They survived

The kidlings and the hubby survived.

Survived?

Yes. Survived having me away for about 5 days.

There was a conference that my boss wanted our entire team to attend. So I flew out on a Sunday and returned late on Thursday. I didn't see the kidlings until Friday afternoon!

But it was a good break for us all.

I think the Hubs understand my hectic weekday mornings. Getting up quickly and getting the kids ready. No leisurely bowl of cereal. No catching up on the news. Just get up and go. Go. GO! Then trying to cram an entire day's worth of work into 6 hours. And then picking them up and getting dinner ready.

The Hubs didn't do it all on his own. My MIL drove down on Wednesday to pitch in. She had the Bear at home on Thursday.

But I must tell you that I had a BLAST being gone. Of course, I packed WAY too much. I brought work and casual outfits. I only really had time to wear my work outfits.

I was able to meet 95% of my co-workers. The one guy didn't fly in because his wife just had a baby two weeks ago. The rest of the team? Totally fun.

There are 8 guys and 2 ladies that work at the main office. Then there's me, the guy who hired me, and 2 new ladies here. Then we've got a couple more guys and one more lady in other cities. I'll give you more details on these folks later on.

They had us booked into a little boutique hotel. And it was so nice! I had a room and a bed ALL TO MYSELF! And a shower with HOT water. Ahhh....

I only took a taxi we drove in from the airport and when I went back to the airport. The rest of the time we walked. And I lugged my laptop with me each day.

We had some awesome food. And I drank a little. Totally got tipsy on Monday night.

But the airline sucked. No more America's Worst for me. Now that they've merged with that other airline it totally sucks. The planes felt old. I didn't feel the safest. And the seats were all cramped up! Yuck!

I've tossed out a lot of stuff in this entry. I'll get into more detail this week.

AND....this week I'll be seeing my family. The BIG WEEKEND is upon us! This weekend my sister is getting married! So I'm sure I'll be writing a lot more than I have been the last couple months. YAH!

Rude kids....

Today we went to a neighborhood girl's (Allie) birthday party.

They had it at their house. Not the park. Not at some kiddo fun place. So the Princess and I walked across the street around 1:20pm. The party started at 1pm, but it was going to run until 4pm so we weren't too late.

We walk in there to find the kids running around. Like maniacs.

The kids at the party were in the full-day kindergarten class with Allie. And they were all type A personalities. Me. Mine. Alpha types. The kind of kids my daughter tends to shy away from. So she chose to hang out with me for about an hour.

But I digress....

What was irritating for me was to walk into my friends' home to hear

"You have the most boring-est party ever!"

This was a little girl who said this to the birthday girl.

Now how RUDE is that? The party started at 1pm. And it was only about 1:25pm!

I couldn't and still can't get my brain around it. That the girl was so mean about it. CRAZY!

Now what's the oddest or most rude thing you've heard at a birthday party?

Glorious!

This weekend was freaking BEAUTIFUL!

Amazingly lovely.

The sun was shining.

Not a cloud in the sky.

About 85 degrees.

EIGHTY FIVE degrees!

The Princess and I actually got a little sun burned on our shoulders after a few hours out.

Yes.

SUNBURNED!

I will fill you in more on what we did later on....

Needless to say....summer is fast approaching here in Arizona!

More in tune than I thought?

I signed up the PRincess for karate at school. There's a Dad who gives the kids lessons as an afterschool program. The Princess showed some interest in it so I decided that she could do the last session for the school year. If she enjoys it then I'll sign her up from the beginning of the next school year.

The kids stay an hour later than normal when they have lessons -- 2 days a week.

The first day of this latest session, I walked into the school to pick the Princess up.

I walked past her regular class and caught a glimpse of her. I stopped. She looked up. And ran up to me.

I wrapped my arms around her and wiggled her around as I hugged her.

Me: "Now go over and finish that puzzle that you were doing honey. Okay?"

Princess: "Okay."

She snuck in a quick kiss before she skipped back to the table.

Her teacher came up to me.

Teacher: "It's always SO nice to see the two of you together."

Me: "Oh yeah?"

Teacher: "Yes. I can really tell that the two of you really care about each other."

I looked at her and confessed...

Me: "Oh...we have our moments!"

Teacher: "Yes. I'm sure all parents do. But both of you look at each other in this way that some other parents and kids don't"

Me: "Really?"

