TGIF

Well all I can say is Thank God it's Friday. What a long week even though we had a long weekend. I have been a single parent since Wednesday and waiting to hear back about whether or not I'll be working next week. Leo went to FL for work, he was probably happy to get away and I don't blame him. But he's coming home tonight and Sweet Girl will be happy. She keeps asking me if he's home yet. I want to say to her 'Ah do you see him around here?' but I keep it nice and say 'Not yet sweetie, he'll be home Friday'. She just replies OK. I have done fine with the both of them by myself. The house isn't a disaster, I actually made dinner two nights in a row and they are both still living. I will admit I do not like getting them ready for school in the morning. I feel like I am completely time constrained and I get antsy when they are not dressed or eating slow or whatever and it's getting close to leaving time. But we did it without too many little arguments mostly over what Sweet Girl will wear.

We even went for ice cream last night! I should be supermom now.. ha ha ha...not. It was a nice time and I met one of the moms from a message board I hadn't met before. She was very nice and Sweet Girl enjoyed playing with her son. After enjoying their ice cream the kids enjoyed running around the ramp and planters outside of the movie theater. Yes I let my kid run around the outside area in front of the entry to the movie theater. They were always in view and it wasn't busy but I am sure there was a Santctiparent out there that complained of their behavior (and I really don't care because they were not causing trouble or getting in anyones way). They were having fun and burning off that ice cream! We did have to leave shortly after that since Little Man found a water puddle from a leak in the drip system for the giant planters around there. So he sat in it. That wasn't the best part even, the best part was when he decided he was going to try to do push ups in it as well. So I see him and he's now LAYING in nasty probably reclaimed drinking water that is just GROSS. I go get him and he keeps saying 'Wet. Wet Wet'. Really? You're wet? Didn't notice. I love carrying a wet kid. It's so nice to get my clothes wet too. At least I wasn't wearing white.

So Little Man rides home naked, well with a diaper on, in his car seat. He finds this quite exciting and keeps slapping his chest. Lord that kid is weird.

I asked Sweet Girl if she had fun playing with the little boy. She told me yes and then is going on and on about what they did when they were running around. And then she pauses and says:
"And he tried to kiss me" She was completely serious and said it with a straight face.
I replied with "Oh Really?"
She gets this look and says "Yeah"
It was pretty funny. When I tell this story to Leo his reply "Jesus Christ she's not even four".

Oh Yes, not even four and already talking about kissing boys. Boy do we have a long long road ahead of us....

And I do still have a job at least for a few more weeks. But the job search is still on.

Mommy Style

Nope, I'm not referring my fashion style which mostly consistents of jeans and t-shirts. I love jeans and t-shirts and flip flops. Of course when it gets to be 110, I'll ditch the jeans for shorts but keep the t-shirt and flip flops. I really mean parenting style.

I think overall we are pretty laid back parents. We do discipline, don't get me wrong, but overall we're not crazy parents whose kids have to eat only organic food and no sugar and have to do this or that. I must admit I do like a bedtime schedule and routine but I don't become all crazy mommy if we don't get a bath or go to bed later then normal.

I think at one point every parent is judgemental of others as to THEIR parenting style compared to yours. I read something on a site that I visit often - Phoenix Mommies - it was about the "SanctiMommy", this was from another blog so I went and checked it out. I had to laugh because I have run into those "SanctiMommies" and I find them annoying as hell. I certainly don't claim to be one, at least not ALL the time..I've had my judgemental moments like everyone else such as, I too on occasion have rolled my eyes at the site of a 5 year old with a pacifier. It's a really good read and I enjoyed it so you should check it out.

So while I won't let Little Man drink a whole cup of coke, I'm not freaking out that he's enjoying a sip or two along with me. And boy does he like coke too! They are so active that he'll burn it off in two minutes of running around the house yelling or trying to sit on Sweet Girl after she comes down the slide. And OMG my kids eat candy. Holy Hell watch out. But you know what they also eat a crapload of fruit and do actually eat some veggies. I think they eat a pretty nutritious diet so the fact they eat some candy or other "crap" doesn't really bother me all that much.

