Cruise 2009!

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Our cruise was SOOO FUN!!!!

I'm not ready to get back into the real world yet (we just got home late last night), so for now I'll just post some pictures and say that our friends Toni and Carl are the best...we were so blessed to take this trip with them! I thank God for this wonderful experience...I don't deserve it, but I am so grateful.

It's here!

Tomorrow morning, BD and I leave for our cruise. For the sixteen and a half years we've been married, we have never taken a vacation for more than a night or two away from the kids and we've always driven, never flown. I find myself gripped by a strange nervousness and the kids are wandering around as sad as can be about us leaving for a week. But once we get on the plane in the morning, I know it all will fade away. I am so looking forward to BD and I just being able to relax and enjoy each other's company and the company of our dear friends, Toni and Carlos, the Narcoleptic Dad.

Fat legs

All of your comments about your own laundry woes made me feel like I'm not the only one and maybe my kids are normal, so thanks!

Anyway, every single time Snip and Snap (10 and 8) are in the back of the mini-van, their conversation is an adventure. Yesterday it was about legs. (Keep in mind that neither of them are the least bit overweight. In fact, Snip might be UNDERweight.)

Snap: The tops of my legs are kinda fat.

Snip: The top of EVERYONE'S legs are fat. I mean big around. Mom, is that mean?

Me: No. (I knew what she meant)

Snip: I used to think something was wrong with my legs 'cause if you stare at them for a long time, the little red lines under the skin start to look funny.

Me (thinking this could be a teaching moment): Those are your veins and capillaries. Remember we studied those?

Snip (totally uninterested): OK.

Snap: Yeah, I used to think I needed to go to the emergency room because my legs would be so skinny, but they got fat when I sat down.

Snip and Snap: HA HA HA HA HA

Me, thinking to myself: Yeah, laugh it up while you can, ladies. Laugh it up.

Laundry Day

Sorting the kids' laundry baskets is always an adventure. I did a laundry post almost two years ago about the time that there was an unknown donor's underwear (toddler size 2) in the laundry. That was kinda spooky but there is usually mystery jackets or shirts in there. Let me share what I found in the girls' basket this morning:

One boot
One strapless dress that hasn't been worn since last summer
One fancy skirt (dry clean only)
One Laura Ingalls costume (that hasn't been worn since Halloween)
A pair of formal satin gloves that I wore in a wedding ten years ago
An empty beach bag
A shirt (still folded neatly from last week's laundry)
One baseball sock
A baby hat that my daughter wore when she was one

And there was more that I didn't even mention. As an added bonus, almost half of the items in their basket were clean. And as I pulled each item out, my daughters would invariably say, "I don't know how that got in there." Hmmm. It seems someone has been sneaking into our home and putting items in the girls' laundry that don't belong there. Should I be worried? Or should I choose to view doing the laundry every week as an adventure? I'm sure it will be boring when the kid's don't live here anymore.

Sometimes boring is a good thing.