Feeding the Mouth Parts

L-o-n-g driving day..or it seemed that way! : )

We drove from Pigeon Forge to Memphis, Tennessee.  We stayed last night in Germantown-on the Tennessee side.  It's a beautiful little city (and has shopping, heehee!).  I swear my husband is trying to get in good with me.

Yesterday morning (in Pigeon Forge), we were in Outlet Land (even Champion and Under Armour-we don't have those at home!) (and since we lost our Nautica-I went there too!).  Anyway-I discovered the kids were out of clothes, as in..they'd worn them all.  Unless they were going to wear their beach cover up shirts (with choice of red Arkansas or red Phillies), and I'd have to do laundry.

He said we should buy them some clothes. : )  This is always good, but I'm a sale girl.  I have coupons for my coupons-I plan with online discounts (this coming weekend is Sales Tax Free!), and it's a total game for me.  I got my coupon book (since I'm a lifetime member), and went in the first store.  I didn't want to do big shopping since our van had NO extra room, and our driver insists on a clear back window. : )  You usually have to spend at least $75 to get the first level of discount (other than store rewards), so I didn't do as well as I'd liked.  I did score $25 in Gymbucks though! : )

We just love the lobster tank : )

Check out those tail flippers!

..and he had a little claw broken off one of his smaller legs.

We also played around at Red Lobster with the very black and blue lobsters.  We examined their mouth parts, claws, little secondary claws, touched their eyes (I promise we disinfected!), and did you know they have bristles like a whale and teeth-they appear to have three mouth parts! (not googling..still tired!) They also have to be "burped" before they go back in the water!  Apparently the air in their tummies can kill them.  You hold up their big claws, kinda shake them up and down (and they flail and splash water a-l-l over you!), then you drop them back in.  And..he didn't die.  (He crawled to the window to give us the evil eye us for having him out so long!)

Anyway, I continued and we got the kids some tennis shoes, and the boys some shirts.  By lunchtime (we couldn't have been there more than an hour...maybe an hour and a half?), we left and ate in the car to make up the time.

..We've had this awful trouble with Mary Claire's blood sugar for the past two days.  I'd already set her basal up to 200% of normal, and was checking and correcting every hour, but we weren't getting anywhere.  We are talking units of insulin at a time..not tenths of units.  I was starting to get panicky.  I'd just changed her site the day before, so I was assuming it was good?  But yesterday, somewhere along Interstate 40, I changed her again.  I was so worried-it was my last full insulin pen.  It had to work, or I was going to get desperate.

I am also down to my last alcohol pads.  I don't count when I pack for a trip-I just pack them in her supplies case as tightly as I can.  But we've never been gone this long!  I know I can buy some, so that's not scary.  It's her site I want to hold on.  I do have one more set for changing her site, thank goodness.  I'd have to use the bottoms of some insulin pens or reuse a cartridge though!  (Goes without saying..no hotel swimming till we get home!)

Today is our drive home.  We are going to the Pottery Barn and William Sonoma outlets (the originals!) in Memphis before we hit the road.  They always have some amazing deals I can't live without.  (Last time they had the pink and lavender chenille raised dot drapes for $14!) (I didn't get them..but want them now!)

I think we have five hours of drive time?  I never remember.  It will turn into seven or eight with all our bathroom and snack breaks.  I know, I know..they cause each other-it's a vicious cycle.  But when your child cries for a drink, you can't resist. : (

I have to tell you..I'm SO excited to be going home!  I miss my house, with room for us to all move around.  Rooms and beds for everyone.  My own laundry room.  (I know, weird, just go with it!)  ahh..home.  I'll have to remember how to cook!  Ok...we should plan to get home after dinner so I don't have to turn old food into a miracle in under an hour!

Late Start = Unwealthy?

We are not early to bed.  We are (were) early to rise. But I can't say that we are healthy, wealthy, and wise.  Who said those crazy words? ; )

We left late today..lots of reasons, but none good enough.  An early trip to Honda to see if we could find Ethan’s Leapster Explorer (7am)…only to find it at home!  Ches made two trips to Wal-Mart, got movies at Red Box, we packed a last minute cooler with drinks and all our yogurts, fruits and veggies, and we didn’t leave till about 11:40!  Much too late to start an almost 10 hour road trip…we totally know better.

