Getting Myself Together

Or rather, getting myself plus every other member of the family together so we can all leave our house at 4:15 tomorrow morning. We're going to Arizona. For a week.

I am so not ready for this.

I mean, I'm ready to be there. Hello, 68 degrees and sunny in February! But I am not ready to get there. Then again, can a person ever really be ready for a 16-hour cross-country odyssey with three small boys? Not really.

My feeling of unpreparedness is exacerbated by the fact that I basically lost Wednesday due to Jack's stomach ailment affecting both A. and me on the same day. I managed to repair most of the chaos from that episode yesterday, but it put me behind in my laundry and bread baking and so forth.

Anyway. Who cares! Tomorrow we're going to wake our small children hellishly early and get on a plane (three planes) with whatever I've thrown in our bags for a week of fun in the sun!

WHEE!

This one is psyched to swim in a pool. And that Valentine's chocolate he's holding that came from my parents? I bet there will be PLENTY MORE where that came from. Because we're staying where that came from. Vacation, here we come.

The Romance Report

Well, we kicked off Valentine's Day by pushing A. out the door at 4 a.m. so he could make the five-hour drive to Blackrock with the dog in tow.

Okay, I didn't really push him. He went voluntarily, because he has a court appearance in that county today. I even got up to offer a mumbled "Happy Valentine's Day," and a limp hug before I stumbled back to bed.

I know. My devotion is really inspiring.

He has the dog with him because we're leaving Saturday for a week in Arizona (!), so Mia is going to stay with the MiL and Sky while we're gone. As irritating as old dog Mia finds Sky's relentless energy and attempts to play, she'll be much happier there than in a boarding kennel.

Cubby and Charlie have Valentine's Day parties in their respective classes today. Thankfully, I am not on the hook for any required treats for these parties, but I did, of course, have to provide the Valentine's Day cards for all the classmates. When I surveyed my choices at the grocery store, I found that my only non-branded option were cards that can be folded into paper airplanes. Since I have Big Issues with branded children's anything, I could not bring myself to buy anything with Barbie or Ninja Turtles on it. So airplanes it is!

When I opened the boxes last night so Cubby could write the names on them (and I could do Charlie's), I looked at the instructions and realized I am NOT going to be beloved of any parent who has to fold these things for their kid. They're all, "Fold A vertically to B, Fold B left to C" and on and on for an entire page.

Sorry, parents.

A. did one for Cubby and Charlie, and they are pretty good planes. If you can manage to follow all the directions.

Really, though, my only hope for today is that Cubby and Charlie actually GO to school. Charlie has been sick with a mysterious malaise for two days now, Jack woke up yesterday covered in vomit, and Cubby was complaining last night at bedtime that his stomach hurt. So if no one is throwing up today and the two older ones go to school, I'll consider the day a success.

Happy Valentine's Day, my lovelies! Doing anything fun to celebrate?