I think every parent has become a Sanctiparent at some point or another, no one is perfect. But if you're happy, your kids are happy and healthy who the hell cares what anyone else says? Let them say whatever they want about your parenting and what you're feeding your kids. You have one up on them...YOU'RE HAPPY!!!

Blah

No exciting post today I feel crabby and blah. Nothing really to be crabby about other then I still don't know what's happening with my job.
Maybe more excitement tomorrow.

Bye Bye Brown

I'm sure I mentioned that the former owners of our house here in AZ had some strange obsession with brown. Every room, with the exception of the kids rooms, is some shade of brown. It has been growing on my nerves every day because I am so tired of looking at brown, brown, brown, lighter brown, darker brown and more brown. It's GROSS and I hate it. I really can't tell you how much I hate it. So this weekend we walked around with our paint deck and found all new colors to replace the nasty brown. And hopefully soon we will start painting. As much as I would like to pay someone to paint for us I guess we'll do it on our own. I'm also lucky that my dad is an excellent painter and offered to paint some for us, I am not sure I can wait until July for him to get here. Do I think we'll have the whole house painted before he arrives, probably not so I'm sure he'll have something to do.

Another strange thing in this house is the size of the baseboards. They are so SMALL. It looks funny to me because the ceilings are so tall and they have these teeny tiny baseboards. It's funny how you don't notice all these things when you're looking at a house. Of course I will admit I didn't really pay that much attention to this house when we looked at it. While yes now I am pretty happy with it, it wasn't top on my list.

But soon I will have one less thing to dislike about it! The color will make a big difference! I can't wait and am ready to paint NOW!!!

Sweet Home Alabama

Happy Memorial Day. First you should take a few moments to remember what Memorial Day is about.

Now you sure can't beat a three day weekend. I love a three day weekend. We had a pretty good weekend and did a lot of fun things. The weather was a little iffy on Saturday morning. It was rainy and cold, but by Saturday evening it was very pleasant out so we tried to figure out what to do so we could get the kids out of the house. We headed over to the San Tan Village which is an outside mall. They have a play area outside so we hoped it wasn't flooded and at least we could enjoy walking around. Well I had forgotten that they have a free concert every Saturday night and this weekend was an alternative and classic rock band. We ate and then headed out to enjoy the music. They weren't the best band but we had fun dancing with the kids and singing. Thus the blog title. Sweet Girl's new favorite song. She enjoyed the song so much she sang it all the way home. However she would leave out Home and just sing 'Sweet Alabama' but she had the melody right and it was funny. I guess she knows what part of the country she was born in and will always be home to her. I don't know that I can call her a Southerner. Of course with the way she says the word 'head' you would probably consider her such. Appparently the next morning she was still was still enjoying it so much so that she was belting it out at the grocery store as we were doing our shopping. Leo and I just laughed as this time she did include 'home' but this was all she sang. So we'll have to get the CD out and she can learn the rest of the song.

Little Man enjoyed the evening as well. He was scoping out all the little ladies hanging around us. He was quite enamored with this one little girl, and wouldn't stop looking at her. It was cute. He is quite a flirt. He also enjoyed flirting with the older ladies as well. Definitely the ladies man. I see a lot of trouble in our future with this one.
He liked to run around and would do some dancing every now and then. He also liked touring the American Eagle store right where we were.

Sunday we went to South Mountain and enjoyed a little hike through the foothills since the main road was closed to traffic. We were hoping to go all the way up and get some nice pictures of the city. But it was 'Silent Sunday' and cares were not allowed up the mountain on this Sunday. (figures). Sweet Girl likes to hike but Little Man not a fan. Of course he didn't have good shoes on and kept falling and getting spurs in is pants. I guess that would make for an uncomfortable walk. I can vouch for that because he would transfer those lovely spurs on to me when he requested I carry him for most of the walk. I guess I am surprised that he doesn't like it more since he loves being outside. I guess it's time to invest in some cute little hiking shoes. The only problem is his feet are so freaking fat. They are like a deck of cards. Little blocks. Maybe that's how he can walk in Sweet Girl's princess shoes better then she can! He has more stability.

