Bumble Bee

It's a stormy night, but never fear! Bumble Bee is here to protect us! However, he is sleeping on the job. I found N sleeping in his Halloween Bumble Bee Transformer costume, mask and all! (For safety reasons I will take the mask off.)

Thailand

Daddy recently returned from a fifteen day trip to Thailand. We are sooo happy to see him!! This is Daddy's third big trip to another country in less than a year. The boys and I made cards to put in his suitcase again, but I can't find the pictures I took of that this time. Oops. Last time it was very snowy and cold when he was gone. Lots of my family and friends skipped outta town for warm, sunny vacations. This time, the weather is much nicer and friends, family and neighbors are home. Being able to play outside and having family here to help made a huge difference! The boys enjoyed the nights Grammy stayed with us and the days that Grandpa mowed. Thanks for your help, Mom and Dad.

 Last time D was gone we had record snow fall. This time we had record rain fall and flooding that will go down in history. We were fortunate enough not to have flooding in our house, but lots of people did.

Park underwater. Can you see the tippy tops of the
red and yellow  playground equipment? And the roof of the
picnic shelter? 

This is one of our favorite burger places. You'd never guess their
back parking lot is under all that water.

Daddy was gone over two weekends. The first weekend he was gone the rains were falling and the flooding was approaching. I didn't realize the flooding was going to get as bad as it was. I didn't realized it until we went downtown to the museum and saw roads blocked off and people sand bagging. That's when it hit me. Wow! We looked at the sand levies before heading into the museum to play for the morning.

D tried his hardest to plan his trip around lots of holidays (both Thai and American) and events, but he just couldn't figure out a time to be gone without missing something. We did our best to send him pictures and video from various occasions, especially N's Spring school program. Grammy and Grandpa attended the program. I think N really appreciated seeing them in the crowd. :) The Spring play was titled "How Does Your Garden Grow." N and several other boys in his grade played the part of weeds and did a really cute rap. N really got into it.

Mom and the boys did a great job of making my Birthday special since D was gone and lots of people sent me cards and emails. Thanks everyone! I woke up to Birthrday decorations all over the house and homemade gifts from the boys. Grammy and the boys took me out for breakfast at a local family restaurant and we skyped with Aunt J. D planned ahead and sent me the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers. He ordered them the day before he left and included a hand written note with them. I cried when I saw his handwriting on the card because I knew he had to plan ahead to do that. Thanks, honey! Mom watched the boys one night so I could go out and use up a gift card for a massage! Aaaah. Mom and the boys made me gluten free,dairy free cupcakse that were amazing! Mmm.

Day ten and eleven are always the hardest for me for some reason. Maybe it's because the boys were up in the night every single night?  Maybe? Hmm. Possibly. Fortunately Mom was here and I got to recoop with a nap.

Daddy returned home late on a Friday night after the boys were asleep. I was so happy to see him. Giddy, really! He was able to stay awake until our usual bed time then crashed and burned. He popped right up at 4am the next morning and we were off and running to our home town tractor show. Nothing much slows D down. He did, however, fall asleep on the couch at 7pm the first three nights after he got home from his trip.
He was wide awake 5am the first few days after he got home and had intended on keeping that routine, but has fallen back into his routine by now.

A few days after D got home he and I headed up to the windy city for an overnight to celebrate my Bday (belated) and Mother's Day in one. We had a great time. That was the first time we'd been to Millenium Park. We happened to get a great deal on a room at the Palmer House and saw a taping of the Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me Show. So fun.

Now we're catching up on things that got a little behind while D was gone. Last weekend I watched the boys while D fixed a toilet, the washing machine, mowed and set up traps to catch a trail of ants in the garage. This weekend we're ripping out a portion of the ceiling and wall in the living room that has been damaged due to a leaky drain in a shower. Busy, busy.

St. Patty's Day

We had lots of fun with St. Patty's Day this year. While we decided to forego the parade this year on account of it being cold (and me being tired from going to a Mom conference), we still had fun at home.
N's teacher encouraged the kids to make a Leprechaun trap. The kids turned them in before Friday and left them out in the classroom over the weekend to see if they could catch a Leprechaun. N and L enjoyed making their traps so much that, to date, they've made three sets of traps. It is for these fun projects that I save washed plastic fruit containers, capri sun boxes, peanut butter jars, toilet paper rolls, etc in our "junk box." Our junk box is nearly depleted now, so I will have to save up some more stuff for future use. The boys were so into their traps that they left them out at home on Saturday night to see if they could catch the little guy. We did not catch the Leprechaun (or the "trap guy" as L calls him), but he did leave his footprints, some donuts, a few candies and a mess of all our green toys he could find. We decided maybe we need to do something to prevent the little guy from coming into our house next year 'cause he made such a mess. N suggested we put all our baby gates across our exterior doors to prevent him from coming in. Good thinking, Buddy.

