Hello Me - self portrait by Hannah

It’s unusual to catch Hannah pointing the camera at herself so this was a fun picture to find!

Jennifer on Safari - by Hannah

My cousin Jennifer is like me and does not like her pictures taken, but I thought this one would be acceptable.  She has the MOST BEAUTIFUL wavy red hair and the sunny, fun personality too match.  I wanted to spend as much time as I could with her as a child.  Now we have gotten to spend 4 whole days with her, and it has been exactly what I thought it would be those many years ago, wonderful!!!

Drummer Cade

Three years ago.  That’s how long it’s been since the kids and I visited my cousin in Ft. Lauderdale, and even then, it was only for a night before we left for a month long trip to Europe.  The kids were almost 3 and 4 — they were young.  But they have never stopped talking about “Jennifer with the drums” – NEVER!  So here we are again, our third stop of this trip and the drums are here.  I did take a video of them playing today and I am going to work on posting that so you can all experience the beautiful music they can play, but in the meantime . . . here’s some pictures!

Drummer Hannah

I clearly remember the days when I counted the days dragging by to the week off that always came in the spring.  My family was never one to do spring trips like so many seem to do around here, but it was time out of the classroom and pressures of school.  Now that we homeschool, it’s just another week EXCEPT for one major difference . . .

The kids will be gone every day during the week from 9am-5pm.  I am going to have 40 hours ALL TO MYSELF next week.  This will be the first time since before Hannah was born that I have had that amount of time.  I started a list of all the things I want to get done during this precious time last night. I think I’m up to 50 and it’s still growing.

They are going to Tae Kwon Do camp, which of course, Hannah is ecstatic about and Cade, well not so much.  Speaking of TKD, Hannah broke her first board tonight.  After two hours of dance (ballet and jazz) we grabbed dinner in the car and headed straight to breaking class at TKD.  She tried the hammer fist which is the basic one (and the one that her brother has already broken many boards with despite his younger age and lower belt) but well, failed on all attempts.  She is doing great during practice runs, but the fear of the pain searing through her hand continues to stop her from going full force.  But with her right snap kick – she NAILED IT!  So proud of her!

So anyways, Spring Break is just days away and while the kids really don’t know anything out of the ordinary is happening yet.  I do and I am so excited!

Like my title.  Yes, I’ve been reading my regular blogs and all their titles are eye catching and intriguing, I’m just not made that way.  I can’t come up with something witty on the fly.  My specialty is sarcasm as pretty much anyone who has ever spoken to me knows.  And yes, it does get me in trouble quite a bit as people who don’t know me, think I’m being serious and then feelings get hurt and people cry (men and women alike) and then I feel bad and then I have to apologize and explain . . . you get the drift.  And no matter how much I try to control my mouth, it just keeps running, full of sarcastic remarks.  So there you have it.  I’m sarcastic, I know it and if you don’t like it, well, get over it.

I just checked my Post list and I have almost a dozen posts that I have started and not finished over the last several weeks.  And frankly, I think I’m just going to delete them all.  This is my no holds barred place to chat about me, my life, the munchkins, my work, etc. but sometimes, somethings are just too hard to share even on this seemingly anonymous platform.  So I’m going to delete them and just start afresh now and it’s nice to be able to do that . . .

So what’s new, old and everything in between??  Well, so much has happened in the last three weeks that I’ve decided just to post highlight bullets and then do quick and detailed posts on them as I have time AND more importantly I figure out how to transfer movies from my video camera that my dad got me for Christmas to the computer.  I have finally figured out how to watch them on the TV, so step 1 done.

Here it is:

• Three weeks of travel – roadtrip style – for me and the munchkins.  When we got back Sunday night, Hannah immediately asked when we were going back and Cade wanted to know when we could stay in another hotel.  I believe both of my children have my travel bug.  And that makes me happy.
• Two days of skiing school for both kids.  I hadn’t planned on Cade going, wasn’t sure he could/would handle it well, but he shocked me and did AWESOME the first day, not so much the second.  On the other hand, Hannah is a natural and was coming down the regular slopes on the second day like a pro.  I was a super proud mommy and caught a bit of it on video – yeah!!!
• First time ice skating for both munchkins and mommy hit the ice for the first time in over 10 years.  We switched this time, Cade was a natural and went out like a relatively stable beginner.  Hannah had to use the “walkers” provided for the first day but seemed to catch on the second.  Again, caught it on video.  Now Mommy was not so hot.  While I would like to blame it on rental skates, I fear that my ankles have just weakened that much since those grueling figure skating lessons so many years ago.  My head knows what to do, but I’m not sure my ankles can comply any longer.
• Stayed in some very cozy hotels with indoor pools and the kids LOVED being able to swim with the snow falling outside.  Mommy loved the jacuzzis after the days on the road.  Several times we were “stuck” at hotels so enjoyed it even more.
• Hannah conquered the United States puzzle I had brought along to serve as our geography lesson manipulative and can easily recognize most of the states when I make them “disappear.”  She can also trace the path we travelled and has already picked several other places we need to go.
• Cade got caught on video using his favorite word these days “hate” and has since suffered the consequences at the hands of many.  He was a handful of disobedience, defiance and disrespect for the majority of the trip.  He exhausted me and made me cry.  And most of the time, I don’t know what to do with him.  But on those rare moments where he smiles up at me or cuddles up close and falls asleep (and I do mean VERY rare,) I fall in love with my little man all over again.
• Got to spend time with and meet some clients whom I had never met in person before (and some I had) and it was AWESOME.  I am so grateful that my work allows me to travel and work from the road and meet these fascinating talented people whom I have the honor of working with.
• So everyone has a story of drama on a trip.  With only one adult and two children, our drama was definitely minimal (aside from Cade’s mentioned above.)  We scheduled our time wisely. Kept plenty of medication for whatever ailed us on hand and luckily no one broke anything or came worse for the wear.  But we did have one pretty major incident.  *drum roll please*  Mommy fell down the stairs.  It was 2am the first night in Chicago at my father in laws.  Cade was walking in front of me on the stairs and mommy fell from the very top.  No I wasn’t drinking or on drugs or anything else.  And contrary to the kids’ dad, I did not do it on purpose hoping to break my neck and be paralyzed or worse dead.  But I did fall – all the way down, head first, landing on my head/neck.  And I have the bruises all over my body still to prove it.  But no other damage.  And miraculously, somehow, I did not hit Cade on my fall down.  The paramedics came, I chose not to go to the hospital and am fine.  Maybe I’ll write on this more later, but please don’t make fun of me too much

I think that sums up my bulleted points.  And I feel better to have almost completed a post now.  So I’m going to close and head out to pick up the munchkins from homeschool co-op.  We are still getting settled back in and must get some groceries in the house today before it starts snowing again *blah

More later, your black and blue friend,

~hope