girlymama

and that's why i married him, folks!

Husband returned from Switzerland with a huGE box of chocolate. Swiss chocolate. Which will be consumed this week, with all the goings on here*.

Oh, how I love him.

*Things are goings just fine. Busy. Loud. Chaos. But good. I'm going to bed at 9pm, though.

brace yourself

Tomorrow morning, a friend will be dropping off her two girls, ages 3 and 1, for six days. Yup for the next six days I will be a mom to 4 girls, ages 1, 2, 3 & 4. I'm spending tonight making up a schedule, so that I will have lots of premeditated ideas to keep them occupied!

I will try to blog about it, but I make no promises. I may be out of brain cells and energy units by the end of the day!

"ahhhh, nature..." or "AHHH!! Nature!!"

Depends on your point of view, I guess.

Who: Us and all the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents on my mom's side. And some other random people who we never really quite sure why they were with the rest of our family. Perhaps they are jealous of my family's awesomeness.
What: Camping. Us (and my siblings) in tents. Everyone else in "campers", aka "Recreational Vehicles," aka "Houses on Wheels: Heck Yeah, You Can Take It With You!"
Where: Vermont. Specifically here. There is no link to the actual campground, since this location is located in a rare natural phenomena known as a "Technological Black Hole" in which no technology of any kind will work. At all.
When: Memorial Day Weekend. Great time to try and drive from Philly to Vermont, cause its not like anyone else will be on the roads that weekend.
Why: Still trying to figure that one out.

Highlights of the trip include:

• 7 hour drive to Vermont with my husband. We just talked the whole time - never even turned on the radio. I can't remember the last time we were able to do that! Good conversation had, important future decisions made... definite bonding time!


• Seeing our kids after ten days! Them running up to us screaming our names, feeling their little arms around our necks... Gracie kept just hugging me and touching my face while saying, "My mama, my mama...." over and over. Heaven.


• Spending time with all the extended family, especially cousins who we rarely see. Its amazing that 15+ cousins can grow up and still like each other. Doesn't happen too often.


• Watching our kids with their great-grandparents. Gracie falling asleep while cuddled up in Great Grandma's arms by the campfire is one of those things I wished I could have taken a picture of, but didn't because I was afraid to ruin the moment.


• Husband getting to play. He kayaked, hiked up Bald Mountain, jumped off a bridge and did all sorts of those crazy things he gets a kick out of doing. I think that trying to negate his life insurance policy is his hobby.


• Despite all my cracks about nature, it really was incredibly beautiful. Pictures to come.

Low points include:

• My brother and his girlfriend hit a deer on their way there. And by "hit," I do not mean "grazed." More like: "totaled their car, killing the heck out of that deer and scaring several years off their young lives." They made it, though, 24 hours late and in a rental car. That's dedication for you.


• The flea market. I know, you're thinking "How quaint! A flea market in New England filled with antiques, homemade jam made out of organic blackberries!" No. It was actually "Scary looking people selling scary-looking junk to even scarier looking people." Wow. I'd need pictures - I just can't do it justice.


• Allergies. Merciful Heavens, the allergies.


• The huge thunderstorm/downpour the last night. I jumped so high after a particularly loud one, I believe that my entire body left the ground. "Jesus, is that you?" I thought. Wow. Camping in a tent certainly brings you close to nature. Whether you want to be or not.


• We left Monday at 10am. Seven short hours later we were screeching into Newark Airport to drop off Husband to catch his flight to Switzerland. There was a huGE accident and we were in traffic forEVER. Poor Husband. He was trying to be so calm, but I could tell he was totally freaking out. A four hour trip took 7 hours. He made it, though. Barely.


• After dropping Husband off, I realized I had no idea where I was going beyond "towards Pennsylvania". Not knowing where you are going while trying to drive on a New Jersey highway is a scary thing. I had old people passing me, while honking and making hand gestures, as I went 10 over the speed limit in the slow lane. Jeez. I pulled into our driveway a mere 10 hours after we left Vermont.

Pictures will come. Husband took the camera with him. Apparently taking pictures of Switzerland is more important than my blog. Humph.

