Vacation

I've been running around here like a mad woman most of this week. We are preparing to leave on vacation and I've been trying to put everything together. I've got the pets taken care of, my list of things that I need to pack, and most of the clothes washed. And I've been cleaning. And cleaning. Did I mention cleaning? I am one of those people who leave for a trip and want my house spotless - ok somewhat clean - when I leave. So by the time I head for my bed here shortly (I hope) I will have a clean living room, bathrooms and kitchen. I have a few loads of clothes to finish washing, packing and putting away before we leave. Just today, I have mowed 2 1/2 yards, took Belle to a birthday party, picked up a few things for our trip and cleaned up a few things.

Oh yeah. And I'm going to get to spend some time on a real beach. That's right. None of those man-made lake things like they have here. A real beach on the Gulf of Mexico. I also have a new swimsuit for the occasion, my first in 6 years. My camera is on my list of things to take so that I can capture the kids firsts of being on a real beach. We are spending one night on the gulf before traveling up to spend a few days with Hubby's family which also includes watching the fourth of July fireworks display over the Mississippi River, something we haven't gotten to do for three years now. The kids are more than excited and are bouncing off walls anticipating the trip. I'll have picture up when we return.

First Day of Summer

Please notice the 1:01 PM time stamp on the first day of summer. Need I say more?

There are a lot of times in your children's lives when they make you feel so proud but also so stupid in an instance. Yesterday was on of those times as Brady and I sat on the porch watching heat lightning in the distance.

"Mom, do you see that cloud right there?"

"Yes."

"Does it make a vortex and...."

That's where I lost him. I don't remember anything about vortexes from school so I simply told him, "I don't know." I'm excited that he knows something about vortexes at such a young age but I hate it when he asks me questions that I can't answer. Makes me feel old. Finally, he stopped asking questions and sat quietly as we listened to the crickets and the night. They're getting fewer and farther between but I love those times that I can sit with them one on one and enjoy just them.

Him: What time is it?

Me: Hmph. What time do you think it is?

Him: Two?

Me: Twenty til. Explain to me why we decided to put in a movie at midnight?

Him: Because we thought we were twenty?

Me: So when we wake up we'll feel like we're 50?

It's going to be a long day.

I Raised You Better Than That!

Every week, Hubby brings in a laundry bag full of his uniforms that he has worn all week for to be washed. He works for one of the rare trucking companies that has a dress code, so his clothes have to be washed by the time he leaves out again. This week was no different. He brought his bag in, dropped it before the washing machine and headed almost straight for a shower. He stopped to say hello and chat with me first. Isn't he sweet. Some weekends are better for me than others. Some weekends, I'll have his clothes washed as soon as he walks through the door, some I will have them on hangers when they come out of the dryer and others will find them in a pile of laundry on the couch, waiting for me to hang them after waiting until the last second to wash them. This week is sort of a good week. After running all day today, I came in and washed his uniforms and put them on hangers. For reasons I don't remember, I laid his shorts across the washing machine and placed my hand on them. They were lumpy. I dug around in his pockets to find a wet, crumpled sock in each one. So I took them outside where he was tilling to show him my discovery.

"It defeats the purpose for me to wash socks when they are balled up in the pockets of your shorts!"

Sly grin. "Find them in my pj shorts?"

"No. In your work shorts." This is where that look of confusion clears to a look of realization as he remembers why he had them in there.

"I forgot to take my bag in when I showered and put them in my pockets."

"They don't get washed if you leave them in your pockets to go through the washer and the dryer crumpled up into balls! I raised you better than that!"

"Aw, hush!" I'll teach him yet!

Improvements?

We've been keeping busy here in our household. Everything going on has definitely been keeping me on my toes. A couple of weeks back Brady called me into the kitchen to look at the cat. This is how I found him:He had climbed on top of my counter, jumped onto the fridge and then climbed on top of my cabinets. In the picture he is checking out the first aid kit (that I have to put up there to keep Brady out of the band-aids.)

