travel

Thank you for your prayers for my MIL. We looked at it every which way, prayed about it, and then I found an amazing deal for airfare and a rental car. We're going as a family and everyone is glad that we found a way. The airfare and rental car will cost about the same as gas, lodging and food would have cost us to drive -- PLUS, we can spend more time visiting and much less time traveling. Since DH has no paid vacation, and things have been so dicey lately financially, we're grateful that this means we can also cut down on the number of days he will have to miss work.

I don't know my MIL very well, but her serious illness has hit me hard. She's 64 years old, and it has upset me greatly thinking that L will be 24 years old when I'm 64! Obviously, I knew the math -- but it has scared me this week thinking I may leave her without a mother that young. (And, of course, my boys as well. C & N will just be in their 30's.)

There's a few things I can do. Watch my health and take care of myself, obviously. Figure out a way to earn some money to ensure we're able to care for ourselves as we get older -- just surviving is too stressful, and the cost of medical care is only increasing. Work on creating some sort of written legacy for my family -- I want them to know who I am and what I believe in. I don't want that to get lost and I'm terrified that it might.

DH's mom was told 3-6 months, and wasn't told the doctor's revised estimate of 2 weeks - 2 months. She has nothing to leave but her stories, and she's trying to tell them now. I am glad we're able to see her soon, and I'm glad my boys will hear some of her stories for themselves.

MIL

My MIL was diagnosed with liver & bone cancer earlier this week. She beat breast cancer twice before, but the recent information DH got was that the doctors were giving her between 2 weeks and 2 months. I don't know any of the details, I just know that it looks grim.

We're trying to figure out a way to travel to North Carolina. She has never met our children, and that's weighing heavily on DH's heart. The last time he saw her was at our wedding, so it's been a long time. On one hand, we feel that it's extremely important that DH gets there quickly -- but he wants us all to visit her. The biggest complication is cost; but we can always earn more money.

Please pray for her. And for my DH. I imagine it's going to be rough the next few months.

staying connected

There is an absolutely lovely carnival up at "Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering" about staying connected to our spouses. The hostess did a fabulous job of weaving all the posts together, and the posts themselves are inspirational. Check it out!

More About Me Meme

Alexa tagged me for this meme. I've been avoiding writing about things that are going on around here right now, so I was glad for an easy blog entry!


1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago: I had been married for about 7 months and was working in our heating/cooling business full-time. I was taking fertility meds in hopes of conceiving a child. I was living in Milwaukee, WI and probably looking forward to warmer spring temperatures.

Five things on my To Do List today: (not in any particular order)
1 -- 2 loads of laundry 2 -- Helping the boys complete today's schooling 3 -- Find the symphony tickets for tomorrow! 4 -- Fill a box with books for sale / donation 5 -- Create a Shutterfly photo book for MIL

Snacks I enjoy: Chocolate, roasted edamame, jellybeans, pretzels, cheese, popsicles

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Add about 1000 square feet to our home (a 3rd bathroom, a library/music room, a family room and an office), hire weekly cleaning help, hire a part-time nanny to have an extra pair of hands, pay off all debts, TRAVEL, fund college funds for the kids, invest a big chunk, donate a good chunk to charity, did I mention travel?

Three of my bad habits: 1 -- worrying 2 -- procrastination 3 -- eating mindlessly

Five places I have lived: I've lived many more places than 5, but here are a random 5: 1 -- Buffalo, NY 2 -- Humble, TX 3 -- Broken Arrow, OK 4 -- Metairie, LA 5 -- Mesa, AZ

Five jobs I have had: 1 -- library page 2 -- software instructor 3 -- computer consulting company owner 4 -- partner in hvac company 5 -- temp service employment coordinator

Five people I want to know more about (a nice way of saying TAG!): Any of my readers! If you decide to do this meme, please comment below! thanks ;)

Easter Pictures

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! We had lots of fun, and many pictures can be seen over at my picture blog.

L's island dress

DH brought this sweet yellow dress back for L from the Virgin Islands. It's a perfect fit and so sweet!

recycling easter eggs

We have a tradition of Easter morning easter egg hunts in our backyard. We're fortunate that we live in a climate that makes outside hunts possible this time of year, and we have a beautiful yard to hide eggs!