Sunday evening we were the token white folks at one of the girls I work with. house. Her and her husband invited us over for dinner. We had a lot of fun and ate a lot of yummy Indian food and a really good time.
We ended our long weekend with some company this evening. It was nice to go out and have people over. They have twins that are a little older then Little Man. So they had fun too.

Now it's back to the grind tomorrow. Yay (not). I think every weekend should be 3 days. Although soon enough I could be having 7 day weekends as I search for a local job. Fun times Fun time.

Down to One

Well we're officially down to one house now. Today is the closing on our house in Brentwood. It will now be owned by someone else. While I am glad we sold it because having two payments is just not all that fun, it sucks because someone else is in OUR house. I know it is probably strange to some of you to have that sort of connection to a house. I cannot explain it. I guess I wish I knew I was turning the house over to someone I know would love it as much as we did. I guess no one will ever love it like that since we were the ones that picked everything out. I guess I will look at it as closure. Now I can't just run away from the desert and back to my house in Brentwood. Although as of late I haven't really wanted to run away from the desert, which is good. So all in all yes it's a good thing the house is sold.

We owe many thanks to Leo's cousin Chip and my dad for going over and doing the repairs the buyers wanted. They were such silly repairs too, with the exception of one. A leak. To me that is a valid repair. The rest of them were just stupid (like changing the light bulbs and replacing door stops...seriously that is what they were...)and I think they were just looking for things to find because they were pissy we played hardball with the negotiations. Since we really didn't HAVE to sell the house we weren't just going to take any offer to get out of the house. People like that piss me off.

Oh well, now that house payment will go into savings and that's good. Maybe that will be a nice trip to Disneyland with the kids or Hawaii for Leo and me! I sure could use THAT kind of trip!!

The Copy Cat

Little Man is a complete copy cat. He will do everything that Sweet Girl does. It is funny to watch him watch her and then mimic whatever she is doing. This happened last night when Sweet Girl was eating raisins that she took from her plate and then put them on the table. I looked over and Little Man watched her intently and then immediately did the same thing. This is both good and bad, good when he mimics the things she is supposed to do but bad when he is mimicking the not so good things. And trust me boy do we have those things!

They are doing better at playing together and getting along. Sure they have their moments which cause a lot of yelling and usually biting on Little Man's part, this makes me want to pull my hair out so thankfully it is happening less and less. Although if he continues to mimic her I imagine there to be an increase in fighting because Sweet Girl will find it annoying that he is copying everything she does. And lord when he starts talking I can just hear him repeat everything she says and we all know how annoying that can be since everyone has experienced that at one time or another with either a sibling or a friend.

During their good times, Sweet Girl will go into Little Man's bedroom after he's woken up and sit and read to him. He will refuse to get out of the crib when this is going on. He enjoys sitting in there and letting her read to him. It's really cute.

I am hoping they get along really well as they get older. But fully expect the moments when I hear "I hate him or her." Ah the joys of parenting. Hopefully the good moments far out number those hating moments!! They have so far so we just need to keep this record going.

The Cold Front is Coming

Weird weather seems to follow us. We had record highs on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday it was 110! Wow! And really it's not THAT bad outside. But Friday the high is only supposed to be 71. 71 after 110 is COLD!! HA! AND it's supposed to rain. So while I am not complaining about that or the weather in general I just think it's funny. Because that sort of weirdo weather pattern happens in Tennessee and Michigan, my former residences. I didn't expect it here in the always hot and sunny desert!

I must say though I am disappointed that it will be that cool, because you know what that means? It means the pool water is going to cool off! I enjoyed the 89 degree water when I got in yesterday afternoon! So I'm torn, enjoy the rain and cool vs. a cool pool again! I guess I should enjoy the rain and cool since we probably won't have much more of that until Monsoon season really starts. And the pool water will heat up again, obviously since the temps will quickly go back to triple digits.

Yes I said monsoons! They really aren't as bad as it sounds. When I think of monsoons, I think of torrential rains and floods and just crazy ass weather. And from what I've been reading it can in fact be crazy ass weather. Take a look at some pictures and read more about out exciting weather coming this summer.

