Countdown!

One week until departure...actually by this time of day we will be well on our way. Dan has decided we are leaving Thursday June 10--but at some insane hour like 3:oo a.m. His idea is to travel significantly while the children sleep so we can get to our first hotel (Montgomery, AL) early in the day. I hope his master plan works and they all go back to sleep when we transfer them into the car, we'll see!

Things are progressing well. Dan and Tyler moved a significant amount of stuff into the storage unit on Monday and I'm almost done packing up the rest of the house. I'm to that annoying part, you know...all the stuff that you think is important enough to save but you're not sure why or where it goes. I need to really sort it and make some decisions but I'll probably stare at it for another day or two and then toss it all in a box really fast Saturday morning when the moving crew comes. It will sit in a box for a couple of years and I'll finally open it just in time to move again, haha! Seriously, I had energy early in the week but I lost all of it and need to find some for these finishing touches...or maybe the packing fairies will come while I nap...

I have had a wonderful victory, Dan is letting me keep the refridgerator at the house until Wednesday. I 'politely' pointed out the difficulty of feeding a family of 6 for a week out of a cooler and he saw my point of view. And it really went that smoothly...

I also had a terrible defeat. Aaron is officially killing me. I purposely kept him in the crib so we could just take the port-a-crib with us and he would sleep well on vacation. Monday I put him in the port-a-crib in another room while I packed the boys' room. Five minutes later I hear a door open and little legs coming down the hall. WHAT?!?!? I asked him to show me how he got out...approximately 3 seconds after I put him in the bed he just popped his little legs over and was out. AAAAH! He is very well confined in the actual crib but I guess the port-a-crib is small enough to make a big difference. My master plan has been foiled. I am seriously concerned about sleep on this vacation. I also stalled on the potty training issue...he has just recently shown real interest in the deal. I figured it would be easier to keep him in diapers until August. He has started taking off his diaper on his own. Kill. ing. me. I would be overjoyed to have him in a big boy bed and wearing underwear...but trying to make the transitions while driving all over the country are daunting. Why couldn't he have done this either 2 months ago or in 2 months. Oh well, I guess it will add to the adventure!

No progress on a place to live...we still can't decide what to do...maybe we'll find a place we like on vacation somewhere and just stop. Just kidding.

Kind of.

Okay, that's enough for now. I need to get out of this really comfie chair and get moving for the day. Today is the last full day of school for the kids so I need to find energy and get this house in tip top shape before they are home...if I pack everything they won't be able to make a mess, right?

Have a happy day!

Kyle's Party

Click here to view these pictures larger

The benefits of education!

I just love it when one child is old enough to do story time for the next in line. Everyone is excited and there are a few moments of peace...aaaaahhhh.

Adventures of the pregnant homeless lady, #2

YIKES!!! We leave in just a little over 3 weeks. How did this happen so fast? So much still to do but things are coming together. It's time to really get moving...literally.

Anyway, so I was looking at mapquest for some directions and made the mistake of just entering the entire trip in at once, from destination to destination to destination to destination to destination to destination to destination and the totals are: 90 hours 17 minutes, 5711.36 miles.

HOLY COW!
That doesn't even count trips within the trip and stops along the way (I am pregnant...I will give a complete review of public restrooms across the country when we're done). So, the question of the day is...do you have a favorite 'in the car' game or activity? I am feeling very blessed to be a parent during a time of technology...when I was young we just had an 8 track player and some coloring books. Now we have mini dvd players, laptop computers, nintendo ds, ipods, etc. and I fully intend to increase the max 'screen time' way past recommended levels. I have put together some nifty travel journals, purchased new crayons, assembled a car friendly craft box, printed out a map of the US so we can chart our course (and cross off all the liscense plates we see), and gathered some favorite books.

90 hours 17 minutes. We're gonna need some more ideas.

Anyone? Even if you are just here because you clicked on a blog and then clicked on a blog...I don't need to actually know you, I just need some tricks up my sleeve. Wish us luck!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Just the best kids ever! I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Yummy

Never turn your back on a two year old and a bowl of cookie dough.

Katherine's new mouth, phase one

So my lovely daughter seems to have inherited her jaw from the Jarvis side of the fam...not so great. We have a long road of orthodontia ahead of us. To start things off we had a few pesky baby teeth removed to get them out of the way. She was a trooper and mostly just enjoyed her day off of school and large amounts of ice cream.