Here are the kids just riding…we took out the middle row center seat, and it seems like we have so much more room!

The blue shirts were a good call for all the blueberry eating they did! : )  (Oh-and Clay finally got the *bottled* Coke he's been asking for!)

Sweet girl.  She insisted on taking this Paradise Princess shirt...so I let her wear it on the driving day! : ) heehee

We drove through St. Louis and I just have to see the arch.  It’s so beautiful, a real architectural feat!  I had to close-up to check it out again.  The kids wanted to go up, but we just didn’t have time.  We can’t do it all! : (

It's just gorgeous.

We were driving around the brick streets of LaClede's Landing, but there were lots of...bars.  Here are the Rum Jungle and the Drunken Fish. ; )

This is the church by the arch, but you can only park there for Church.  But..there are no posted times..so I guess it's more of a St. Louis members-only club. ; )  Love the steeple though!

We crossed the Mississippi River, and had dinner in Indiana.  Mary Claire had seen my play-doh stash (in the new foil “Ziploc” bags!, and couldn’t wait to try out the new play-doh!  She got hot pink and the included cookie cutter was a teddy bear, Ethan’s was green with a snowman cutter, and Clay wouldn’t open his-he just wanted to play with Ethan’s!  I think it was Play-doh-Self-Preservation (didn’t want to mess up his own!) (lots of imprints of ears, eyes, noses, lips, etc. were taking place!)

A dinosaur!

Now east on Interstate 70 to Indianapolis...

We are finally here-at 11:30 at night!  We are paying for all that free time this morning.  And we forgot about the time change, so it's really 10:30 our time (I think...it confuses me!  Especially since my computer clock now says 11:36, and my phone says it's 12:26 here!)

Whew.  On to the Indianapolis Children's Museum tomorrow, a visit with Hallie, and the drive to Washington, PA!  Woohoo, love vacation! : )

Chaotic Orchestra

When I am getting ready to leave, it's chaotic orchestra of last-minute-have-to's!

The kids had VBS (and I did laundry), then we had lunch with Veronica, Isasc and Isabella, then kids' haircuts, doctor appointment to recheck ears (hallelujah! they are clearing up!), then home to P-A-C-K!  It's been busy to say the least.  We also had to fill a prescription for Clay, so we had to call to get a new script, then run it by the pharmacy.

My good intentions were to take my sewing machines to get them serviced while I'm out of town...but I wasn't done with them!  I made a sash for an outfit (I'll just have to take a pix while we are out of town..it's Packed!), then put a big M on it.  And I was trying to monogram towels for Ches' Aunt Rita, but my embroidery machine? Needs more than service. : (  Remember that shirt I messed up last week?  It bent the arm on my machine, and it needs serious help!

So..Rita's getting towels.  Plain towels. : (  ..But they are stripey, and cute!  I got a turquoise, orange, hot pink, and green.  And one hand towel for the beach house-I got it monogrammed, but I'm not proud of it...this is how I figured out the arm was still bad!..it messes up the bottom left of the designs.

Since Ethan left his Leapster Explorer at the dealership (when we were getting the oil changed yesterday!), we have to go by there to get it (since we just loaded four new games on it!), so m-a-y-b-e we can run my machines by the store.

I had my kids wear my unfavorite clothes today, so they'd have their cute clothes clean to choose for packing.  But me?  I wore comfy clothes I love today, and now...I want to take them! Do I wash one more load?  And this is a shirt I lay flat to dry...that'll take all night!

Have you ever met anyone who lays out all their kids clothes, by day, and matches them all up, so they don't clash?  And takes a picture so she'll remember what goes with what?  Then packs them into three suitcases, so all the contents are practically the same?  yeah..me neither.

I must go throw some stuff together for me and Ches!  If it was a beach-only trip, I could just wear swimsuits and cover-ups.  But..alas. We must wear underwear...haha, Hallie! : )  It's only polite, Sweetpea says!

Hope you guys have a great Friday! : )  I'll see you on the road.  We are leaving bright and early...after a trip to Honda...and the sewing center. : )

Road Trip!

