On the road again...

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

--Willie Nelson

Like the song says, we're headed out onto the open road again. Same destination as the last two weekends, but this time both the kids and I will be staying five full days! I'm taking them out of school for three days next week. I've never done that before so I just hope the homework overload isn't too great.

{The Very Trusty, Yet Very Dirty, Saturn}

We'll be back sometime on Wednesday evening. Hopefully I remember this time to take at least one picture every day for our 365 blog.

For the first few nights we'll be using a friends apartment who is not home. This is great! I'm glad we'll have some place where the kids can just chill and be themselves. Then on Sunday night -- I'm not sure where we'll be. I guess we'll figure that out as we go along. We have lots of visiting with family to do. We're going bowling at least one night. And we'll be spending time with my special someone before he heads off to Korea.

It's going to be an excellent weekend. I hope I've taken so many pictures that I run out of space on my SD card in my camera.

Off and Running

In about 2.5 hours this mommy is hitting the road. Just like last weekend I'm once again headed north. For both good and bad. This time without hooligans or fancy hotel suites. Just me and the trusty Saturn. And lots of good, loud music.

On Tuesday my brother called me crying. My brother isn't a crier. He has to be extremely upset to cry. Or extremely happy like when he got married. So, he called me and I could barely understand a word he was saying. Immediately I sort of resorted to freak out mode because I thought maybe something had happened to my sister-in-law, niece, nephew, or any combination of the three. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. I could not have handled that. But the news was sad. And tragic. A friend of his committed suicide. A kid I remember. One that I frequently harassed and picked on given he and my brother were 3 years younger than me. A really good kid. And he's' gone now at his own hand and the whole tale is just awful. The loss is great. And even though I probably haven't seen him in a good 15 years, I want to go and say good-bye. And maybe the outpouring of support from people will make his family feel this burden just a little less for a few moments. The wake and funeral are later in the day on Friday.

On Friday morning I'll be spending a few hours at the hospital with my cousin. Poor girl has been through hell and back in recent years with medical issues and even donated one of her kidneys to her brother about 2 years ago. Apparently there is something wrong, but doctors haven't figured out what and they've scheduled an MRI. So, I'll be lending a supporting shoulder for the appointment.

The rest of the weekend. I'll be spending with my special someone. We have very little time left before the Army takes him away again. This time for at least 6 months. But, I won't think about that now. It's just going to be fantastic to get this time with him alone before he has to go.

The kids are staying with Daddy. Of course. I'm sure they'll have an excellent weekend chilling at home. And on Sunday they'll get to play with some friends too. And when they wake up Monday morning -- Mommy will have returned and all will be right in their worlds yet again. It's good to be loved. And missed.

A Traveling We Will Go

Caleb, Lorelei and I that is.

Tomorrow evening, sometime late, we'll head off to visit family, help my cousin move and just have a rocking good time.

I had originally intended to leave on Friday mid-morning. Allowing me to avoid terrible traffic here during rush hour, but decided this afternoon that leaving in the evening, right before bedtime, is a better bet. The kids should hopefully fall asleep within an hour of our getting on the road. This means blissful quiet and the radio. Love it!

I am a tad disappointed that I'm not able to use my Zune in the car. Which was most of the intent for my wanting one. There is something wrong with the auxiliary input. PITA! Not something I'm willing to fix on a car like I have. Even at the expense of my favorite tunes.

The kids are excited that they'll get to see Grammy. Of course. What kid isn't excited for a grandma visit? And I know they'll be uber-excited when they realize we are also staying in a hotel. With a pool probably. And hopefully they'll behave while I help my cousin and her daughter move to their new apartment on Sunday. Which is just an awesome move for them and I'm so very excited for her!

I have no idea what the entire weekend will hold, but it is going to be a lot of fun. And I'm sure I'll have some pictures and a few interesting tidbits upon our return.

For now -- I really need to clean out my car. Wash laundry. Find various odds and ends. Get together all the Christmas presents. And try not to lose my mind. Mission -- Impossible.

Choices

There are always choices in life. Some things are so natural, they don't even seem like choices. Like, deciding to make yourself something to eat. Or deciding to put gas in the car. Inconsequential -- but a choice regardless.

