No Place Like Home

We are home! We got in around 8 pm on Friday and even made a fun stop over at my sister-in-law's home to surprise all our friends that were over playing poker. Little Dude went crazy when he saw Uncle John, and sat with Uncle John until we had to pry him away to get to our house!


JR on the other hand, was not as happy to see a ton of people, but in his defense he doesn't know any of them, or any of these places-even our house upsets him right now-so I'm OK with him being super clingy and nervous. It is a little bit of a pain that I can't leave a room without him screaming, but I know his nervousness will pass as he learns the house and feels more secure here. He has taken to dragging a toy around with him-yesterday it was a stuffed buffalo, but so far today he seems attached to his stuffed monkey.

Bill flew back to Alabama yesterday afternoon, and today the kids and I are going to work on cleaning the downstairs, getting our guestroom ready for Grandma and Grandpa-who will be here Thursday!-and set up our downstairs for all the family and friends that will be coming this Saturday for Little Dude's party.

And I am enjoying the crickets. I had not realized how much I missed them. Ahhh, home.

So Long, Alabama

I have been busy packing, catching up on work, overall cleaning and getting my basket of snacks and entertainment ready for the long drive back to NC.

Well, we did it, we are all packed:

We are leaving in the wee am hours tomorrow morning, and we are so excited to be back in our sweet home, North Carolina.

Time Is Flying By

Moving always gets me stressed. Not just because we have to fit our things into the mini-van, but because Bill and I will have the kids in the car for over 14 hours in order to get back home.

Oh geeze.

So I am wondering about great entertainment for the car. I am sorta regreting now insisting that we did NOT need a tv for the car. At the time we bought the van, I laughed at the thought of needing the ability to play movies. But at that time, our longest trip was 4 hours to my parent's home, and that we did once a year, maybe.

Since that time, we have move twice temporaraly, to nice, far away places with nice long and forever drives. Sigh.

And I have gotten better about public restrooms, simply because I don't want to give my sons a complex, but still, I HATE public restrooms, let alone those at a lone gas station. Another Sigh.

But, in this case, I'll just rely on my good ol' Disney movie stash for inspiration.

Just keep swimming.

Everything will fit in the car, none of the kids will touch/roll on/slide on/jump on/lick the nasty gas station bathrooms, and we will not lose our minds.

And soon we will be home! I started packing, though I haven't put anything in the van yet....

A Busy Week

Oh my, we get to go home to NC in 5 days!! I am so very excited and REALLY dreading the packing.

Which I just realized I REALLY need to start. I have to make everything we have here fit in my van, and what is left will have to fit in Bill's car when he is able to come home for good in October/November.

The worst part of packing is the later UNPACKING, because I always end up rushing to pack and nothing gets sorted for easy unloading. Sigh.

And I am a little stressed trying to decide if I should start packing now, or if I do need to wait til Thursday. Since we are in an apt complex, I don't have a safe place to store the van while it is packed, and while I doubt anyone would want to steal the kid's train table, I would be P-O-ED if someone broke one of our windows.

We aren't in a horrible place either-don't worry, BUT there have been robberies and thefts at knife point and a little further down the road are houses with bars on the windows, so I am just nervous to pack the car yet, while at the same time wanting to get a head start.

For just a side note, we are IN the city limits of Mobile, so great areas and not so great areas blend together all around here; just like any inner part of a big city.

Writing this though has made me really long for my nice yard and driveway and amazing neighbors. I am so excited to get home.

Just For Thought

Happy Friday!

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
Walt Disney

Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.
Benjamin Franklin

Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.
Albert Einstein

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island
Walt Disney

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

I don't care what anyone writes about me, so long as it is not true.
Katharine Hepburn

Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource - the minds of our children.
Walt Disney

The Fun is in Getting It Done! Can we Fix it? YES WE CAN!
Bob The Builder


All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
Walt Disney

No rush, no rush; next week it won't matter if a lost shoe made us late to playdate.
Me

Feel The Rain

There is one thing I can say about Alabama weather; you FEEL the storms coming. Perhaps because we are right on the water, or because it is just that time of year for good storms, but either way, a storm is coming.

We spent the last two days hunting in consignment sales, and got a TON of great clothes for the boys for next year. I didn't need much for JR, since I have a lot from Little Dude, but I did get him a few cute things anyways. Little Dude and I cleaned up the dollar shirt area-awesome. We also got a fun Bob the Builder memory game for $3.00 that we tried playing earlier today. For the first time, Little Dude did pretty well, but the game has 75 pairs-just a bit too many for a 3 year old, so the next time we play I'll just put out 10 pairs. And make sure we do it while JR sleeps. I spent too long after our game today trying to round up the cards JR had collected.

JR has a cold. It started out as a sneeze this morning, but now it has progressed to the nice runny nose. So now, he is nestled in a ring sling, laying his head against me and not looking so happy. So far no fever, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed one doesn't develop. I'm supposed to babysit for few hours tomorrow, and I'm debating if I should cancel or not. I'd hate to make a baby sick, but then, if I cancel, then Nanette can't be the home room mom for the morning at her daughter's new school. I am a little glad I don't have anything else to really worry about at the moment; not too shabby, eh?

We come home in a week!! Ekkk! I am so excited to be home. But I'm also dreading packing up our stuff. And I have to get the train table in the van. And my shoes. And all the clothes I just bought the boys. I think I will be making a trip to Walmart for some bins.

I have a TON of work to do for Dakno and I am debating asking my sweet Bill if I can escape to Starbucks for awhile so I can catch up on some of it. And get away from the kids for a bit. I've discovered that time away is essential to my sanity. I am a little sad knowing that once we get home, Bill comes back here and I won't have him to take the kids at 7pm. Or to snuggle with at 9pm.

Organizing our closet to fit in the 7 pairs of shoes I've bought since moving down here will be a good use of time. And if I can make enough space, then maybe I can get another cute pair.

So, now I'm off to work on some Dakno items, and listen to the rolling thunder get closer and watch for the coming rain.

The Baby Is Blue

It started out very innocently, with Little Dude giving JR a drink. Sweet, eh?
Then I mentioned how very sweet it was for Little Dude to share his slushy, because JR was hot. That apparently is not the way you should praise a toddler holding a drink, because the result is this:


And then JR made his way for freedom, in the opposite direction of his circle running brother, leaving me to decide which I wanted to tackle more, a sticky, blue baby, or a sweaty, shirtless, toddler. Hmmmm. And just so you know, the blue did eventually come off, thank goodness.