Say Goodbye To Our Little Friends

Since my post about the scorpion visitors we have seen 3 more around the house. Thankfully no more in our BED but on the floor in the bathroom and on the wall by a light switch. But today the house is being SEALED up and no more of those little bastards will be allowed to enter our lovely home.
They seal up the outside of the house with mesh and then seal all the inside vents so they can't just drop out of anywhere.

They will also dust the attic and in all the outlets so if they do get in, they won't last very long.

It will be nice to not have to use the black light flash light on our bed every night before getting in. And I won't have to wear flip flops if I wake up in the middle of the night.

Now that it's heating up, the high today is 108!! they will be coming out in force I think.

And I think all my neighbors LIE. I asked a few of them again, if they see any scorpions and they all said we've probably seen 2 or 3 over the last few YEARS and I'm thinking what the hell? I saw 2 or 3 in one WEEK. So I think they are all liars. They don't want to admit they have those nasty little bastards.

Well now I can say I DON'T have any anymore and I'm NOT lying!!

Our Hot Weekend

Get out of the gutter, I'm not talking about THAT kind of hot weekend. Although it would be kind of fun to write about that but, believe it or not I wouldn't blog about it. There are some things that are just too personal to not plaster all over the web and for me that's one of them. It's a family blog anyway, remember? And that doesn't include how to make a family either.

By hot, I mean heat. It was HOT this weekend. In the triple digits. Our pool went from 80 degrees to 86 in a matter of days. Soon the water will be like bathwater, and that may not be all that comforting when it gets to be like 110. It was 106 on Sunday and today it's supposed to be warmer. Welcome to the desert. Even Sweet Girl commented on how hot it was.

We spent a lot of hours in the pool. I love the pool. I grew up with a pool and have always loved being in a pool. I am happy that the kids will now also have the joys of having a pool growing up. We have been trying to get Sweet Girl to swim without a noodle. But she LOVES that noodle. And she is so funny as she demands that you jump in and she counts to strange numbers. Most people count to 3, but Sweet Girls prefers 6, 8, or 9.

Little Man will not generally go to anyone but me and he likes to just float around. I wish I could get him to like the noodle! But he continuous says "No. No. No" over and over. But I'm not sure WHY he's saying NO. I try to take him back to the steps and he grunts and falls to me. I carry him around and the No's start again. The neighbors are probably wondering what the hell we're doing to the kid. Forcing him to swim or something but I'm not, I don't get anything more then NO. So strange. My kids are so strange!!

We'll be taking swim lessons at some point here soon. Sweet Girl proclaimed to me (which proves she actually DOES listen)
"Momma, you can't be in the pool unless Daddy, Audrey, Gaga or Grandad is in with you." This is what I told her about the pool that SHE can't be in the pool unless Mommy, Daddy or Gaga or Grandad is with her.

Gotta Wii?

I'm not a huge fan of game consoles. We have an Xbox 360 and I don't really like it. Leo does of course. But now we have a Wii too. Now this one I like. I first played it on New Years Eve this year when our good friends came over and brought it along with them. We had a great time that night and I enjoyed it. I think bowling is my favorite. If you're going to have a game console for kids this is the one to have.

So Leo and I had a bowling match on Saturday night. It's probably my favorite game. I love it, and sadly my butt was sore the next day. That's the good thing about the Wii, you have to MOVE to play it. We tried to play tennis, but I am not good at it and it just pissed me off so I told Leo to forget it, I wasn't playing that one.

We have Mii's for everyone in the family. And also have Gaga and Granddad Mii's too. I'm sure we'll have fun playing with it when they come to visit in July.

My Love of Precipitation

Yesterday it rained. It hasn't rained in the Valley in 83 days. That's a long damn time when you're used to being in TN where it rains alot. I find it ironic that I have moved to the desert. First I am a lover of cold weather and snow. One of my favority seasons is Fall. You can't beat a good fall day that is overcast, really chilly, and windy so its blowing fallen leaves all over. So when you walk outside you can SMELL the season and maybe if you're lucky a wood fireplace burning as well. Ahhhh....the thoughts, comforting thoughts. The exact opposite weather pattern found here in this part of Arizona. Now I'll have to somehow learn to love triple digit temperatures and feeling like I'm walking into an oven when I leave the house.