We all have hard choices to make in life too. Getting married. Having kids. Where to go to college. Which career path we'd like to take. Those are choices we take seriously. Choices we make much more consciously.

As a young adult, I made the choice to stop communicating with my "father" and his side of the family. I have no contact with my youngest brother. Or my grandparents. As such, this means they have no contact with me, or with my children.

It was not a hard choice. I very much dislike that side of my family. I dislike the politics of being involved with that side of the family. I dislike the attitudes. I dislike the general belief they have that what they want is always right and everyone else should obey. I dislike being told who is or is not important.

And so I made the choice to disassociate myself. And by making that choice, I also made that choice for my children. I have never regretted it.

I don't feel they are missing out on having a grandpa. Because honestly, I don't miss anything about him as a father. I don't feel they are missing out on cousins, aunts, uncles or great-grandparents. I've chosen to surround my children only with people who I feel will benefit them and love them unconditionally. That side of the family would have imposed restrictions and rules. And so, in my opinion, they are better off this way.

That choice though, as much as it doesn't have an impact on the children at this point in time, does impact other members of my immediate family. Mostly my brother.

He is bothered relentlessly for information on me. Where do I live? What am I doing? Am I married? What are my childrens names/birthdates/ages/eye colors? Do you have pictures? What's her email? Her address? And it goes on and on. Letters have been passed on to my mom. I've never seen one though. She politely throws them away for me each and every time at my request. {My parents have been divorced, thankfully, since about 1987.}

He's attempted to contact me on social networks. Yes, MySpace, even. I've blocked him. And most recently, he joined Facebook. Which led to him friending my brother's wife, who I love to bits. And of course, my brother. And, so I deleted them from my own friend's lists and blocked him. My sister-in-law, she didn't like this. So, she deleted him. Because she'd rather talk to me. And I'm sure this will cause issues. And I'm sure she'll endure, or my brother will endure, nagging and relentless harrassment for making this decision. And I hate that.

I could open up a line of communication. But, I don't want to. I don't feel the need to change the status of our relationship. I don't feel any longing to become reaquainted with the people I left behind almost 10 years ago. I have no desire to be part of that family again.

But, I feel bad that my choice can affect others so negatively. Because honestly, I wish it didn't. And I hope someday, that he'll let it go. Because honestly, I'm so sick of it all.

Earmarked

Today was a day that I earmarked to get some things done. Like cleaning bathrooms, dusting the downstairs public areas {which is the entire downstairs}, getting all the laundry washed/dried/folded/put away, vacuuming, sweeping -- basically I planned to clean all day.

But, I'm not. I'm here updating our blogs.
The kids are sitting quietly on the couch watching Iron Man.
George just ordered a very late lunch, or very early dinner, from Pizza Hut for us all.

None of us is feeling very active. None of us is feeling rushed or pressed to do something. None of us is doing anything even remotely important on this cold, chilly Sunday in February.

I guess that's not so bad.

But, tomorrow, I'll pay for my laziness today. And that's not much fun.

Though maybe tomorrow, while the kids are off of school for President's Day they'll feel inclined to help mommy around the house. Okay, right, seriously doubt it. But stranger things have happened.

On a better note, I'm taking the kids to visit my side of the family in two weeks! We haven't seen anyone since New Year's and I know my mom is very excited that she'll get to see them. My cousin is moving and could use a little help so I offered to come up. And because I'll also be in that area this coming weekend without the kids {leaving them to daddy for a few days} I agreed I'd take them along.

This means, everyone will FINALLY get their Christmas presents from us! Boy, will I be glad to get those out of the house! {Along with that pesky tree that is still standing tall and proud in the dining room!}

A Late Happy New Year

The kids and I finally got home yesterday after a whirlwind trip around the grand state of Wisconsin to visit friends and relatives. My cousin J just got back from a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq and came to spend his birthday and the New Year with us. Lorelei was his little shadow!

If you don't know our family - we stick our tongues out a lot in pictures. :)

Vacation is getting B-O-R-I-N-G!

I'm pretty sure the kids are getting sick of their vacation from school. Not because they want to go to school necessarily - but because we have no routine when they aren't in school. There isn't anything concrete to take up all those hours in a day when they'd normally be at school learning and spending time with other kids of the same age.
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This week will be crazy.

