeted, and then snowed. Then the sun came out, melted everything and we had 55 degree weather.

Thursday:

Friday: 

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The kids are SO. EXCITED. about going to Disney World. I've been a little apprehensive, but I figure we'll see what we can see and go take a rest if anyone is too crabby. We'll be there long enough that we can space our days at Disney out too, so that should help.
D & d are both most excited about riding the big rides and rollercoasters. Miss L desperately wants to see Cinderella and her castle. O is most looking forward to the jungle safari and the Lion King show. C wants to see cars, so he should like the race track. The biggest thing I'm excited about is a whole week of vacation and seeing how happy the kids are about Disney.
If we're not too busy or exhausted, I'll try to post updates and pictures while we're gone!

hibernation

It will never stop raining here. It has rained and been gray and dreary for so many days now that I can't remember the last time I saw the actual sun. At least last week it was warm and we could run around the driveway or talk a walk during the breaks in heavier rain, or in the drizzle. Today it's COLD and everyone wants to do this:

This is winter in Alabama, and yet it surprises and depresses me every year.  I guess it's time to get out my happy light.

Another reason for hibernation is that the news is freaking me right out about the flu. Plus, we have that little Disney trip coming up and if I'm going to spend a cringe-worthy amount of money, then we better all be WELL.
Side note: Miss L LICKED the cart at WalMart yesterday. Not once, but twice. LICKED THE CART. IN FLU SEASON.

So, what are you doing to keep yourself and your kids well this winter cold and flu season, even though it's in vain?

Right now, we're all taking our vitamins as usual (multi, omega 3, and vitamin D3) but we've upped vitamin D3 for the time being. Of course, I'm pushing hand washing and hand sanitizer, and getting enough sleep. We're steering clear of refined sugar as much as possible, because I've read that eating sugar drastically lowers your immune system.
I'm practically shoving brightly colored fruits and veggies down the kids throat at any chance I get. This morning for breakfast they had blueberry/spinach smoothies made with kefir. (they were ignorant of the spinach, thanks to the blueberries!)
Oh, and I'm planning to buy a bubble.

So... I'd love to hear what you're doing to keep everyone healthy!

Traveling With Kids

I can't promise that reading this will make you WANT to travel with kids, and I can't profess to necessarily be good at it either. I do, however, have lots of experience on road trips with young kids, so I will share my "wisdom" with those of you who have ever thought you might want to take a vacation at some point in your parenting career.

I should start out by saying that we have always traveled multiple times a year (I did not say we always wanted to, or enjoyed it) since our kids started coming along, and so any good behavior on their part NOW is probably simply because they have become used to being strapped into their car seats for an entire day several times a year.

For us, for a successful road trip, these are MUST HAVES:

* Movies and DVD player (obviously)
* Snacks, snacks and more snacks. Also, snacks. (It helps if some of them are treats!)
* Minimal liquids, but not NONE (The key to a successful road trip is dehydration.)(I KID!)(Mostly.)
* Something fun. It could be a tablet, books, video game, coloring... something your kid(s) likes A LOT.
* Plastic bags, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and an extra change of clothes per kid.
* Optional: Headphones. Maybe for the kids, definitely for you.

Random tips for the road:
Do you have a newly potty trained or potty training child? A child who still wears a pull up at night or nap time? A child who gets car sick? A child who has wet the bed any time in the past 6 months? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you should always make sure you have some Chux pads or Piddle Pads in the car. After having to wash or attempt to dry a nasty car seat in the middle of a road trip - many times - we started putting chux pads under the child or children in question. Accident? No problem, just throw the thing away, change clothes, (here's where those plastic bags come in handy) and go on your way.

We keep a portable potty in the car as well, although we very rarely use it anymore. You can buy their refills or just use a plastic grocery store bag and a diaper. It saved us many times as some of our trips have us out in the middle of nowhere.

We usually have LONG trips planned, so we try not to give them a ton to drink. Yes, we let them drink, but usually just water and not a gallon at a time.We do let them have juice boxes sometimes, as a treat, but if I gave them juice boxes all the time they'd drink it all in 10 seconds and have to stop to pee (again) in 5 minutes.

Speaking of pee (like all these other tips...), when one has to go, make EVERYONE go. Yes, it's a giant pain in the butt to get all 6 of us out of the car and use nasty gas station bathrooms, (hand sanitizer!) but it's worth it if you don't have get all buckled in and hear, "I HAVE TO GO POTTY NOW!" in approximately 3 minutes down the road. For that matter, we also always get gas when we stop to use the bathroom, even if we don't really need it. Less stops = faster trip and for us we usually just want to get there.