Teacher: "That's what makes it nice to see you and the Princess..."

Me: "Well, thank you."

Am I more connected to my daughter than I think? I don't think I'm as close to the Princess than my sister is to her THREE kids. Now my sister's kids? FABULOUS! Bright! And they all adore my sister and my brother-in-law.

But it was really nice to hear a compliment from someone. Especially a teacher...

And food for all...

I can't believe it!

My son's daycare just hired a full-time cook.

A cook? At a daycare?

That's right!

The reason is that the daycare got a state-funded grant to provide food to the kids. For FREE!

Starting May 1, all the kidlings will be allowed to get breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, and an afternoon snack.

So I'll only have to fix one lunchbox per day.

One less hassle in the morning.

But what'll be the best about the food program at the daycare is that they will be serving a variety of food. And hopefully the Bear will eat the different foods solely due to peer pressure.

If that kid is eating it then it can't be that bad...

I can't believe she said that....

Did anyone catch OPRAH today?

It's a show on how girls/women get an image to dumb themselves up because that's how all the "popular" girls are.

I have a tremendous issue with something Oprah said.

"You can't NOT see videos..."

There is a way. You avoid THOSE channels.

That's what I do. I never have the television on any of those kind of stations when the kids watch television. They do NOT need to see "bling-bling" and girls shaking their skantily clad bodies up against men. I don't find that to be entertaining. Or acceptable. So I don't want my children to see that kind of behavior.

My kids have enough time to check out the world. They have enough time to grow up. Right now? I would rather them watch Animal Kingdom. Yes. That's right. I'd rather them watch the lion pride eat up a water buffalo than watch those crazy music videos. At least the lions are real. Those videos? Those aren't.

T minus one month and counting....

My younger sister gets married in about a month.

A MONTH!

They had their family wedding shower two weekends ago. And I went with the Princess.

I don't know when my sister's fiancee is having his bachelor's party.

There's just so little time now.

I have my bridesmaid dress. I need to get some undercloths though. You know....slimming pieces of undergarments. Things that'll hide the bumps where no bumps should be. To hide the flaws of a Mommy of two body. AND I need a good push up bra! Gotta get me down to Victoria's Secret!

I've got to bring the PRincess to get her flower girl dress altered. The lenght fits...it's just the circumference that is WAY too big on her.

We got the Bear measured for his little tux.

I made reservations at the hotel where the reception is being held. After the wedding ceremony, there will be a couple hours before the reception starts. YOu know...time for photos and what not. We're going to also use that time to check into the hotel and freshen up. AND to crash heavily when the party is over. Also, we can put the kidlings and my hubby to bed while I continue to party on with my side of the family.

I still don't know what my parents are going to do after my sister gets married though. Haven't heard any REAL plans.

Sleeping like a big boy!

My little guy is sleeping in his BIG BOY bed like a champ.

Who can blame him? It's a FULL size bed!

He now has space to roll and stretch out.

Thankfully, he stays IN the bed until we come and get him. He lays there. Chats with his stuffed animals.

But if he's hungry? He'll moan and let out little cries to alert us that he's awake.

We now do NOT turn on the monitor at night. IF he is distressed enough we'll hear him.

But I'm just happy he's sleeping. And he's got space to sleep. There's even space for ME to lay in there with him if I needed to....

And since I'm talking about sleep....

I still haven't been getting enough. I've worked every day for the last three weeks (except for the 1 1/2 days that I visited my family). EVERY DAY!

And it's so much easier getting work done while the hubs and the kids are gone for the day. OR are asleep. That's right. I've been working way past the time everyone else is asleep.

Not hard to do when the kidlings are in bed by 7:45pm.

But way later than the hubs?

Let's take the fiasco of last night. I was online working. I hadn't check my email for a bit. Around 7pm I logged into email. The guys who work for me and come in on Sunday to do work? Went home sick. And didn't finish the work they were supposed to. Work that we NEED first thing Monday morning. The solution? I HAD TO DO IT.

About 9:30pm, the Hubs told me he was going to bed. I told him I'd be another hour.

Didn't happen.

Four hours later I slid under the covers. Did you catch that? At 1:30am, I finally made it into bed. And I still had to wake at 6am with the kidlings.

But I'll try hard to get caught up with all our projects. Only so I can get some more sleep....