Somehow, I'd like to go and visit my family. Then I'd like to visit my very good friend and her family for an overnight and have a friend from home come over with her kids later this week. I'm not sure how to accomplish that all in four days time without driving myself completely batty. The visit to my family is a four hour trip. Visit to friend is at least two hours from my family. Trip home from friend is roughly another four hours. Any suggestions?
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We took a family trip to IKEA this afternoon.

Mostly, we were looking for a storage solution for Lorelei's toys. She ended up just getting a purple bin with everything shoved into it. So, we found something we liked and ended up getting it for both kids because quite honestly -- we weren't satisfied with how things were working out in Caleb's room either.

We're also going to be getting the kids some new bedding. Something they can grow into. To get started we got Lorelei some cute pillows to go along the back of her daybed -- though we now realize we need one more. We're hoping to find a bedding set that will go with these because they are super cute. I'm not sure yet what route we'll take with Caleb's age.

It's hard having two kids with opinions. They both tend to want to keep what's familiar even if realistically it's something they've outgrown.

Our Christmas in Pictures

Puppy? Who Has the Puppy?

Well, it's not us yet. But, well, we're going to go and take a peek at some adorable pups today. Not sure what Duke will think of any addition that we bring home, but we're certainly hoping it's a positive one. Stand by for potential pictures.

The kids are excited. They want to name the new pup either Steve or Tramp. ;) We're still debating.

Our Sleepover

Caleb and Lorelei loved having Cousin A sleep over last night!

Lorelei and I picked her up around 2:30 and we got back to our house a little before 4PM. The kids played for awhile and then we loaded them up and took them over to the closest Chuck-E-Cheese. They had a total blast playing games and going through the "gerbil run". We had a 1/2 cheese pizza and a 1/2 sausage pizza, plus Daddy ordered an apple dessert pizza. Being that there were all those games calling to them, it wasn't suprising that they didn't eat very much.

We got free tickets from Chuck-E-Cheese. Mom played a ton of skee-ball. Dad and Caleb enjoyed some shooting games. Lorelei and Cousin A had a blast going through the "gerbil run" and playing all the younger kid games.

We finally left at a little before 8. The second we got in the car both girls were asking for a snack. (Yeah, we had to take two cars unfortunately cause we can't fit three seats in either of ours.) So, when we got home a little after 8 the girls had Go-Gurts and Caleb opted for some string cheese. Daddy and I straightened up the bedrooms, found them pajamas and got Cousin A's mattress set up.

By 9PM we had them in bed and they were probably asleep by about 9:30. Everyone slept good and they had me up about 8:30 this morning begging and pleading for some breakfest.

I brought Cousin A home tonight on my way out of town; which worked out really well. Caleb and Lorelei must have worn her out because she was asleep not long into our drive.

All in all -- fun weekend. We'll definitely have Cousin A over for another sleep over as soon as it's possible to coordinate schedules.

Monday, Monday

It's the last Monday of November! We had a busy weekend, hence the short little list posts.

On Saturday we hung out at home until it was time to go and see George's sister perform as the lead in her high school production of Grease.


The play was really well done and by the time it was over Lorelei was pretty much asleep on my shoulder. <3

Sunday we hung out at home and finished our Christmas tree. It looks really nice now that all the ornaments are hung carefully in just the right place. We each got one new ornament this year and someday when the kids have homes of their own we'll give them "their" ornaments to decorate their own trees. Lorelei got a pretty ballerina with a feathery tu-tu and Caleb got a little "man" made of baseballs. And, for the first time ever, we've put lights out in the yard to decorate for the holidays! This will be only our second Christmas in the house since we bought it five years ago.

Today was a regular old school day. We did wake up however to a light snow which put me in a panic because neither of the kids had boots. No boots, no recess. So, I dropped the kids off at school and then George and I went over to Target and picked them up the size we assumed would fit based on the shoes they currently wear. Apparently, that was a good guess and they are both pleased with their new boots. The snow melted though, so they were entirely unnecessary -- this time.

While we were at Target, we saw this:
It's a Crock Pot Buffet Cooker. If we had anywhere to store one, I probably would have picked it up. The crock's themselves are only 2.5 quarts, but there are THREE of them. It's a crock potters dream!