I grew up in Michigan, it rains and snows a lot there. When we moved from Michigan to Tennessee I would get so excited at the possibility of snow. I kept hoping and hoping for snow and would be hopeful every winter we would get some in TN. Usually I was disappointed and we never got any except a few times. Now I live in Arizona and I get excited when I see what could potentially be rain clouds. So yesterday when I saw those nice pretty grey blue rain clouds I was excited at the possibility it would rain. And sure enough it did, it rained for a whole 2 mins. Woohoo...
I guess the one good thing about AZ is that I can simply drive a few hours north in the winter time and see some snow and a lot of it. That is comforting because I want my kids to play in the snow like I did when I was a kid. Make snowmen and snow angels.
I see many mountain trips come fall...

The Haircuts

We got the kids haircut before we left for our trip to TN. I thought Sweet Girl would look cute if we updated her do; she has had a bob for a while now and bangs. We were trying to grow her bangs out because they hid her face and she looks so cute with no bangs. But she was not cooperating with the clips or barrettes we would use in her hair so we resorted to cutting the bangs shorter again. But I thought she would look cute with the current hair style where it's shorter in the back and longer on the sides. We head over to the Great Clips and I explain to the chick that this is what I want. I thought everyone knew this style, what the hell was I thinking? I mean I was at Great Clips for heaven's sake. I knew I was in trouble with her reply to one of my statements:
Me: "I want the style where it's shorter in the back and longer on the sides, so it will angle down towards her sides."
Great Clips Chick looks at me like I have 10 eyes and finally responds "OK."
Me: "Just don't go all Posh Spice on her or anything."
Great Clips Chick "Who?"
I am thinking OMG, what the hell have I just done to my daughter's hair? Should I tell her just never mind? Cut it the same all over? I don't say anything but now I'm looking at HER like she has 10 eyes.

She starts cutting. And Sweet Girl is a squirmer. I am doing what I can to help Sweet Girl sit still. Great Clips Chick is looking nervous and I think she's getting annoyed with Sweet Girl. Finally the other Great Clips Chick who was cutting Little Man's hair is brought in for help. And thankfully she takes over. She is much more expedient and cuts a little better with Sweet Girls rapid head movement. All in all it turned out better then I initially thought. I would have preferred a little shorter in the back but we'll try it next time. She looks awfully cute though.

Little Man was perfect, he just sat there while the chick used the clippers on him. He also is looking quite cute with his snazzy new do. Which for him is just short but still long enough so we can spike it up.

They both are looking cute and updated and ready for summer!

So Who Is Alice Anyway?

On Saturday night while we were in TN we got to go out with some friends to dinner and drinks afterward. It was fun and nice to be out without the kids. Aside from generally missing my parents just to hang out with, I also miss their baby sitting services. They are a lot cheaper then paying someone to do it and I know the kids will be well taken care of and plus the kids love them. Dinner was great and then we headed over to the Tin Roof in Cool Springs. They have a great patio and we enjoyed the patio until all the drunk folks from Steeplechase started showing up. I cannot believe they even served these people they were obviously BEYOND drunk. Now I will admit I am getting OLD. I wanted to leave. I had no desire to be surrounded by people THAT drunk and obnoxious. Thankfully it started raining and we headed to Dan McGuinness across the street.
An Irish like pub that has an Irish band and good seating. The first time I had been to this location was when I went out with my friends Kelly and Natalie as my going away evening. We had Kelly's husband, Sean, as our guide (read: chauffeur). I had a little too much to drink but I had a BLAST at this place. I, however, did not drink as much as my good friend Kelly. Did you know you can't sleep or even CLOSE your eyes at a bar? Yeah well you can't. I did have a blast anyway, mostly because of the company I was with and one song about Alice. I'll admit I know nothing about the song except the chorus. This song requires that everyone yell out the chorus which is "Alice. Who the fuck is Alice?". I mean what is more fun then screaming that out in a bar when you're pretty lit? Well I'm sure there are more fun things then that but remember I'm old and this was entertaining to me. I love to sing together because I cannot sing alone that's for sure. So I was anxious to hear it again when we went over there this time. It made my evening when I got to belt out "Alice. Who the fuck is Alice?" yet again on Saturday. This time I wasn't nearly as lit as before which didn't reduce the fun I had with it. I was with good company and that made it even more fun.