**Not to say that the trip was all bad or anything - we did have fun, too!

unpack unpack unpack, launder launder, clean

That has been my day. Along with a fun trip to the grocery store since we had nothing to eat for breakfast except marshmallows, melted chocolate and warm beer left over from our camping trip. (Yum!) Pretty much all the food we brought camping except for bread is now melted into one solid mass. (Do you know how hot Vermont can get? Yes, Vermont! Who knew?)
I have lost count of the loads of laundry, but I have about 2 loads left. Personally, I'm appalled that we even own this many clothes, never mind the fact that they are all dirty. I have cleaned the house from top to bottom. Which was gross, since I hadn't cleaned it since before I left for Hilton Head 2 weeks ago. Car still isn't unpacked, but that is easy to ignore. Especially since my car is completely, totally covered in bug guts since we apparently hit every bug between here and VT.

Oh, and speaking of gross bugs, while we were gone,  insects decided we left for good and took over. There are ants all over the kitchen, including in the dishwasher and stove. And Ellie keeps running in from other rooms yelling, "Spider, Spider! Hurry, Mommy!" And I have to be all adult and go kill it, instead of doing what I want, which is to run from the room yelling, "Spider, Spider! Hurry, Husband!"
Anyway, all this to say that I am not slacking off, despite my lack of hilarious camping posts.  I have lost my voice, though, which my kids are getting a kick out of.  To tide you over, here is a quick chuckle.

I was unpacking the toys and books that my kids had at Grandmas. And I found this, apparently given to my kids by Grandma (or possibly an aunt.) Subtle, dontcha think?

i'm back. again.

We survived Vermont. Including our first time camping in the rain. (Not drizzle. I'm talkin' rain.)  I even survived driving in New Jersey. By myself.  Husband made his plane to Switzerland - barely - and now I am stuck unpacking all by myself holding down the fort.

I'm pooped, so I'm to bed. I'll dazzle you with our adventures tomorrow.

while i'm in the wilds of new england

...getting covered with bug bites and chased by a moose, here's some interesting reading material for ya. Since we really, really will be unable to get online up there. We just found out there is only a pay phone. One! For the whole place! Husband is freaking out a little. Personally, athough I go camping, I'm really not a "roughin' it" kind-a gal. I prefer hotels to camping. Nice hotels. With bathrooms and beds and stuff. No wildlife, please.

Anyway, my fingers will probably be super busy scratching bug bites and unable to type, even if we did have a computer. (Like my attitude? Don't you wish you were coming with us?) So I set this up to post while I'm gone. How bloggity am I?

Little brother and girlfriend have some big news.

Little sister got a new puppy. She needs something to love that is loud, makes messes and needs attention. Boyfriend just wasn't cutting it, I guess :-)

Here are some new blogs I've been loving. Read this blog and this one. Both are really fun, give them a peek. But do not click the second link if you have not watched the Lost season finale!! There is quite a nice recap, but I don't want to ruin it for you. Cause it is so awesome.

And, last but not least, this one is my very favorite new discovery!

Enjoy! While I'm off to catch a fish to cook for dinner.*

*That really is super funny because
1) I would never even touch a fish, never mind doing whatever is necessary to get it from the fishing pole to an edible form.
2) My uncle's RV is about as big as our old apartment and has a plasma tv in it. We will be in a tent, parked in its shade. But these people do not "rough it" by any means. Unless by "roughing it" you mean "only having one turkey deep-fryer for the whole group."

in which i procrastinate with a vengeance...

Tomorrow! I get to see my kiddies tomorrow!!! I am so, so, so excited. Its been 9 days. This longest I've ever been away from them. I keep going through my cell phone messages, smiling at the pictures my family sends me while they are watching them. Especially my brother. Who sent me pictures like Ellie eating ranch dressing with a fork and Gracie sticking her tongue out. 'Cause he's that kind of uncle.

I keep imagining that first cry of "Mommy!" followed by lots of little-armed hugs and juicy kisses. I can't wait. Then we get to all pile in the tent and cuddle together all night. (I'm fairly sure that will wear off quickly as we remember how annoying it is to sleep with our kids.) I can barely think of anything else! Yipee!