I've got my crock pot going tonight with some faux BBQ Chicken. Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

Ingredients:

1 20oz bottle of Diet Coke
2 cups of ketchup
2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast

Directions:

Mix together the Diet Coke and ketchup. Pour over chicken. Heat on high for 5 hours. Shred chicken before serving. You can put this with mashed potatoes and a vegetable, or put on buns for something less formal. Totally delish!

Bears vs. Packers or Packers vs. Bears

It's that day in the football season where Sunday means the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers play each other.

Mom grew up in Titletown/the Frozen Tundra and Dad grew up in Bear country.

When Caleb was a baby my family used to joke that they were going to get us nursery gear all in green and gold. When Lorelei was a baby is was a Packer's cheerleader outfit. Both threats were mostly empty, but dad said, "Over my dead body. I'll just throw it away." Which always got peels of laughter. If we happen to be with my family during a game a lot of good natured ribbing takes place.

If you ask Caleb which team is his favorite, he's already figured out how to reply without being offensive to the Green Bay or Chicago side, "I like the Packers (or Bears), but I also like the Bears (or Packers). They are both my favorite." Smart boy.

Thankfully, when it comes to baseball, our families agree...Go Cubbies!

Monoday...Already?

Yep. Calendar confirmed it. It's definitely Monday.

I woke up late this morning with a pounding headache. The kids' were already down in the living room. Caled having figured out how to work the television and it's computer so that they could watch a movie. Seriously folks, I haven't even figured that out yet. Ah, to be 7 and a genius!

I realized that the fish and frogs didn't get any food before we left on Saturday morning. I felt awful! They were all ready to pounce when they felt the lid open over the tank yesterday after we got home. I gave them some extra. Then George fed them after that too. They were still hungry when I finally went to bed!

No school today and tomorrow for conferences. It's kind of nice to have the four day weekend and not have to get right back in the grind after being on the go all weekend long. Not to mention the weather is gorgeous. If I could get Caleb convinced we'd already be at the park playing and enjoying! November 3rd and 73 degrees; how often is that likely to happen? I'm hoping I'll convince them soon so I can take out George's fancy camera and get some cute shots of them. i have a feeling this could very well be the absolute last nice day we get until about the end of April!

None of my pictures from the weekend really turned out, so I've got nothing for you. I think George may have taken a few, but when I downloaded mine off my phone they were blurry, out of focus and just crap. I was disappointed, but I wasn't in full sunlight and it is just a camera phone.

Speaking of George, he completely spoiled me yesterday!

Caleb's conference is tonight at 6:45 and Lorelei's is bright and early tomorrow morning at 8.

Happy Birthday Uncle J!

So, we drove up to Green Bay this weekend to share in the festivities for my brothers' 26th birthday. It was by no means a huge celebration, just immediate family, over at his house to help him ring in another year. We had a wonderful time and his wife bakes awesome cakes! It was seriously yummy, even if I only did eat a small piece of it.

I had no idea what to get him for his birthday before we got up there and the only idea I'd had was a gas card. That seemed pretty lame to me as the entire gift. When we went over to the gas station I started looking for something funny to go with it as a joke. And then, much to my delight I found a bright pink 1970's Charger Matchbox (or maybe not Matchbox) car. And it was totally overpriced because it was for sale in a gas station, but I had to get it. I taped the gift card to the back of it and wrapped it in a big ole box. (I love my brother!) When he opened his card I had written, "So, it's probably not your color, but flip it over already!", and that thoroughly confused him until he actually got the present and flipped it over!

After the little party the whole family headed over to our hotel and went swimming. Minus me and my mom. I've been feeling under the weather with what's left of Caleb and Lorelei's little sicknesses last week and just did not want to swim. The kids all had a blast though! My niece and nephew are just too cute and they love being in the water as much as my two.

This morning we had were kind of leisurely about getting up and getting going. We had a yummy breakfest compliments of our hotel and then took a quick drive around so George could see what had changed around town since he had lived there about ten years ago. Caleb and Lorelei were asking if we were home yet long before we were ever even close and eventually we had to stop and let everyone out to stretch out the legs and wiggle out those crabbies.

It was a great weekend! Can't wait to get to go back and visit for Thanksgiving!