We have also been trying to get things ready to put up the pool we bought earlier in the year. Currently this is how my backyard looks:

And we are no where near finished. It has been figured that we will have to dig down around two feet at the highest point so that the pool will be level. What is tilled up is only half of what will have to be leveled so we still have quite a ways to go.

Friday night Belle was supposed to spend the night with a friend down the street. She called complaining that her throat was hurting and finally said that she wanted to come home. Her throat was red so I sprayed it with Chloraseptic and put her to bed. Saturday, Brady got up complaining about a sore throat as well. His tonsils were swollen and by that afternoon he was running a fever. Sunday afternoon, I drove him to our medical group which also runs a weekend clinic. The diagnosis was tonsillitis and red ear and they placed him on antibiotics (he was asking Dad about "tonsilsitis" afterwards). When I returned, I called Belle in to unload the dishwasher (her chore) only to find that she had done so while I was at the doctor with Brady. Did so without being told and even went as far as to clean off the kitchen table. I was ever so proud. Now if only she will clean her room like that...

Brady has also been complaining that he wants to be able to sleep in his bed without the night light. Unfortunately, he shares a room with Bryce who absolutely has to have a light in order to sleep (he gets this from me). So after a lot of complaining and carrying on last night, I told him I would fix the problem. Here is the solution:

While this didn't completely block out all of the light because it still glowed just a bit through the blanket, it was enough to satisfy his need for a dark room. The end of the bed is still open so that he has air traveling through (so he could breathe was my excuse) and very little if no light comes through that end of the bed. He informed me that he doesn't actually breathe at night so he didn't really need an opening but was willing to settle without covering the opening. Tonight is the first night we have tried this (last night he had fallen asleep by the time I got in there and the blanket fell by morning) and so far there have been no complaints. I changed from how I had it hanging last night so hopefully it won't fall off the bed tonight.

I have gotten to spend quite a bit of time with my neighbor lately as her hubby is currently in Iraq. I have really enjoyed playing with her baby who has the sweetest temperament I've ever seen. Just saying hi to him is enough to get him to give you the biggest grin that lights up the room. Today we let her nieces and my three kids enjoy her pool while we watched the babies she cares for on her deck. The babies napped for the most part as the kids had a blast in the pool. Helps make me impatient for the day that we finally get ours up.

The kids seem to be enjoying their vacation, but are also enjoying their arguing. We have certainly had what seems like more than our fair share. They haven't gotten to the point that we are so bored they want to go back to school. Yet. They are really looking forward to going to see the Gulf of Mexico and spending time on our vacation with some of Hubby's family. We are looking forward to a vacation away from here. We'll see how fast time goes between now and the day we leave. Hopefully not too slow but we'll see.

A Day at the Park

The kids have been asking me, continually, to take them to the park since school let out. They asked again yesterday while I was chatting with my neighbor. She (M.A.) had the idea that we needed to take my three kids, her four month old son, three month old nephew, and her pair of 3 year old (one is almost four) nieces to the park and McDonalds for lunch. So we did. We loaded up all of the kids in both of our vehicles and headed for McD's. They wasted no time getting through their lunches so that we could get to the park. M.A. brought her camera along and took some wonderful pictures of the kids while they were playing (over 100 pictures!). I'm only sharing pictures of my kids because I know I wouldn't want someone else putting up pictures of my kids without my knowledge.
Brady's picture was taken at the end of the afternoon when they were exhausted and he was irritated with Bryce. While M.A. took pictures of the kids, I got to sit with the babies. The sleeping nephew and her son who I had a complete cooing conversation with were wonderful. Even though all of the older kids played well together yesterday, mine didn't really give me any problem with arguing after we got home, I paid for this trip today. Brady has had more meltdowns than I can count so I put him to bed early. They all had a blast and hopefully we'll get the chance to take them back again.