I fill plastic eggs with stickers, coins, small candies and sometimes small toys. DH & I go out late the night before and toss eggs all over the yard! Last year, I think we hid about 40 eggs.

Every year, after Easter, I gather the eggs into a paper bag and put it in my closet. The following Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent), I put the paper bag out on the back porch so the Easter Bunny can pick it up and re-use our eggs. Since we have some special eggs (sports balls for instance), I knew the boys would appreciate seeing them year after year. Also, we do our best to re-use and recycle in our home.

It has become a tradition over the years to do this, and the boys have been wondering throughout Lent whether or not the Easter Bunny is done filling "their" eggs yet.

This year, they'll find the familiar eggs, plus a dozen camouflage eggs their Aunt Bunny picked up. (yes, we call her Aunt Bunny. It started as a family joke when I was pregnant with C and it became her beloved nickname.) While L won't be running behind them THIS year, she'll be crawling and trying to catch up! I suppose next year we'll have to add some girly eggs to our stash for our toddler!

It is nice that we don't have to buy plastic eggs every year. Those that get broken are thrown away, but the ones in good shape are used year after year.

milestones

Last Wednesday, C lost his other front tooth while at his enrichment program. It has left him with a delightful gap-toothed smile.

Around the same time, L sprouted her 6th tooth -- giving her 4 across the top.

L's favorite game of the moment is peek-a-boo and she will spend countless minutes covering her head with whatever is nearby in hopes someone will squeal "peek-a-boo!!" Thankfully, her brothers are still enamored of her, so they comply quite regularly.

She showed me today that she knows how to climb when she climbed the stepstool someone had left in front of the pantry. Not 10 minutes later, she escaped out the back door and was crawling over the rocks to find the boys. I think she may be a little monkey.

She prefers sleepers without feet, mainly because she likes to hold onto her toes while she's nursing down at night. Footed sleepers frustrate that desire. Unfortunately, I bought a pack of 3 on clearance and can't find any more.

N is blossoming academically. He recently started a 1st grade math book and a 1st grade spelling book. He is clearly ready for both. His handwriting has gotten much better and he's willing to write in lowercase. His reading is getting better each day and he is able to get through early readers with very little assistance. He also complains MUCH less than a few months ago about doing schoolwork.

geocaching

We like Sundays to be a dedicated family day. After church, we try to have some sort of outing -- and prefer that it is free or as close to free as possible! One thing that we have started again is geocaching. Geocaching is a great family activity and once you have a GPS, there really aren't many more costs associated with it.

All over the country, there are hidden treasures. The coordinates are registered at websites like www.geocaching.com. All you have to do is search for a cache near where you'll be, write down (or print out) the coordinates and any tips, and start your search! Some are as tiny as a film canister, others are as big as a 5 gallon canister.

This past Sunday, we searched for 3 different geocaches all within 5 miles of our home. I am sorry that I forgot the camera, as we saw some beautiful scenery along the way. It was also pretty cute watching Lydia bounce along on her dad's side as we hiked through the desert. DH usually navigates us close to the spot, and I am the one to find the hidden caches.

On Sunday, we found 2 of the 3 caches. Although, we probably shouldn't even count #3 since we didn't get within .5 mile because it was a pretty steep climb. I tend to prefer kid-friendly caches, and thankfully there are plenty!

We recently emptied a peanut butter jar, and I washed it out so we can create our own cache to hide. Often, there are small trinkets that can be traded for, plus a log for people to record their findings. We have a handful of small plastic dinosaurs that we'll start ours with and I need to look for a small notebook (which I'm sure I can find in the house already!) Then, we need to paint the jar for camouflage and decide where to hide it. It'll be fun watching to see who finds it.

Diaper Savings

Huggies are a great deal right now at Amazon! You can get a big box, plus sign up for their "subscriber" service and save another 20%! That drops the per diaper price down to just over 21 cents a diaper for the Size 3 diapers.

This is the best deal I could currently find -- especially since there is no shipping charge! I was happy to get diapers for 23 cents each locally, but it's even better to save more and have them delivered to my door.

The 20% savings is only good until the end of the month. After that, their regular savings kicks in again for 15% off regular prices when you sign up for their subscriber services. I haven't done it yet, but I understand it's super simple to adjust, change or cancel once you sign up for that service.