Thanksgiving in Florida

So back in October I mentioned something about being better about keeping things up to date.....That ship has sailed. At one point I thought this would get posted before Christmas, and then before the New Year, and now its February...I. Am. A. Slacker. No other words for it. There have been more than a few occasions I could have worked on this, but I didn't. I chose to be (a little) selfish and just...do nothing. That's right, I did nothing. I am furthering the belief of working moms everywhere that stay at home moms sit around and do nothing. Except that my "nothing" was to enjoy a relatively short break from cleaning, driving, emails, coaching, mothering, cooking, refereeing, disaster stopping, life of a crazy person. Yup, I took a whole hour out of a day here or there to just stop. I imagine that those of you that have "full-time" jobs do this too, don't tell me you never get on facebook during work for a break???? Not judging, just saying don't judge me for my slacker behavior. No matter what your circumstance, you deserve to be slackerish, aka selfish, every now and again.

Anyway, I'm clearly getting off track from what this was really supposed to be about - Thanksgiving. Well, Chris's parents have been spending winters in Florida for more than a few years now and have wanted us to visit. When we were in Michigan there was High School dive season that got in the way and then we moved and we had pregnancy/newborn reasons to decline. But not this year. This year we were settled (finally) in Cincinnati, there was no diving to interfere, the boys have most of Thanksgiving week off of school, and we have a minivan with DVD to keep the troops entertained.  So it seemed like the right time to finally make the trek down south for a visit. Sunday to Friday in Florida for Thanksgiving, we were all excited.

My brother used to live in Estero, between Naples and Fort Meyers, in Florida. Since moving back north, my brother sold his condo to my dad because he still loved traveling down there for visits. The condo is about 45 minutes from Sanibel Island where Chris's parents stay. My dad wasn't going to be using the condo over Thanksgiving so he was more than willing to let us stay there. It isn't very big, but with Chris's parents able to to take a kid (or two) most nights, it worked out great.

It is roughly a 15 hour drive from Cincinnati. This is a LONG drive, but with 4 kids, it seemed a whole lot easier than expensive flights over a busy holiday. Our first crazy long road trip (of many) for a family vacay. And we survived. I'm still not sure how, but we did.

We decided our best option was to leave a couple of hours before dinner, stop for a real dinner (no fast food) so we could get out and stretch and change into jammies, and then Chris and I switch on and off for an all night ride leaving Saturday afternoon and finishing Sunday morning. The kids watched movies, played games, and slept. Chris and I took turns driving, switching throughout the night to sleep. And we made it. Without killing anyone. A major accomplishment in my book.

The week was glorious. We had absolutely NO PLANS. Our only goal was to enjoy the warm weather, spend time with Pete and Ginger, and enjoy each others company. Mission accomplished. We spent our days at the pool, playing football outside, reading, lounging, and visiting with family - my Aunt Steph even made the trek down to visit for a few hours :) At one point we felt bad that we hadn't actually "done anything", but then we realized it had been far too long since we had had a break that it was A-Ok to be a little lazy for a change.

Pete and Ginger had Jake and Brenden stay with them for a couple of nights. And then it was Rylan's turn to have a couple of nights to herself with them. They got to spend time swimming, visiting the beach, go to the bookstore, check out the alligator by Pete and Ginger's house, eat yummy food, and so much more. I was so happy they could have a break from our family crazy time and that Pete and Ginger could truly get some quality grand kid time with each of them. With our lives constantly being crazy, its nice for them to get a break and have each of them be the center of attention. I wish I could give each of my kids that kind of time, but right now its just not possible. But its nice to be able to put them in the hands of others that love them as much as I do in order to get that kind of attention that they need and deserve.

We spent Thanksgiving at my dad's condo. I cooked the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. And Ginger brought a plethora of amazing veggie side dishes. It was all very yummy. It was a pretty relaxing day of playing football, watching football, and eating yummy food. A great end to our visit.

We decided we would leave Friday with our same plan for getting home as we had to get down to Florida. Chris and I thought it would be best to have nearly two full days to readjust before we had to head back to work and school on Monday.It was another brutal drive, because of the amount of time and most of it through the night, but by far the best decision. It was so nice to have the time on Saturday to recover and do nothing. Sunday we had Futsal games and diving practice to help us ease back into "real life" on Monday.