Oh, I'm so busy reading what you guys are up to (and mod-podging a rocket, haha!) that I almost forgot to tell you where we are going on vacation! : )

We are leaving the end of next week: from Springdale, Arkansas, we'll drive through Missouri (and St. Louis) and spend Friday night in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Then Saturday morning, we'll go to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and spend most of the day.  That night, we'll drive to Columbus, Ohio, maybe farther?  We'll see how far we get!

The next day is up to chance too.  We don't have hotel reservations again till Monday night at Ocean City, NJ!  (well, we aren't sure..neither of us wants to get up to go check the file to see when the reservation is for!)  We always stay at a Residence Inn, so we'll just make our reservations on the iPad as we go! : )  Then, on Monday we'll drive into Ocean City, New Jersey, and stay for the week (if we aren't already there Sunday night...).  We're planning to make a little trip to Egg Harbor Township, NJ, and Cape May during the week for light houses, flea markets, and for a mall that has a good model train store. ; ) 'cause I like rockets and trains (and dishes and art)!  We'll spend the other days just playing on the beach, building sand castles (and pits!), burying each other, gathering shells, and taking beach pictures (yippee!) (got clothing ideas for us?  Remember no matchy clothes, and no black or white she says!)

Then on Friday, we'll drive to Washington, DC (and we'll see all the cars driving out of town for the weekend!), and stay till Sunday night.  We didn't get to finish the American History Museum, and we haven't seen all the memorials! : )  Then, Sunday we'll drive somewhere (yes, we hang loose like this, it's VaCaTiOn!) headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I want the kids to see it in the day, so we'll save that GORGEOUS drive for the day on Monday!  We'll do lots of pulling over to take pictures and gape with our mouths open at the Beauty that is the US!!  Then we'll drive down to Tennessee, then across interstate 40 back towards Arkansas.  We should be home on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how exhausted we are, and if we have any clean clothes left!  : )  WHew!

**There's a small chance we'll spend Thursday (7/21) and Thursday night in Branson, MO, (so I can shop for more vacation clothes?) ; ) then continue to Indianapolis!


If you are on that path, and want to meet up, let me know! : )  Wanna hang at the beach, check out the Lincoln Memorial again, eat dinner, or just eat ice cream?  Gasp..Ice cream? Check out Kelly and the Ice Cream Grinch!  'Cause we can have it you know.  And it won't be like giving an alcoholic a drink.  Haha-you have to read and comment on what an idiot this guy is!  (His stupid commentary is linked to the ice cream grinch.)

Do you get stressed/excited before a trip?  I do!  I have to pack (!), get everything ready at our house, then prepare the van (we'll be driving at least 2800 miles, so we'll need an oil change before and after!), and entertainment..we'll need entertainment for the 24 hours each way! : )  Gotta love road trips!  We sure get to bond and know each other r-e-a-l-l-y well. ; )

Sending you hugs from Arkansas! : )

Ocean City, New Jersey

After all the excitement yesterday, today should be relatively calm. We are in Philadelphia headed east towards Ocean City right now. We just crossed the Ben Franklin Bridge (blue and pretty!), and Clay just swears he saw a battleship. It’s just nice looking at the buildings-we saw a new one, plus a new *tallest* one being built. Someone wants to be the new tallest building in town!

Today is just check into the hotel and beach time-no other agenda. I’m sure we’ll catch up with Ches’ family, have dinner together, and hang out. Maybe we’ll build super-awesome sand castle? Ok, I shouldn’t set our goals so high!

Playing in the sand together : )

 Working on a sand castle..

I

 I love to see the lifeguards and rescue boat-ready to go (Just in case!)

W

This is what he's wanted to do since we left town..

S

She plopped down on the way back to Aunt Rita's beach house, and said she was too tired to get up.  Umm..hungry?  (she got up!)

Later..we’ve had a great day! We got to catch up with some family, eat some yummy Philly cheesesteaks, swim and play in the sand, and now we are safely in our hotel room (nice and big-perfect!). We have three double beds, but Ethan still wanted a pack-n-play! Clay and Mary Claire got their own beds, so they are mighty happy, and two of the three are asleep (and it’s only 9:30!)-it’s been a long vacation already! We should go easier the next couple of days. The beach is pretty laid back, thank goodness. We’ll rest up before New York!