I used to think taking your time would be much more fun on these trips, but the two trips we make most often have very little fun to be had along the way so now we just grit our teeth and try to get there as quickly as possible. The last two trips to Texas we decided that it was less torture to spend 13-15 hours in the car in one day than it was to spend the night in a hotel with the kids. If your kids don't make hotel rooms into a torture chamber then you don't have to worry about that. I do suggest packing just one overnight bag with pajamas, necessities and a change of clothes for everyone in it so you don't have to unload all the suitcases for a one night stay.

If the weather is nice, I suggest getting take out from somewhere or packing a lunch if possible, and looking up a local park in your GPS. We've found some very nice little parks (and some not so nice) this way. The kids usually would rather play than eat, but we just let them play until we're done and then they eat theirs in the car. It works for us!

It's a whole different story when you have kids under 3, or nursing babies. They need to stop more often, and they just don't understand the whole thing so it can be ... challenging.
There's a member of my family who rode back from a beach trip in our car with a baby O who screamed almost non-stop (as he always did in the car) and a little d who had the stomach bug. I imagine that provided some pretty good birth control! (I was already pregnant with C then so it was too late for me.)

Once you get there: 
It depends on where you're staying/going and if the trip is visiting extended family or a vacation with just your little family. When we're visiting family, we try to make sure the kids get enough sleep so that they still want us to come back but not stick so strictly to their schedules that they think we're drill sergeants. It is vacation, after all.
Also, when we're in certain places I try to escape go to bed early too even though I'm reading in bed. Grinding my teeth, biting my tongue and letting as many little things slide as possible get me through.

If you're going on a REAL vacation, like the beach or Disney World, well... may I suggest a high adult:child ratio?
1:1 is really most successful, as we learned on our first trip to the beach when Miss L was only 6 months old. (4 children who couldn't swim + 2 adults to watch them...)
Everything is really so much easier with an extra grown up around, but that's not always possible. We are doing Disney with just our little family of 6 and I know it's not going to be as easy as having another set (or two) of hands and eyes there, but it can be done!

First of all, if you're staying in a hotel, bring extra clothes. LOTS OF THEM. Perhaps it's because my kids are still young, but it seems like you just can't EVER have enough underwear and pants. They have dozens of pairs each (except the oldest) and I bring them ALL on vacations where I'm not sure if we will have access to a washing machine. 

Secondly, we try to save as much money as possible on food. (Plus, eating out with 4 kids who may or may not be overtired, wired and/or cranky is not all that much fun.)
Feeding this crew already costs a small fortune so we try to eat out no more than once a day on vacation. We always try to get a room with a fridge & microwave at the very least and a full kitchen at best. We hit the grocery store and stock up on easy stuff we'd buy at home, paper plates and plasticware, and plenty of snacks too. We typically eat breakfast and dinner in our room and lunch out because we're usually out and about then, and lunch is cheaper than dinner. (Plus by dinner the kids are usually tired and less likely to behave in a restaurant.)

Third is hardest for my husband. RELAX YOUR EXPECTATIONS. Yes, we're on vacation, but we don't have to being going, going, going every second of every day.
We don't have to see everything.
We don't have to do everything.
If the kids really want to lay around and watch cartoons one morning rather than go play another round of mini-golf? Oh well, at least it's free, easy, and they are contained to one room for awhile! I totally get the pressure to have The.Most.Fun.Ever. and "get your money's worth!" but vacations are really more fun if you can actually relax for a second.

Most important to me is to stay together. My kids are still young, so I am super paranoid about someone getting lost, snatched or left behind and I am hyper vigilant about keeping us all together when we're out and about, especially in crowds. (Yes, the thought of Disney World* is giving me minor panic attacks. Are we having fun yet?) I'm planning to order these temporary tattoos, just in case.

The long and short of it is that traveling with kids (especially a lot of them) can be a lot of work, a headache, expen$ive, and sometimes? Just not even worth it. (Don't even get me started on the torture of sleep or lack thereof, on vacation.)
However, it can also actually be FUN and rewarding. One of our personal biggest goals as parents is to give the kids experiences and memories; not just things.

So... I'm sure there's more but this is long and that's about all I can think of, for now. If I think of more later, I'll add it in the comments and if YOU have some travel/vacation trips, please share!