It was a great trip. And even though the long drive was tough, I'm sure we will try to do it again. Its a straight shot down there, I-75 the entire way, and we always have a free place to stay. And lord knows its nice to get out of this cold weather to visit the warmth and sunshine in the winter!

And here are a TON of pics, in no particular order:

My life is perfect...

My life is perfect....and isn't....but SOOOO is. I know that's probably terrible grammar. I was happy to get C's in my college required English classes so whatever. The point is, my life isn't all roses, but damned if it isn't perfect.

I haven't had a haircut in 6 months. I haven't slept a full night REGULARLY in 10 YEARS. I don't have a regular eating schedule, I eat when I can. I clean my kitchen 15 FREAKING TIMES A DAY. My kids scream at me, HOURLY. My husband travels. I have no family in town and have only lived here 2+ years so I don't have a lot of "help" when I need it. I'm tired ALL OF THE TIME.

All of the above are just a few of the arguments to why my life is perfect. I don't have millions of dollars, the perfect house, a nanny, chef, or whatever other luxury you could think of. What I have is a loving husband and 4 healthy kids. What I have is a family, an incredibly IMPERFECT family. And what could be more perfect than that?

My husband will debate me ANY CHANCE he gets. I have someone who loves me and WANTS to "argue" with me.

I have to CONSTANTLY be the teacher in my kids lives. I have 4 kids that need to be taught everything worth teaching and then some.

My almost 2 year old wants to do EVERYTHING himself. I have a 4th child to guide when I never thought I would.

My 4 year old shows me EVERYDAY what it means to be a "girl". I never thought I would have a girl to guide.

My 7 year old CANNOT sit still. I have son that makes me want to get up and play.

My 9 year old will argue with me to NO END. I now know what it was like to raise me.

My life is Perfect.

I have 5 amazing and incredibly unique individuals in my life. And not just in my life, but part of what makes me who and I am and leave me wanting to make my life and their lives better.

I spend most of my days feeling broken, discouraged, tired, a failure, etc. Most days its not pretty. But that doesn't mean my life is broken, discouraging, tiring, failing, etc. I have a wonderful family that makes me want to get up each day and try to do better.

Every time I feel discouraged, I want to do better.

Every time I feel tired, I want to do better.

Every time I feel like I just can't do it, I want to do better.

And so, my life is perfect.

My life is filled with people that make me want to want more, do more, be more. My life is filled with incredible people that I made and made me. My life is good, my life is perfect.

We've expanded the family!

No, I'm not pregnant. If I were pregnant, every person on this planet would have heard the cry "What the F$&#?" It would take an act of god, science, or some other insanity for that to happen.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I would gladly have more if not the issues of pregnancy, money, and my love of sleep. However, I am only currently willing to expand my family in one way: kittens. Yes, kittens, plural. I know a lot of people refer to dogs as members of the family, well for me its cats, too. The furry little buggers get me every time.

When we moved here two and a half years ago (has is really been that long????) we had two cats, Stoli and Mo. I got Stoli when I lived in Arizona in 2000. I moved him across country in my jeep with my other cat Ace when I moved back to Michigan. We got Mo in 2004 a few weeks after Ace was hit by a car and died - one of the saddest days of my life, but I digress. Stoli was my "killer" cat. He wasn't much into attention or being a "pet". He looked after his territory, which we were a part of, but it was really more about his world and we just happened to be in it. Mo was a playful, crazy, please-pet-me kind of cat. They balanced each other quite nicely.

The day after we moved (YES, ONE FREAKING DAY) Stoli ran away. He was 12 years old and clearly wanted no part of our lives anymore. We asked our new neighbors to keep an eye out, but no one ever saw him. It was sad, but he was the kind of cat you might expect such an abrupt exit and at least we still had Mo.