Hershey Park

Chocolate Land is soo good-but makes me hungry!  We traveled across Ohio, through the little tip of West Virginia, then half-way through Pennsylvania. 

We did totally sleep better last night-my bed was soo comfy!  Ethan slept beside me again-he cried on and off a lot-about the dark, monsters, going to the bathroom, everything!  So, I told him he could sleep beside me if he’d stop crying.  He did, and it was fine.  We all slept till 8:48-and breakfast was ending at 9, so we had to hurry downstairs!  We’re always a riot, but we ate, and didn’t cause too much trouble with the juice machines.  Clay ate up lots of butters, and Ethan spilled his cereal-par.

We got on the road late, so we got lunch on the go-Panera and McDonald’s.  They currently have Littlest Pet Shop toys and SuperHeroes, so the kids are collecting toys now. : )  We have a kitten, puppy, Wolverine, and Ironman.  (Clay isn’t into the toys anymore, and not too hungry in the day either.  He makes up for it in the evening, or I’d be worried!)

We stopped at Hershey (near Harrisburg) to go to Hershey Park.  It’s like Silver Dollar City, or a small-scale Walt Disney World.  Ethan ran to a store first (and bought Gigi a little Hershey’s mug with chocolates-but then dropped and broke it within 6 minutes), and the kids ran to the rides!  They rode “hot air balloons” then space ships, a train, cars/motorcycles, then the big stuff.  They rode the Wildcat, Lighting Racer, Clay rode Sidewinder, Comet, and SooperDoooperLooper (which stopped for a little bit-maybe 10 minutes…scary!)

We were there until they closed, 10pm, so we didn’t get to do everything.  We did enough, and it wasn’t too hot today, so I was happy.  They were short on food-all the real restaurant/food places were closed.  All that was open were popcorn, fried veggies, cotton candy, ice cream, and French fry places-and we were hungry for dinner.  We ordered some junk (and got taken on a $3 soda machine-it gave us orange soda instead of Diet Pepsi-and we couldn’t get a refund or anything-gross.  And it was for Mary Claire-she was high for the first time today, so she couldn’t have the sugar!)

We are back at our hotel, and it is getting quiet-finally.  My computer says 11:20, but local time is 12:20-LATE! : O  We must get to bed, we are running on Vacation Time, I guess!

 On our way into Hershey Park-full of excitement, and hoping for chocolate!

His favorite ride: a car!

Riding in the spaceships: Clay didn't want his picture taken, so he dropped his head.  Can you see his hair? : )

His second favorite: the helicopter!

 We met up with some characters-we love Hershey's Syrup!

 The only one Ethan was willing to take his picture with: Kit Kat

Doing some strategic planning: what to do before the park closes...

The big coaster Clay rode alone (Mary Claire left the line after an altercation...)

On our way out of the park in front of the Milton Hershey fountain

Thanks for bringing us to Hershey Park and putting up with us! : )

On the Road Again..

We are on tour-heading towards a city near you!  Get your tickets before they sell out!  We have decided that our kids will only travel with us for so long.  We are hoping we have a few more years of vacations with them. There will come a time when they don’t want to travel with us, and I’m not ready for that!  So, we are headed across the country.  Slowly.  Today we’re heading to St. Louis, Missouri.  We’ve been there before, but not for two whole years!  It seems like a month ago.  Ethan doesn’t really remember it, so we’ll relive it all for him. : )  Our plan is to have dinner (we had Cracker Barrel) and hang out at the City Museum until bedtime.  It is amazing!  It’s ten stories, all built from scrap.  There’s a bus hanging out over the roof (yes, you can go out in it)!  A big metal (slinky-looking thing) spiral tunnel hangs out at about the fourth floor, and you crawl through it (well, *I* don’t) and out to an airplane fuselage (which yes, moves around as people are heavy-more reason why I don’t crawl through it), but the kids love it!  There are thick concrete slides and mazes, rope swings over half-pipes (look like skateboard ramps), etc.  It is a Must-See on your St. Louis trip, second only to the arch (yes, last time I was there I forgot to take my camera, so I only have crappy iPhone pictures!)