*After Disney I'll update with whether that trip was a good idea or not. ( I'm scared. )

I realize that picture is screwed up... sorry about that. Anyway, that map shows our Thanksgiving week travels. Point A was a quick overnight in St. Louis. We drove by the arch on our way through the next morning, but other than shoving all 6 of us into a hotel room for a sleepless night, it was fairly uneventful.

Point B is Kansas City, where we went to Union Station and the science museum and then over to Great Wolf Lodge, where the kids had probably the most amazing time of their lives. Again, all 6 of us were in one room but at least it had a half wall partition so we managed OK. (Why do these kids hate sleep? I swear they will pay for this when they are teenagers.) We met up with family there as well, 2 nights in a row, and went to a cool restaurant where the kids were so enthralled with dinosaurs and fish tanks that they forgot to torture us (much) during dinner.

Point C is my parents' town and we spent the rest of our time there, visiting with various other family members and having a fantastic Thanksgiving meal and trying to force convince the almost 3 year old to be halfway decent and not scare all my childless cousins into buying their birth control in bulk. (Probably not successful, but that's what a week-ish of poor sleep will do to a 3 year old. *sigh*)
We did get to go out on a very rare date. We went a vineyard and had a nice time. We were back in less than 2 hours... it's sad that we can never think of things to do on dates anymore. We always end up at the grocery store (we did this time too).

Then it was time to head home, and the kids must be getting used to car rides because aside from car sickness, it was pretty smooth sailing. Thank goodness! In exactly one month, we're going to be driving to Texas, so it's a good thing they're getting used to it.

9 days, 1400-ish miles, 3 bottles of wine, too much turkey and not enough sleep and here we are: home sweet home.

November!

November is always a busy month; it seems as soon as Halloween is over we start the downhill slide to Christmas. However, Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. There's no gift pressure, you can just get together and have fun with family members and eat a good meal. The weather is usually more or less decent too. I don't participate in the Black Friday madness because I'm usually mostly done with Christmas shopping by then, I hate crowds, and I prefer online shopping. So, November is usually a good month as well as busy.

This year we are going on a special trip before Thanksgiving. In two weeks we'll be finishing up our second school session of the school year, and then we're heading to the Great Wolf Lodge! D's wanted to take the kids forever, and we got an amazing deal on a 2 night stay! After we spend our 2 days there, we're driving to my parents' house, which is a few hours away. We'll spend Thanksgiving there and head home the next weekend.  (Notice I'm ignoring the hours upon hours of driving we'll be doing to drive up to St. Louis, over to Kansas City, down to my parents' house and then home.)
When we arrive home, L's 3rd birthday will be the next weekend and then we'll decorate for Christmas and attend all those parties and fun holiday things that take place that time of year! Before we know it, it will be Christmas! 

November list:
* Take pictures for family Christmas cards.
* Make Christmas cards.
* Get ready for L's birthday.
* Plan/ready for our trip. (short sentence for a massive undertaking)
* Finish Christmas shopping.
* Lose 5-10 more pounds before I have to see my entire family. haha
* 2 birthdays.
* 4 classes for the bigger boys. (not including catechism every Sunday)
* 1 hour 1st reconciliation meeting for D & I to attend.
* 3 hour 1st reconciliation workshop for both of us to attend with d, on the day we were supposed to leave for vacation.
* Preschool special Thanksgiving lunch/program for C.
* Plus, you know... life. Oh, and D informed me he will be working extra overtime before we leave. Fabulous. (I'm rethinking my above statement about liking November...)

(I'm definitely going to be praying that no one gets sick!)

For those not my Facebook friend & not sick of seeing Halloween pictures:

ha. ha!

Until last week, we hadn't been to the beach in over 2 years. We eat up a lot of D's vacation time (and our money) traveling to Missouri to visit my family or Texas to visit his/mine, so we don't get to go on beach vacations that much. (first world problems... I know. )
Anyway, I have been having a rough time with D working 12+ hour days for weeks on end, no weekends, homeschooling, no time to myself, etc, etc. To say I'd been looking forward to this vacation is HUGE understatement. So, of course I got sick before our vacation... of course I did.
And then, I got MORE sick while we ON vacation. I had this hacking, nasty, smoker-sounding cough and no voice for all of our days at the beach. Oh, and a giant headache. I took a lot of Ibuprofen and I have to admit that my visions of the beach included margaritas and NOT cherry flavored cough syrup. Gross.