Mo, Big Fat Mo, was great. He let the kids poke and pull at him and was always up for a good belly rub. Well, last summer Big Fat Mo became I-Can-See-Every-Rib-In-His-Body Mo. In just a short time (a month or so) he was super skinny, lethargic, and barely eating. Poor guy was sick, real sick. And one day he just never came home. It was very sad, but it's also a natural part of life and we know in our hearts he found himself a peaceful spot to rest in peace after a good 9 year run.

So for the past year or so we've been talking about getting a new cat. It just never seemed liked the right time. It was winter, we were super busy, we would be gone a lot, etc. Until a few weeks ago, and then it was time. Time to bring some more craziness to our lives in the form of a cat.

I started to research places on the internet, shelters and such. In Michigan and Arizona I always went to the humane society, but they don't have that here. They have plenty of shelters, SPCA, and such, but from what I found I needed to schedule things or go to a pet store for their animals. So...I got the family together for an outing to Pet Co nearby that had shelter cats/kittens. They didn't have much, but they had an adorable grey and white kitten that we all loved. We filled out the paperwork and eagerly waited for the screening call that we would surely pass. Except that we didn't. Apparently any thought of letting a cat outdoors of a millisecond was too much for this shelter to bear...

We were bummed. I WAS BUMMED. How could we not be the perfect family? EVERYONE wanted this cat! We have 4 kids that NEVER agree on ANYTHING until this kitten. Well, it seems the universe had different plans. I was referred by a friend to the League of Animal Welfare. I LOVE THIS PLACE. They were so nice, the facility was clean, and they let my 4 year old and 20 month old "visit" (aka terrorize) the cats for as long as we needed to find our perfect pet.

Rylan was instantly drawn to a black and white cat in the older kitten room (12 weeks or so). We spent awhile with these kittens and after a bit I began getting attached to an orange tabby, I loved him. As cute as these guys were, I wanted to make sure that Rylan saw all of the cats they had so we bounced around to the tiny kitten room (6-8 weeks) and the young adult cat room. We could have taken a cat/kitten home from any of these rooms, but Rylan and I kept going back to our original guys. We had clearly bonded and we were clearly going home with not one, but TWO kittens.

And so here we are with Jack (attack) and George (or Red or some other name we haven't come up with yet). Jack is a bit crazy, thus Jack Attack. And George is a quiet cuddly type, but has a definite I'm-the-boss-so-don't-mess-with-me attitude if you cross him. The kids are loving them and it feels good to have cats in the house again.

 Our family is complete, for now at least :)

I'm BACK!

7+ freaking months since I last posted?????? Slacker, I know. I could throw out some line of total BS about all the craziness, but really, its just been normal craziness. There have been events and milestones, but no different than other peoples lives.

Jake, Brenden, and Rylan successfully completed their year of school. If they hadn't....well, then there most CERTAINLY would have been a post before now.

Jake and Brenden tried out for Cincinnati United and both made the B squads. Again, if they hadn't made a team there would have been a post.

Chris, Jake, and Brenden got to have the ultimate boys weekend. They spent a weekend in Michigan going to Lions training camp and the Manchester United-Real Madrid soccer game at the Big House. So this one should have been a post for sure, but I was in Tennessee for 10 days coaching/judging and SUPER jealous I didn't get to go....so I'll totally give you this for slacker, there was bound to be one.

Rylan turned 4....would have been a MEGA-HUGE post if that hadn't happened. I am very happy to inform you that I MUCH prefer 4 to 3, there's something about the odd years that are quite maddening...

Miles is talking....sort of. After going through speech delay issues with Brenden there really isn't anything major to report here. Miles is ahead of Brenden, but probably has a slight delay, but the doc said to wait until he's 2 before I should be concerned or do an evaluation, so I will.

Chris and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. Ok, this was kind of huge and probably should have posted. But again, this is something that happens for lots of people. The real shock of it is that Chris hasn't left me...yet ;) You all know how crazy I am :)

Truth is, we wake, we live, we sleep, and sometimes a little something extra happens. I'll try to do better about filling you in on the something else's of our lives :)

Did you lick the bowl today?

