No comingling allowed

This weekend the boys went "camping" (read: trailer with kitchen, bathroom, big screen TV and other home amenities) in Door County with the boys (Mayur and Kyan) across the street. Their weekend, from what I can tell, can be summed up like this...

Saturday night Kyan and Max fell alseep during a movie so Nolan came out to the campfire where Dave and Mayur were hanging out. Dave was drinking bourbon and Nolan asked if he could have some. Dave let him dip his finger in and try it, to which Nolan said, "It tastes like run!" Yeah, that's my six-year-old for you.

It seems they had a great time. They went go-karting, saw a snake, shooed out the frog from the indoor pool and played chess.

Abby and Ava and I had an equally nice girls' weekend. Friday my mom and dad came up and we ordered pizza and watched movies. Saturday we went to breakfast (Abby picked McDonald's... someday her taste will change, I hope!), dropped Ava off with my mom and had some girl shopping. We went to Goodwill to look for Halloween stuff, and Abby didn't understand. "What do you mean we're at Goodwill? I mean, how do you shop at Goodwill?" Apparently I've only ever taken here there to drop stuff off there. But, she did find two shirts that she liked, and we got a bunch of books, so of course no matter where we are, she'll find something to buy! From there we hit Walmart and mini-golfing. Hmmm, maybe if I want her taste to increase from McDonald's, I'll need to take her shopping somewhere other than Goodwill or Walmart!

Saturday night was a lot of fun. My mom came over and we played lots of board games. It was nice to not have to worry about the younger ones, and for most of the time Ava was in bed. I love board games and now that Abby's old enough, it really is fun (and challenging!) to play with her.

In the end, it was a great weekend. The boys didn't want to come home and both Nolan and Max said they wished they were still camping. Abby didn't want the boys to come home, and also wished they were still camping. I wouldn't want to split up every weekend, but every now and again I think that will work!

It's a rough life

Some days, life just wears you out. And you catch a nap wherever you can.

Good enough

Hanging in my laundry area is a sign that says, "What if success is just getting the wash into the dryer before mildew sets in?"

And today, I say, "AMEN!"

I did little things today. I got the laundry downstairs. Nowhere near the laundry room, mind you, but at the bottom of the steps at least, near the three laundry baskets full of clean laundry. I got half of my jewelry put in the new jewelry holder I got (the rest is strewn across my dresser). I cleaned and picked up what used to be Abby's room. I got the microwave cleaned (Hallelujah! That was nasty!). And I set up Mousetrap on two different occasions, took away 12 bags of snacks from Ava, cut up 200 grapes, got 12 glasses of juice and water, and drank enough coffee tonight to keep me awake should I choose to actually do the work that I've been supposed to do for the past 3 months.

It's the little things.

The prom, 10 years later

So, last Saturday night, my company had its 25th anniversary bash. It was a pretty fancy affair, and Dave and I actually got a sitter for it. It just so happens that it was also close to our ten-year anniversary, which is today. So, I made people take pictures, and Dave accused me of treating it like prom. I didn't see any corsage, so I say no way. It's just us, ten years later.

Here's the first attempt at pics. Not bad, right? But see that big splotch on my neck? That red one? No, it's not a hickey. Ten years, remember? It's Nolan shining a laser on me while the picture was being taken.

And here's us again, sans red spot. I must've been on a hill, Dave looks short!

Anyway, prom or not, here we are ten years later. I'm not sure there's much to say, the life speaks for itself. We're definitely different people than we were ten years ago, with different dreams and different things (people!) taking up our time. We've been married long enough to say that some of the years were fantastic, and some of the years were hard. But together we've faced them all, and I'm incredibly happy to say that, these ten years later, we probably get along better than we did before we got married. As we sat at the formal dining room table tonight (it was the only surface cleared enough to eat on!) we looked around and with some disbelief realized we've filled all of those formal chairs that there seemed so many of when we moved into this house. And then when we thought about where we'll be in another10 years, and how quick that will go... Abby off to college! And soon, too soon, the same table will be filled with kids of our kids, who will be the same age ours are now. And man, I gotta say, there's just no one I'd rather go on that journey with.

Technology at its finest

I'll admit it, my kids have lots of technology. But for the most part, I think they use it fairly healthily and in moderation. (Except for those two hours of Harry Potter Lego Wii on Saturday, or the hours of babysitting tv I've used, of course). In addition, for the most part, I trust my kids. I mean hey, they've never given me reason not to. And luckily, they are SO transparent when they're doing something wrong.

Take tonight, for instance. It was about five minutes before bedtime and Abby and Nolan were whispering and conspiring. This is made even more the obvious given the fact that the two of them are usually at each others' throats, not in cahoots with each other. From there I watched Nolan get his DS and go up and get into bed before we even gave a second bedtime reminder. Hmmm, sounds like Pictochat to me. (For those of you not in the know, if they each have a DS within a certain vicinity, they can talk to each other by drawing pictures or writing messages and sending it.) So I tucked them all in, fluffed all his pillows which made him very obviously nervous and said goodnight. When Dave came out of Abby's room, I told him my guess. He went to Nolan's and Max's room, opened the door as fast as he could, and bingo! Nolan's face was lit up by the light of the screen. It was super funny how scared he looked, and Dave and I were just laughing.

From there, Dave comandeered Nolan's DS and waited for Abby. When she sent a message, he sent one back that said BUSTED!! It's Daddy! Immediately the notice on the bottom said "Abby Exiting Chat." Ha! I went in her room and she looked all innocent. I just laughed at her and took her DS. She asked when she could have it back and I told her tomorrow morning. She responded by saying, "Well, at least you didn't catch us last night!" WHAT?? How could I have missed this last night?? Aw man. I need to up my mommy monitor.

The crazy part is, I almost wish we didn't bust them. It made bedtime SO easy with them both, which made it easy with Max. And the two of them against us, or at least in it together, is kind of nice. I just may have to look the other way next time.