Now I don't know if they sing this song in a REAL Irish pub in Ireland but I sure would like to find out.

If you're wondering who Alice is, you can read about her here. If you're wondering why, you get to say "Alice. Who the Fuck is Alice?" in the bar read here.

The First Trip Back to TN

Well we made our first trip back to Tennessee since moving to Arizona in February. It was strange being back there. I had a mixture of emotions with being there. Some points it felt like we never left. I realized that I really don't miss TN itself, I miss what is there and by that I mean my friends and other family besides my parents (they don't count b/c while yes I miss them right now, they'll be here in AZ soon). I miss being able to call up Chip and Hillary and say come over for dinner and I cannot tell you how many times since we moved I have almost said to Leo let's see what Chip and Hillary are doing. Or wanting to go somewhere with my friend Kelly and her Sweet Girl, who is my Sweet Girls' age, because it would be fun for us to do together. THAT is what I miss. And I do have some strange feeling of disappointment when I think about our house there, Leo was the one who said we would be there 10 years or more at first I was like no way, but then as we were there and settled I also believed that. But that didn't happen so it's a strange feeling when I see that house, the house we built and picked everything out for. The house we brought Little Man home to after he was born. We had a lot of good times in that house and I guess I am really sad that we left THE HOUSE, not really the city but the house itself. It may sound sad but really I guess I feel like we lost a piece of us when we moved. Sure we have a new house and we'll make it "ours" eventually but it's not the same I don't think.

But I digress. The trip was great, the kids had a great time seeing Gaga and Grand-dad and Doc and GiGi. They were happy with the attention my mom and dad give them. Leo and I dropped rank over the weekend while Gaga and Grand-dad were around. But that is OK, I enjoyed the break at least until Sweet Girl told me she didn't like me and only loved Gaga. But I didn't take it personal. I know she'll always come back to me!

We had a fun day at the park but sadly the little boy Sweet Girl was dying to see was not able to make it. Her little preschool love was not at the picnic. She didn't say anything about it all weekend so we didn't bring it up. I knew Friday night he wasn't going to be there but didn't say anything to her. It was sort of sad and I felt bad because she kept saying she was going to see "all her old friends" but only a couple of them were able to make it. But she had fun anyway so that is all that matters.

They did great on the plane ride from Phoenix to Nashville and did even better on the flight from Nashville back to Phoenix despite the 2 hour delay and the late hour we arrived. Little Man slept the whole flight despite the chatty Cathies that were sitting behind us. And to make it worse it was one of their birthdays and they got free drinks and a gift. They were an interesting pair.

Sweet Girl made some cute random comments over the weekend, one that really sticks out as she was trying to get something away from Little Man she says to my mom. "Give it to me, I'm the good one". Implying she was the better child then Little Man. It was sort of funny.

I know there are more but right now I'm tired from the late arrival and feeling crappy because me and the TN weather didn't really get along. My sinuses' were not happy with the weather change. Ugh and the cold medicine is kicking in and I want to lie down because it looks like the monitors are swaying!
More later.

Weekend Funnies

After a strange sickness on Saturday where I basically slept ALL DAY LONG, I was feeling about as normal as it gets by Sunday afternoon. It was warm outside and the pool sounded good. The water is still about 80 and even though that sounds warm I don't think it really is. I think it needs to get warmer!
As we were getting ready Sweet Girl made an interesting observation. She observed that SHE has to wear a bathing suit top and Leo does not.
Sweet Girl "Daddy you don't have a top on like me and mommy"
Me "Daddy doesn't need to wear a top, we have to cover boobies up" (Yes I know I shouldn't have said it...)
Sweet Girl "Well I have small boobies, look" as she lifts up her bathing suit top "Mommy you have big ones, I have small ones and you have big ones."
Me "Thanks Sweet Girl"
Sweet Girl "You're welcome" and out to the pool she goes.