So Tuesday night we had planned to have a nice outing to Target. I should have known it wouldn't go without at least one melt down, by me or the kids. Nonetheless, we went with high hopes and came home a little less positive than when we left. Oh well. But on the way home when we were talking (as we often do) about how we can all do a little better the next time, I decided I would try to make things up a bit and offered to make chocolate chip cookies when we got home. Obviously this was a big hit, even with Brenden who was trying his best to stay mad at me for "yelling" at him.

So we made it home and get everyone shuffled out of the car and into the house and we all start getting things ready to make some cookies. Unfortunately, we had to settle for a half-batch. I only had enough sugar for that since I had of course forgot to pick up more sugar when at Target...I always forget at least one thing I need at Target yet always manage to get 5 things I don't need....Anyway, we all helped putting in the sugar, butter, eggs, flour, etc., even Brenden helped :) And throughout the process was the constant question: Can I lick the bowl now?????NOW?????WHEN CAN I LICK THE BOWL????? Alas we finished and all got to lick the bowl. And not only did we lick it, but there was about enough dough for another 1-2 cookies that I didn't feel like baking on a separate sheet so we divided that up and had mini dough cookies.....mmm, yummy!

And when the cookies were done we all sat down and enjoyed warm homemade chocolate chip cookies and a little vanilla ice cream. Did this fix everything that had happened on our ambitious Target trek? No, of course not. Did we all end the night a little happier than we started? YES :) What really made this special for me was how we all just got to spend time together. And more importantly, time where I didn't have to constantly say no or don't do that or not now or whatever negative comments spewed from my mouth while at Target.

Not once while mixing, baking, and eating did I worry about the mess we were making. Not once did I worry about the refined sugar we loaded into the cookie dough. I knew this would make bedtime a little longer, but I didn't care. I didn't hesitate for one second to let the kids lick the bowl. This was OUR time. No worry of messes, salmonella, processed food, etc. were going to take this away from us. It didn't fix all of the things we ALL did wrong earlier in the night, but it did allow us to forget all of that and just enjoy - the cookies, each other, the moment.

There are a lot of things that we pass on to our kids, good and bad. Most days I don't get it right. But on that night I know I got the end right. And I hope on that night my kids will remember how we just enjoyed ourselves and forgot about all the rest.

If your day didn't go as planned I hope that you can find a way to lick the bowl :)

Bee-licious is 7!!

BEE....Bren.....Brenny.....Bee-licious....B-Man.....My Brenden Bear.....how can you possibly be 7!? You were the one I was supposed to soak up every moment with because you might be my last baby (don't laugh, Chris originally only wanted 2 kids). And even though we did have more, you are my baby so 7 just doesn't seem possible! You are my sweet boy that continues to amaze me with your crazy personality and imagination. You have always had the eye for observation. While people underestimate you, you take it all in and when you're ready you unleash your power and knowledge on this world and let them know that they should never underestimate you again. It's been a lot of fun this past year as your interests have broadened. And the huge amount of information you have been taking in, mainly in memorizing all the sports data you can get your hands on. You are constantly seeking more information and knowledge which has allowed you to excel at everything you try. Happy Birthday, Bren!

So Brenden's birthday landed on a Saturday so we decided he would have a birthday weekend. Friday he got to go with my dad to Toy R Us to pick out a gift. Saturday he had a Futsal game in the morning and then we spent the rest of the day preparing for his celebration with his friends. He wasn't thrilled about having an actual party so Chris came up with the idea to take him and a few friends to a Cincinnati Cyclones hockey game. He invited 4 friends to come over for cake, presents, and a chance to get some energy out before the game. Jake also was allowed to come to be game and bring along a friend. We got there right as the puck dropped and got to stay to the end. The Cyclones lost, but there was lots of action, it was super hero night, and orange leaf for the boys to keep their sugar high going :) I think Brenden really enjoyed it and it was so nice for me to see him with his friends. After the game it was back to our house with one of the boys for an overnight, Brenden's first time having a friend stay the night. The boys eventually settled down and fell asleep, but at one point it seemed like they would be up all night. Sunday would bring our family celebration. We gave him presents the day before, but with having his friends come over we didn't get to do family dinner of his choice. So Sunday we had chicken divine (Brens favorite), Oreo ice cream pie, and watching the Super Bowl all together. A great birthday weekend!