Day Two With Katie....

....so day one went well. After driving around Baltimore for a while, attempting to find a parking spot for her big van (awesome that we can ALL go someplace and take one vehicle!), we went to a beach on the Chesapeake Bay yesterday. We packed sandwiches and ate lunch before going in the water. The kids were all fantastic! Other than a bit of sand/mud being flung in my hair, the kids were actually very good. We were outnumbered nearly three to one, so the fact that we had minimal melt-downs and minimal trouble is a testament to good parenting, right? *winks* Erin did nearly lose her glasses....she left them at the picnic table, where she'd put them down so I could smear her with sunscreen. We went back to get them, after sweet-talking the gate guard to let us back in without paying.

...and Aaron has an affinity for getting local delicacies while we're on vacation, so we made Katie find the local crab shack so we could get crabcakes. They. Were. Yummy. The kids ate ziti, of which we shared a little with them, but we held out for the crabcakes. Katie also made these fantastic chocolate lava muffins that her boyfriend Alton Brown taught her how to make. Oh. My. Chocolate. Heaven.

....So today we're going to hang around here before going to a Nationals game tonight. Tomorrow we're doing the DC thing. As much as the smaller kids will let us. So we'll see.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Vacation!

So I'm sitting in Katie's house, waiting on the shower. The first part of our vacation has gone pretty well. The condo that we had was on top of a small mountain in the Appalachians. The view was outstanding. The only bad thing was that it was much colder than what we left behind in good old Indiana. And much colder than what we came to in the Washington DC/Baltimore area. But, we got an afternoon in the pool under our belts, and we also went up the side of the mountain to ride the Alpine Slide down. The twins did very well on the chairlift ride up and had a complete blast on the slide down. Collin had fun staying with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunts Andrea and Alaina in their condo.

We got to Katie's yesterday afternoon, and after I "shared" a bottle of wine with Katie (she didn't like it), we went to sleep in their guest room after watching "Pants Off Dance Off". Hilarious, I say. The things we miss because we don't have cable television! hehe

So today I think we might be headed to the Bay to go swimming. Aaron also wants to take in the sites at the ESPN Zone. Am hoping that the twins cooperate! Fingers crossed for us!

So much is rumbling around in my head.....I will share some of this with you now. Some will be kept under my hat....

Am putting the twins in preschool this fall. I'm OK with this as far as an educational standpoint, but fiscally, I'm a nervous wreck. I'm thinking that over half my pay will shelled out for it. I will be in credit card debt up to my eyeballs after this is all said and done. I hate that. Hate it. But, I suppose it's only money....and I'm really trying hard to let it go. It's just not happening right now. So that's my whining for that. Just hoping that the hump-busting I've been doing at work will pay off someday. Trying not to hold my breath on that one, though.

Had a loverly time with my girlies last night. We were able to get together and do the mini-album that I put together. It was an ordeal, but everyone was able to complete all of it. Afterward we went to a local Mexican restaurant and filled ourselves on some yummy fajita nachos. I was sad when they ran out! Of course, if I'd eaten any more, I would have been completely miserable. So it's serendipity.

Counting down the days to vacation!

Am Blown Away....

....by people's generosity. Recently, a person I work with lost nearly everything she had in an apartment fire. People have banded together so much to help that I'm bowled over by it. My company gave....the people who work for it gave....All these little acts of generosity are hopefully going to help her recover from this tremendous loss. She's OK. Everyone in her house (including pets) made it out OK. But this is mentally shaking to the core for her. But she, too, is blown away with how people are banding together to help. Amazing.

....another act of giving that I've learned about recently is a friend of a friend. I'm still blown away by her acts of generosity. She's nearly as old as my grandma, but she works harder than nearly anyone I know. She is from and lives in South Africa and spends her life with two main goals. To care for preschoolers who would otherwise be left to scavanging for food in landfills/dumps. And to finish the work she began with her late husband to build a church for those who were meeting in a classroom. I told my friend (it's cool Judy if you must know) that she might have competition in the "cool friend" category. Because this lady is phenomenal. And I'm so thankful that I met her.

....And these things continue to remind me that my toils of trying to afford daycare for the twins are very very trivial. They will have food, shelter, education, and love...and more. We have so much more than some people could even hope for.

I *heart* this guy.....

....he'll always ham it up for the camera. I went down to Southern Indiana this weekend and left the boys behind. And, while it's more relaxing that way, I sure did miss them!

...by the way, it's apparently a really good time to get married....my future sis-in-law got some really great stuff! Everything went really well this weekend with her shower. Everyone behaved well, and that made it easy to just be tickled pink about all the fun stuff happening for them. They're the cutest little couple, and they're going about everything so well. Yes, they're young (21 & 22?), but they're older than I was when I got married AND they're sans kids! My brother has a better job than I do and she's going to be finishing school next May. They just bought the cutest little house, too.....I'm so very excited for them! (If you haven't noticed already....)