Mom-a-thon

I've never done a marathon, but I officially completed a Mom-a-thon! D spent the last thirteen days on a work trip to South Africa, Dubai and Abu Dabi. We were able to talk to him several times over the phone and even got to video chat once. His ammenities ranged from a hut to a classy hotel. He saw wild zebras, camels and gazelles. His coworker saw monkeys. I told D he didn't need to travel to see monkeys 'cause we've got two at home! D traveled from "lesser developed" areas to one of the most lavish places in the world, Dubai. He told us of the cultural experiences he had at the world's largest mall. D experienced lots of extremes on his trip. He learned more about the religion in the region and had to be sensitive to breaks that were taken for prayer time. Politics also came into play as you can imagine. D's trip has been very interesting to hear about and it's been eye opening for both us. But, I can only really speak of what the boys and I have been up to at home while Daddy was gone.

Hiding in N's room making cards to hide in Daddy's suitcase. We were successful in sneaking them in his suitcase. He didn't find them until the middle of his trip. He said they were a very nice surprise. :)

Zebras in South Africa

Hotel hut in South Africa after a lightning storm. Eek!

"Airport" consisting of a trailer and an ice chest where you were
 welcome to help yourself to an ice
cold beverage for the flight. No i.d. required.

Camels crossing road outside of Dubai

D was able to attend a small part of N's scout blue and gold banquet before he had to leave to catch his flight to South Africa. I was able to stay at the banquet with N while the sitter stayed at home with L. It was bitter sweet to have D at the banquet as I knew he had to duck out early and we'd have to say our good byes there. N did well in saying bye to Daddy, but when he was gone N really teared up. He said he already missed Daddy and was sad to see him go. I could have burst into tears, but had to keep myself pulled together.

I was afraid these thirteen days at home would be grueling, but they were much better than I thought they'd be. The boys and I got into a rhythm and kept ourselves busy to pass the time. My Dad stayed with us for a couple of days. It was nice to have him here midway through D's trip. He was able to help with the boys and we (well he) did a project together. We (read that he) stained the sofa table I made several weeks ago. I must say it turned out really nice. I'm very happy with it!!

My little piece of paradise was watching
the Christmas cactus bloom.

 At one point during D's trip my mom was at my sister's in the Netherlands, D's parents were on a cruise in the Panama Canal and several friends were on vacations in various places. The morning shows I glimpse at from time to time were even on location from sunny, warm places! I did not get the memo to take off for vacation!! I felt like Dad and I were the only souls left in the middle of the country prepping for a snow fall...or three. Dad and I made a tiny little getaway to the Bass Pro shop with the boys to get out, see the big fish tank and play the race car game. I tell you what, if you stand in juuuust the right place near that fish tank at Bass Pro there are just enough lights overhead to make you feel like you're standing in the sunshine. All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine a beautiful place and you're set!

The paper chain D and I made.
Each day that he's gone the boys pull
off one link and find a fact written inside
about S.Africa or Dubai.

As I mentioned above, we had three snow falls while D was on his trip. I welcomed the snow as it gave the boys and I something to do for outdoor play time. I shoveled the driveway three times. I actually enjoyed shoveling the driveway while the boys played....don't tell D that! We made a fort in the backyard, two forts in the front yard and a snow man (snow bunny after bugs bunny) in the front yard. N had two snow days. In fact, N was home seven of the thirteen days D was gone on account of two snow days, weekend days and a school holiday. I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind on day #11. Day eleven is the day I "hit the wall" (marathon term).  I felt like I'd been at home forever. I was out of energy, out of ideas, out of thoughts on what to cook for dinner and out of pep to be our little team cheerleader. I really hit a wall...I poured myself an ice cold diet coke, had some chocolate and sat on the couch to veg for  little while and tried to figure out why I why it felt like we'd been home for-ev-er. That's when I looked at the calendar, did the math  and came to the conclusion that we honestly had been at a-lot! Dad called to check in on us. He gave me a pep talk and really perked me up. He called at just the right time and said just the right things and I was able to press on.Thanks, Dad!

The first day N's school close for a snow day I was giddy with excitement. The boys and I sat at the breakfast table and made a long list of all the fun things we'd do...and we did all of those things before noon! When the second snow day rolled around I was really having to dig deep (and do some pinterest research) for more ideas. We managed though. We made "the ultimate tent" in the living room. I made silver bars out of cut up boxes and foil. I hid them around the house and the boys...err pirates...went on a treasure hunt with their handmade treasure box to find all of them. We all took turns hiding the silver bars several times before wearing out that game. We rode plasma cars in the house, we made cookie bars and played in the snow. By dinner time rolled around I was tired and didn't want to cook. I called our local pizza place and there were open! Hurray!! I yelled out to the boys, "Anyone want pizza?"  And the boys said yes, so we packed up and ate out for dinner that night.

Painting on snow day doubled
as an experiment for my next Art Cart lesson

All three of us made Play-doh faces

N's Play-doh portrait of Daddy
wearing a baseball cap

Plasma bikes in the house!

D was very fortunate to miss a snow storm that hit two of the airport that he passed through. This meant that he only had one thirty minute delay. I was really bracing myself for much worse, so when he got home nearly on time I was elated and so were the boys. The first thing I asked D? For a lesson on how to use the tractor to plow the snow. I think he was really surprised. I was surprised I actually enjoyed driving the tractor. Anyway, we are glad to have Daddy home from his trip. It sure makes a difference to have him around to help out with the boys and the house. Welcome home, Honey!