Packing

The girls and I are going with my mom tomorrow to go visit my grandpa!

He's 97, but he's still doing great, although he keeps saying "I never expected to live this long."

We can't wait! Well, Lilli can wait, actually, she hates to fly. She suggested driving, and when I told her that would take too long, she suggested walking. It seems we need to have a talk about how long things actually take. The girls are really excited to see fall leaves and they keep hoping for snow, since they've only ever seen the fake kind at Disney. I don't mind the leaves, but I would happily pass on the snow.

The only tricky part to this packing business is that I realized the Elizabeth was short on long sleeved shirts and all the girls' church dresses are Florida-ish and I had to work hard to figure out what might be appropriate for a Pennsylvania Sunday in October.

Also, my grandpa lives in an assisted living facility. Which means that there's not a lot of entertainment for little kids while we grownups chat. So most of my mom's and my luggage consists of things for them to do. I'm big time grateful for small things that pack a lot of entertainment. The Kindle, the portable DVD player and the DS are TREASURED at this moment. But we've still got puzzles and books and coloring supplies and games and crafts and....right, gotta remember to leave room for my own clothes!

The big down side to this whole trip is that David is staying here, so we won't see him until Monday night and none of us are happy about that. He thought we were coming back Sunday so he wasn't super happy about it either.

I just keep telling him to think of all the unlimited computer time he's going to have.

Did I mention that someone turned 6?

Right!

So, Elizabeth had a birthday party almost a whole month ago. Bad mama blogger! Bad!

She wanted to have it at the community pool, and as I was still residually partied out from the Panda Extravaganza in July, I was very supportive!

Just look at that barren table:

Actually, someone must have moved all the snacks around. Because that table did actually have stuff on it besides some sad non-themed cupcakes with crooked candles.

Let's pause to mourn the other half of the cupcakes which got flipped upside down when I delegated responsibility for them elsewhere...

The other half survived though, and at least I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing just like she asked for, so that's something, right? RIGHT?

Poor kid.

I liked this picture of some of the party girls even though Lilli has her eyes shut. The other girls look too cute:

Here's my chocolate covered birthday girl:
She really liked the cupcakes.

I don't normally post present pictures, but her expression was too cute on this not to post:
I especially like how Lilli is in the background hoping she'll hurry it up so she can hand her another present.

It may have been low key and non fancy for a birthday party, but even though I did color coordinate everything, get goodie bags together, and do some decorating at home in case we had to change the location due to lightning, I think its the most relaxed I have ever been on the day of the party, and the most relaxed time I have ever had at one of their parties. I just got to sit on a bench in the shade, baby sit everyone's stuff, and talk to whoever wasn't swimming at the time. It was awesome.

And Elizabeth told me it was the best day of her entire life.

Maybe one too many things at once...

I'm busily multi-tasking at the moment. Organizing some photos, playing Pioneerville, watching Terra Nova, crocheting, and posting. Not sure if I've picked too many things to do that don't go together or what, but my head is feeling all full and disjointed at the moment.

I need to download my brain somewhere, but there's nowhere that's truly private. I could write down everything and then erase it, but I know I'll want to re-read it in order to process it, because that's what I do. Obviously the internet is out, desktop journals are viewable to my 6 year old, and I hate writing by hand in a traditional journal now that I've spent so many years typing. I am very lucky to have good friends and a wonderful husband I can and do talk to, but sometimes you just want something to talk to that doesn't formulate any opinion about what you're saying, doesn't offer advice, can listen completely objectively, and can repeat back exactly what you said. And that's never going to be another person.

Ok, that seemed a little melancholy. Which is generally the complete opposite of my personality. Clearly too much busy is getting to me. If I figure out where this magic private recordable brain download station is, I'll let you know.

But you'll have to get in line for it. I think I'll be there a while.

Post hiatus

Hello blog, I've missed you!

I've been a busy girl. I don't even know where to start, that's how busy. But between the crafting, the cupcake baking and the crocheting zillions of granny squares for a service project, my fingers have been too busy for typing. Plus I just got back from Mom's Weekend Away in Orlando, so that took a whole weekend off the table. I'll catch up someday!

Meanwhile, I've been listening to "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes a lot lately. For someone who likes to sing as much as I do and lives her life in playlists, it's kind of perfect.

You can decide if you like it as much as I do.