This is not the first time she has made this observation. She is a funny little thing.

Blog Stats

You can call me a dork but I must tell you that one of my favorite things besides writing a blog post and reading the comments (which have slowed down here, come on people get with it and interact!) is reading the blog stats.

The stats tell me how people found the blog, like did they do a keyword search or was it linked to on someone else's site, etc. The stats also tell me how many hits, visitors and what country they are located. This is by far my most favorite stat. The fact that people outside the US have read the blog is so cool to me. There has been hits from places such as Belgium, Canada, India, and the UK.

I have a strange obsession with the UK for some reason so I am especially pleased to see that one. I love British culture, books, TV and music/radio. If I am listening to the radio online at work it's either XM online or Virgin Radio out of London. I do not know the origin of this intrigue. I have been trying to convince Leo that a move to somewhere in the UK would be a good idea. Although quite honestly after the trials and tribulations with a move across the country I have been second guessing my thoughts on that. Lord only knows what would happen with a move across the OCEAN! I am sure it would make for some interesting blog posts but I don't think I can handle it! So maybe we'll have to spend a few months at a time over there as the kids are a bit older.

Don't worry it doesn't give any personal info about the readers or anything so I don't secretly know who is reading the blog and all your personal info.

Only 6 More Sleeps!

Only 6 more sleeps until our first trip back to Nashville. Thanks to one of my bestest friends ever, it makes it easier to understand how long we have based on the number of times you go to sleep before you leave. Leave it to the South Africans, they're so damn smart. ;) Just in case you were wondering why I said the number of sleeps.

At this time next week we were hopefully successful wearing out two small people to hopefully sleep on the plane. I am trying to find something that will calm Little Man so he will sleep on the flight. We are set to arrive at 11:40 PM Nashville time on Thursday night. Which is only 9:40 Phoenix time so that was why I choose this flight. We are then just staying at a hotel right by the airport that night, thanks to our favorite cousin (who I might add we miss terribly. Him, his wife, and sweet baby are terribly missed as we hung out with them A LOT and now it just seems weird to not be able to call them to come over and hang out. The kids ADORED them and I am sad we miss out on their little one getting bigger. I keep trying to get them to move because I know they would like it...OK, sorry for a mushy tangent that time). So back to calming the Little Man, hopefully he'll be happy with his Elmo doll and books and he'll sleep nicely on the plane. Someone suggested a little whiskey in his sippy cup. While this sounds appealing, my luck is that will totally back fire and make him rambunctious instead. So I'll have a drunk AND rambunctious 2 year old on a PLANE... AT NIGHT...while others are trying to SLEEP. Not a good combo. But I thanked her for her suggestion and might give it a trial run...JUST KIDDING...because we don't have any whiskey we only have Scotch....AGAIN JUST KIDDING.

This was supposed to be a surprise visit for my mom for Mother's Day but after Leo and I talked a little bit I decided to tell her so she didn't' keel over dead when we just showed up on Friday afternoon. So we told her. I know Sweet Girl and Little Man are going to be ecstatic to see them and I will be happy for a small break!!

We are having a family/friend picnic on Saturday since we have so many people to see and no time really to drive around and see everyone. So we figured it would be best to do it all in one shot. I tried to explain to everyone that if they can make it great, but if they cannot that's OK too. It would be so silly if we got angry at someone for not being able to make it. It's not like this will be our last trip to Nashville. It will be nice to see everyone we can! We debated making a quick stop at Sweet Girls old school but I don't think it's a good idea. Plus her main squeeze from there will be at the picnic. She is THRILLED when we say that he is coming. It is so cute.

Things have been crazy busy for me at work so that is why there has not been a lot of posts. Hopefully I'll be back to daily posts next week!