Anyway, I still had fun! How can you not have fun when you're on the beach?! We went mini golfing, went to a mini carnival and D and d rode dune buggies. D and my dad (because my parents were awesome enough to come with us and increase the child:adult ratio!) went scuba diving, and we spent a lot of lovely time with our toes in the sand. D & I even managed to go on two little date nights to celebrate our 15 years together. (the 20th is the 15th anniversary of our first date) Despite my hacking sexiness, he still  wanted to take me out. ;) The trip was too short, as always. My parents have gone home now, D's back at work, our fall break is over and we started school back up today, so today is definitely a BIT of an adjustment day.

What war? Vacation & Christmas tidbits

* I keep hearing about this War On Christmas, but frankly... I don't see it. Saying happy holidays as a greeting, on a sign, or on a card does not, in my opinion, diminish Christmas in any way. You don't hear people complaining about the War On Hanukkah.
You want to celebrate Christmas? Do it. There's no war out there.

* Friday, I hand addressed, stamped and stuck address labels on 73 Christmas cards. It took me dang near all day, and I realized I could never work from home with the kids here, because even that task was enough to make me (and them) crazy and it's not like I actually had to use much brain power.

* Saturday, I wrapped 49 Christmas presents, including the ones to my kids from us, the ones to grandparents and other family members, teachers, friends, D, and the kids gifts to each other. I haven't wrapped the ones from the inlaws to the kids yet. Santa doesn't wrap; lucky bastard.

* This Saturday D & I are going on our 10 year (6 months early...) anniversary trip! We've never left the kids and gone on a trip before - EVER. The only time we've spent nights away was when I was having other babies, and even then it was usually just me at night, and D was at home. I'm so excited and so nervous! My parents are coming down to watch the kids and I know they'll be fine, and it helps that they are at their own house with their own stuff. I'm not too worried about the boys, especially the older two, but Miss L is SO VERY ATTACHED to me. It's ridiculous, really. I'm nervous, but it's only 3 nights, right? I mean... she'll be fine, right? RIGHT?

* We're deep in the Christmas spirit around here. We're doing our advent calendars every day, Edward the elf is causing trouble every night, and we had dinner with Santa last week. We went to the Galaxy of Lights on Friday (a drive through light show about 2 miles long) and Saturday we made our gingerbread house. Either this week or next, we'll do our last Christmas outing to Santa's Village, and then all that's left is to make some Christmas cookies for fun and for a cookie exchange, and wait for Christmas Eve, when we make Baby Jesus' birthday cake.  (I'm questioning this tradition that brings MORE sweets into a sugar coma season, so it might be a teeny one this year.)
Oh, and we have all the boys' Christmas parties this week. (Plus my parents are coming, and we have 2 doctors appointments, and hopefully - please, oh please, oh please - no one will get sick!)

Upcoming

Is it seriously already (pretty much) November? Why on Earth is time flying by the older I get? Do you remember when you were a kid and you would think ahead to the future and a month seemed like an ETERNITY? A year felt like an inconceivable amount of time.
Now, a whole year can pass and I feel like I have hardly blinked.
Just getting used to writing 2011 on your checks? Oh well! Too bad! Here comes 2012!!

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Tonight, we're going trick or treating in our neighborhood. Our little neighborhood has 60 houses, so it's just about the right size to drag 4 small children through. At least 2 of the children will whine about walking and want to be carried after approximately 8 houses. If our neighborhood doesn't have a lot of lights on, we may go to the bigger neighborhood across the street, but really... we don't need that much candy.

I only bought stuff I have no desire to eat this year. Dum Dums, Laffy Taffy, Sweet Tarts and Smarties. I'm a chocolate girl, and therefore I bought none. I can't promise there will not be any stealing from my children's bags after they collapse in bed from a sugar high.

We will all be dressed up tonight, so look for a family super hero picture tomorrow. (here's to hoping I actually get a decent one.)

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We have been talking -  for months - about going to Disney World after Christmas. Our kids are still very young, but we thought we might go for a day or possibly two and hit Magic Kingdom and then do something else. A very nice friend was kind enough to let us borrow a planning book and right off the bat we read that the time we were planning to go is supposed to be the busiest time of the year.
Secondly, we read that kids should probably be around 7 years old to really get the full experience. I know lots of younger kids that have gone, so I don't know if I agree with that, but it did give me pause to think that at least 2 of my kids will have no memory of the experience. We were hoping my parents could come with us, to up our adult:child ratio, because 2 grown ups and 4 kids, six and under, is probably not the best combo for a trip like this. However, they weren't sure if they could, and they didn't seem too enthusiastic about it.
I was also a lot less enthusiastic after I checked ticket prices. Yipes.
Miss L is still free, but even if we went for only one day it would be over $400 and that doesn't include my parents. Plus, we don't live near Orlando. At all.
Maybe I'm just being cheap, but as I added up travel expenses, tickets, meals, and incidentals, I decided that I wanted to wait until all the kids are old enough to really enjoy it! So... no Disney this year. Maybe in a couple years when Miss L is four, or five. She'll probably be into princesses then, right?
(she's not now.)