Husband and I were super excited to have a date night tonight in the midst of all this traveling, but once again, its not working out. Too much packing, working late, laundry, lawn mowing, etc on the to-do list. Oh well. Instead of being romantical, we'll just enjoy doing all these chores without the additional annoyance responsibility of having children underfoot. We're hoping to be able to sneak in a midnight showing of Pirates, but we're not counting on it. Then I could drive my sister crazy all weekend because I'll have seen it before her. That would be fun.**

I will not be able to blog in Vermont, since apparently cell phones and other technological advances do not work there. Not to say anything bad about Vermont, which has beautiful scenery and is the home of my good friends, Ben & Jerry. I lived in New Hampshire for about a year and I recall much foliage and some very nice people, not to mention the occasional traffic jam caused by a moose.

Its too bad they'll be no blogging though, since I'm sure that some entertaining stories will develop out in the middle of nowhere with us, our kids, my 20 cousins, 4 generations of various family members*, several dogs, lots of beer drinking and meat-eating, and my brother's poor, innocent, vegetarian girlfriend. Brave, brave girl. I hope she's not scared away, cause we all like her.

*Including an aunt who has not camped in 25 years, but is coming to see us. No pressure.
** update: definitely no movie tonight. Alas, it is almost 11pm and we are still packing. What we are packing and why has been long forgotten. If we had the kids here, we'd probably finish packing sometime Monday afternoon, at which time we'd have to turn around and unpack.

i'm back, ya'll!!!

So fun. SO. Fun.

We had a fantastic time. Got very, very tan. Ate lots of very, very good food. Drank many, many frozen tequila yummies.  Stayed up way, way too late. Laughed to the point of tears too many times to count.

I'll write a proper update later, when I don't have a gazillion things to do. Tomorrow morning we're driving up to Vermont to go camping with the extended family. Oh - and I'll get my kids there. I can't wait. I missed them so, so much. I haven't talked to them since Monday, when I called and  said, "Hi, Gracie-Girl! " and she burst into sobs of "Mama, Mama! I want my mama!" Arugh. I need my kids!

******
So today I am unpacking, shopping, laundering and repacking so we can get camping this weekend in Vermont. Sadly, not the part of Vermont that has the Ben and Jerry's factory.  Although, to mix things up, I will probably pack very different clothes since "Week-at-the-beach-with-girlfriends" clothes are generally not "Camping-with-your-grandparents" clothes. Unless you are my step-mom who, like a true Southern Lady, emerges from her RV with fully made-up, right down to the red lipstick. We also need to decide on our health benefits for next year, since Husband needs to sign up tomorrow. Whoops. Why is that so stressful, anyway?
We also need to pack well, since I will be dropping Husband off at the airport in Jersey on Monday so he can fly to Switzerland on a last minute trip. We are all about family togetherness in our house this month, apparently. Oh well.
******
I went on my Bloglines and discovered that I had around 500 unread blog entries. Then I said, "Self, this is probably not a good way to spend your time today."  Especially since most of them were about American Idol anyway. So I deleted them all, except for the ones of the people I am related to. And good thing. My sister-in-law not only dyed her hair blonde, but she got a tattoo while I was gone. Clearly she was acting out at my being away. Clearly bad things can happen when I stop blogging.* Go bug her with comments so that she'll post a picture.

*Just kidding, Fancythis! I think its cool you got a tattoo! I almost got one but I chickened out after watching my friend get hers! We went to get them together and I made her go first and then I chickened out! Can you believe it?? Aren't I a great friend? (To defend myself, my friend was getting her third tattoo, so I'm not a huge slimeball. Just a little one.)

can you hear that?

It's called "quiet."

My kids are in a whole 'nother state, ya'll. What to do? I mean, besides taking a shower (which I am embarrassed to say has not happened since Saturday. I'm grossing myself out.) And see how many clothes and pairs of shoes I can fit into my suitcase. (Is 3 bathing suits too much for a week-long trip?)

And have you seen this? hee hee. Can't wait!!

and..... they're off!

I'm off to drive the girls halfway to Ohio, meeting brave, brave Grandma who will be watching them for the next ten days. Its a sad, sad thing to admit, but I am really looking to driving three and a half hours in a car. By myself. All by myself. With no one begging me for a snack or asking me the same question over and over and over and over*...

Godspeed, Grandma. Godspeed.

*Example of a car ride with Grace: "Mama, who car is that? What his name is?" "I don't know Gracie." "Who car is that one? What her name is? What about that one? Who is that one? Mom? Mom? Mommommommommommommom?"