**Ok..a couple hours later..I’ve been lost in time on Ches’ iPad looking (for our last arch pictures) at old pictures of the kids as they grew up right in front of us.  (Can I just say that I love the fact that there are three lanes going both ways on Interstate 44? Room to move around!)  They were small together, then we moved, and our little bushes were tiny, and now they are so big!  Our backyard was rolling green, bare, and the trees were small.  A lot happens in five years!**

I’d say we’ve had a good trip so far.  The kids have watched a couple movies, I read to Clay from his Edison Thomas (yes, I wrote it right) book, then Ethan took a good nap.  We are almost to St. Louis, and we are getting hungry.  (and now we have four lanes each!)

Can you tell I’ve been writing all day?  I wrote earlier, then came back, Sorry-I know it’s confusing. : )  We partied at City Museum till 10:30pm-and the teens were just getting started.  They turned out most of the lights at ten, and we just finished up.  There are soo many cave/tunnels to go through, and the kids didn’t even get to finish!  There were ten stories of tunnels building up to the ten-story slide!  Everyone was so tired, and Ethan was getting whiny.  It got stormy outside, and I think he might have been afraid or something.

I can say this: our community needs a cool hang-out like this one.  It gives the kids something to do late at night, it’s dark and cool, but safe-big enough to get lost in and give you a thrill, and it doesn’t involve getting in trouble.  It’s basically made out of tough stuff with paint everywhere, so they couldn’t mess it up either!  I give them five stars!  (and the magic show was pretty good too-even though Ches and I had to go onstage for a card trick!)

We’re headed to the hotel for a good nights sleep, then tomorrow we are traveling on to Columbus, Ohio!

Didn't Plan Well-Shop (Feast on Desserts) All Weekend and Dr. on Monday?

Goodness-what a weekend! I've officially Dropped from Shopping. Even this morning I was starting to seriously slow down-I was really getting tired! I drove back this afternoon just in time to work on the Daisies' scrapbooks-well, get them ready. I cut paper for the backgrounds (they are making 6x6 books), make page titles, journaling spots with lines (they are in K and 1st grade!), and some added details... I didn't get all the pictures cut before I went, so I had to work on those a little at our meeting. The girls did an awesome job! I just gave them the stuff and told them to put it together, and it was amazing! They cut on the pictures (which I don't do too much), but they made all the pictures fit, and it was so personal. I was excited. We only did two layouts, but we'll keep working on it! : )

Well, WhAT a weekend! It was so much fun!! We definitely got amazing deals. On one of our receipts, it said we'd saved $319. Ha! With all the 70% off sales at Nautica, the 50% off clearance prices, 30% off new stuff at Gap (plus our 10% off coupon from the booklet), etc. We did well! We were getting shirts for $2-$5! Well, winter stuff. We found winter coats at Osh Kosh, Gap, and Nautica for $21. Crocs were buy one, get one half price (yes, they are ugly and awful, but my kids like them and they are fast). I got jewelry at Old Navy for $1.75 each (originally $14!). Okay, so I got tons of stuff for spring that WaSN't on sale (except for my Tanger coupons)... I got a lot at Gymboree (they have a coupon in the booklet now!!), did I say a lot!? I got tons of stuff for spring, but not so much on sale. They are lines we've already had, last year, but I got different stuff. The sweetest manager, Dena, wasn't there Friday night when we marathon-shopped, but we ran into her the next night at Gap!! So we still got to see her, and we made a new friend at Gap too! We've gotten to be regulars. We even know the lady at the Tanger office now. (She's going to Florida on Tuesday!!) It may be crazy, but we love it. I even got some stuff for me-adorable new capris, pinstriped pants (navy/white), a hot navy/cream silky top-for dress-up (don't know when I'll wear it, but you gotta be ready for anything!). I can tell you that navy and yellow are the Colors Of The Year!! They are everywhere-Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Gap, Nautica, and right on down to Old Navy and Target! I mean LOTS of Navy, LoTS of Bright Yellow. Get Ready. Do you have the must-have colors of the season? I'm not a style-watcher, but I do like to have a few things (okay, twenty) that are current. My style is pretty classic, but I can update each season with a few of the new colors or new jewelry. I love white, black, pink, and blue (and red..). I just throw in other colors each season. Denim? My fave! I always have plenty of denim-from dark trouser pants to long, cut off, frayed favorite jeans (mainly because it's faster than getting them hemmed!).