There is a much cheaper, much closer to home, vacation in the works now. We haven't yet decided if it will be all of us or just the two of us.(!!!)

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As you may remember, Miss L had hernia surgery about 3 months ago and last week I noticed that it looks like part of the hernia came back. (do they do that? I'm not sure of the correct terminology...)
Anyway, there's definitely an issue going on and I'm hoping it's something else - scar tissue? - or something. She has an appointment tomorrow with the surgeon who did her initial surgery, and I'm hoping she won't have to have another surgery. 3 (albeit minor) surgeries in the span of 3ish months?! It seems too much! That's more than all the boys combined, in their entire lives!
So... wish us luck for that appointment tomorrow. I'm getting a bit of nervous tummy over it.

Look who can FINALLY wear pig tails!

Fabulous, Darling. Simply Fabulous.

This weekend was fabulous! On Friday, D came home early and Tracy and I went on a little trip. A kid free night away was my birthday present.  It's the one thing I asked D for, for my 30th birthday.


KID FREE.


We went shopping at a great outlet mall, where I bought some adorable clothes for the kids (ok... mostly Miss L) and some Christmas presents.  We ate a fantastic dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and even though we split the dinner AND the sinfully chocolate cheesecake - neither of us could finish it.

I couldn't resist this one, even though L doesn't really need any more Fall clothes. It was on super sale too.

only $5!

These were totally not sale. 

We stayed at a fabulous hotel where we soaked in the hot tub, slept all night and got up when we wanted and had a yummy breakfast and coffee. We did some more shopping on Saturday, but the best part? A pedicure. I haven't had a pedicure in years, sadly. My last one was just so-so but this pedicure was so fantastic that I would drive an hour and a half just for that. Massage, scrub, lotion, and the best part? A hot stone massage. Ahhhhhh. It was heaven. My feet have never been so happy!

The best part about the weekend was just the fact that I didn't have to worry about putting children to bed, or feeding them, changing diapers, or doing any of the million things that you have to do when you have kids.
It was very freeing.
The last time I went away for a night was about a year and a half ago, and I took Miss L with me, since she was a wee babe. This is the first time D has kept all 4 children overnight alone. I have to give him major props actually, because he also took all the kids to soccer on Saturday morning and it's a chore with both of us so I am VERY grateful that he handled it so easily, and didn't complain about it a bit. The house wasn't even a disaster when I got home. He did mention how long it took him to do anything, and how much he missed me. So, that was nice too!

C actually got sick while I was gone, but D had planned on taking the boys camping with friends when we got home. I ended up staying home with C and Miss L and it was almost like having 2 days of vacation since I only had half the kids and one was fever-y-lay around sick but not vomiting sick. He even "slept in" till 6:45. 

So, great weekend, great company, and a much more relaxed mama. Simply fabulous.

I'm not just being dramatic

I know it's so cliche to say, "I need a vacation!" but in this case it is true. I am not being dramatic when I say that I REALLY NEED A VACATION.

Without the kids.

Seriously, how do you guys stay connected to your spouse? We try to spend time together but there are kids all over one or both of us, and they NEED stuff - ALL the time! They go to bed fairly early, but by then we're also exhausted and it takes an act of Congress to persuade us to do anything besides collapse on the couch and watch TV. A date night would be nice, but that's not going to cut it. We need to get away together, without the kids, and without visiting anyone we're related to.

Do you know the last time I spent a night away from home, with D, and without any children?
Probably not, because *I* can't even remember. I know there was one night that my parents watched the boys overnight and D and I went out to dinner, a movie and stayed in a local hotel and came home in time for breakfast. It must have been during Miss L's pregnancy, because no one was nursing and I know we've never left Miss L overnight. So... it's been awhile.
AND that was the only night we've ever spent alone since our first child was born. I know it's not that unusual; it's hard to leave small children with anyone - especially when there are 4 of them. Also, living so far away from grandparents makes this a difficult task.
They are all sleeping through the night now though, (thank you!) and my hope is that someday soon D & I will be able to have a bit of couple time. It's amazing how much you can miss someone that is right next to you.