Extra Info:
We stayed in the hotel that was hosting most of the ice carvers (yep, you heard right) for the big competition this weekend outside the Titanic attraction. We first saw a massive (frozen) anchor with rope on Friday night, and as we got closer we could see a quarter moon wearing a stocking cap. That night we ran into lots of over-dressed, friendly, bearded men in the lobby jof our hotel. We were just being polite, but when we saw their Plans (!) and big boots, and then Machinery!! we had to ask what was going down! We learned of the big competition, and it became the conversation-what're you making?, are you amateur or pro? (pros had to be done by 2:30-we're good listeners), etc. Then on Saturday when we stopped for our lunch break at 2:50, we drove over to see how it was going. There were so many people there to watch the amateurs finish up, and to see the judges making the rounds. When we stopped back by about 10:20pm (on the way to dinner), some were melting, but others surprisingly made it! (Friday the high was about 23 degrees, but Saturday it got up to 50.) They were all just amazing-the most astonishing to me was that these people do all that work, then their statues melt, and their art is gone. We saw the marlin and lizard on a tree (from our hotel friends), a boy, a beta fish, a dragon sitting on a ball, a big phallic symbol of some sort, and a Marilyn Monroe. It was very neat, but we never got to tell them 'good job'. I guess it goes with Disappearing Art.

At dinner tonight the kids asked me why I never call them names anymore, like sweetie pea, honeybun, cutie pie, cutie patootie, etc. I didn't realize I'd stopped. I made it a point to call them lots of names this evening (heehee). I'm so glad they felt confident enough to ask me why. I guess I just phased it out as we had Ethan, and I thought they were too old for little names. I was wrong. They want cutie names just like a little kid. Just as much as I don't want them to grow up, they don't want to grow up. Precious. Yeah, I don't want to grow up either. : )

We've begun the planning for our summer vacation. We plan to go up to Philadelphia, over to Ocean City, NJ, and down to DC for a couple days. We've decided to drive (gas, van, time, and all) so that we can let the kids watch videos, stop off at the Indianapolis Children's Museum (been there-about 5 or 6 stories of pure *learning* fun!), then we can take our time, stay at the beach, then let Clay see the Museum of Natural History in DC, take in the sights, and make our way back home. We've never taken Ethan on a big trip, so it'll be interesting. We're making a practice run at the end of March. We're driving to Nashville for a Lifesavers Conference (not candy, real Life Saving Safety), and some entertainment. We'll see how the drive goes! : ) Say a prayer for us!

Just mopped the bathroom, wood floor, and part of the kitchen. Seems Lexi only partially understands about peeing ON the papers, not just near them (and in other rooms if the need arises). Oh, and the orange juice accident in the kitchen. I actually made dinner (absolutely wonderful pork chops-from Sam's, peas, and Twice the Blueberries muffins). It counted as cooking, so I was feeling pretty good! I'm worn out now after all my magic-making. It's very hard and tiring to be a (try to) do-it-all person. And tomorrow is the big Yearly Doctors Appointment. Scary. I used to cry every year, I hated it. I like my ob/gyn now, so it's not so bad. I can't say I don't cry at least sometimes, but less so. I'm getting back to normal, hormonally speaking, after last week so maybe I'll be sane tomorrow. The receptionist at the doctor's office wanted to make my appointment last week-Can I say, "Gag me with a spoon?" And I said, "ABsolutely NOt!!", and she said, "Why? It doesn't bother him." Ok, creepy. Creepy that he doesn't care, creepy that she doesn't. I'd never schedule someone that week! The week of the blood bath? Are they crazy¿ (hey-how'd I make that?) Not only would it be Gross, but also I'd weigh more, feel self-concious, be unreasonable, irritable, angry if he was running late (delivering a baby downstairs!), and be quite tender. No. Way. José. Ok, must work out, lighten up (yes, literally), and get some sleep (Angie woke me at 8:30am to get to the outlets by their 10am opening time!).

Must begin the Unpacking of the Van-it seems to be littered with shopping bags. Let you know how the dr. goes tomorrow. (Thinking of Light Clothes to wear...)

ps-Krispy Kreme in Branson only has Hot Now from 6:15-9:15am and 7-9pm. Just FYI.