Down the road and back again

What a week it's been! If you've watched ANY news, or CNN or The Weather Channel, then you have probably heard all about the storms in the south last week.

This time last week, we were cowering from tornadoes every other hour or so. I kept d & O home from school. (d's school started at 10 and let out at 12:45 due to bad weather, so no big loss there...)
The first tornado siren woke us up right before 6AM, I believe. We turned on the weather and sure enough it was our area so we were all hiding in the bathroom in our pajamas. We lost a small tree during that round, and I should have known then, that it was going to be a rough day.
There were so many tornado sirens and so much hiding in the bathroom that day that I honestly can't remember how many there were. We prayed, we sang silly songs and I tried, probably unsuccessfully, to hide the sheer terror I was feeling from the kids. I have horrible anxiety about tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, and being responsible for 4 little people during one just adds to my anxiety.
I called D over and over at work. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't function. I didn't eat all day. I was a disaster, and he finally came home around 3. We lost power for good about an hour later, and spent the rest of the evening in the dark, carrying around the weather radio and flashlights. We had to hide another time or two, and when we thought the last storm had passed we put the kids to bed. (8ish?)
Sure enough, one more severe thunderstorm came through, and Mother Nature threw down some strong lightening and hail as one last, "Screw you!"
After that, the radio said it was over for good and we collapsed in bed, completely exhausted.

As scared as I was during the worst parts of the storm, I can only imagine how horrifying it was for the people who took direct hits and lost everything. Houses and possessions are one thing, but last I heard the death toll was well over 300 people.  My heart goes out to their families.
We are extremely lucky that we are fine. I've never felt more grateful in my life.

The next morning we listened to the radio and heard that power would be out for 3-5 days, or even longer. School was out until at least Tuesday (turned out to be Thursday) and D's work was also closed. We decided to take a trip up to my parents' house in Missouri. We drove through tornado damaged areas, some with just downed trees and some with total destruction. d's notebook is full of pictures of tornadoes and he is petrified every time the wind blows. (I guess he gets the anxiety from me. *sigh*)
We also drove through flooding, pretty much the whole drive, so it was an interesting drive - to say the least.

The visit was good. My parents were really busy with work, and since it was last minute we only got to see a few people. All in all though, it was a nice impromptu vacation.
Monday morning we learned that we had power again, so we planned to drive home the next day. The drive home was long and LOUD; we were so ready for it to be over. We came home to a missing cat - who will hopefully find his way home - and a disgusting fridge and chest freezer to clean out. That was gross, and will be expensive to restock, but still small potatoes next to the tragedy that a lot of people are experiencing.

The devastation in some areas is mind numbing. I've had to stop watching the coverage because it just makes me cry.

For us, life is returning to normal. D went to work today for the first time since last Thursday, and O is at preschool today. d's school reopens tomorrow.
Once again, I'm counting my blessings.

Beach pics

It didn't occur to us BEFORE our trip that we had never taken a family vacation, just us and the kids. Ever.
We've gone to see family, but not actually taken a vacation unless you count the day trips to museums, zoos, etc.
We had certainly never spent 4 nights at the beach with 4 kids, five and under, and 2 adults! It was challenging in a lot of ways. For one thing, none of the kids can really swim by themselves. Secondly, the 2 year old is in very, very difficult stage and made enjoying our vacation harder. Relaxing is not the word I would use, but we still had a lot of fun and I'm still extremely glad that we went to the beach before any oil hits it. I can only imagine that it will get easier as they get older, and we plan to go back - for sure!

It was absolutely stunning.

This is the view from our balcony. You couldn't ask for a better picture to wake up to. 

I tried taking family pictures on the beach on our first morning there. Some of the pictures of the kids turned out great, but our family pictures were way too grainy. Sometimes my camera does that when it's on the timer. We never did try again, but oh well. 

We got to do lots of fun stuff while we were there! We spent the first couple of days without leaving the resort. They had a huge pool, a kiddie pool, a huge hot tub, and a great kids splash zone.

(Holiday Inn Sun Spree)
The next couple of days we went to Gulf World, played goofy golf and then spent more time at the pools and beach. By the end of the trip we felt a lot like this:

It was a great vacation and I can't wait to do it again sometime soon!