making a list, checking it twice...

personally, getting ready for travels is half of the fun. the gathering of the items - whether it's from closets or stores; placing it all out in front of the suitcases; later, eliminating the things that you don't really need; then of course, realizing oh, what the hell, might as well. my family has it fairly easy when it comes to getting ready for vacation. i book the flights and car rentals, i pack all the bags (a small side note: my husband's mind turns to mush when he sees a suitcase. the barrage of questions that come to mind i should not even utter because this is a grown man, someone i know is quite intelligent but you would not think so during this time. it's quite humorous and we have a good laugh about it. i guess we all have our weak points. i digress.) so yes, i pack for all of us. and just when i think we're all set and ready to go, there's the items that you use up until departure date so i've made a second list of things to pack on morning of. and let me just note for the record, i used to give my mom a whole lot of s--t for making lists. i would get entirely too irritated by her suggestion for such things. nowadays, if i didn't make lists, i wouldn't remember to grab the car seat which contains 1/2 of my precious cargo! so call me a list nazi, i don't care, but i rarely forget so there.

and speaking of cargo, we are going to be those people walking through the airport. two car seats, double stroller, two large bags, baby bjorn (with or without baby), two back packs. oh, and then there's the joy of security. did you happen to see last week's saturday night live? the commercial for tsa? anchorage international is lucky enough to not have the body scans, but i would much rather have my naked body viewed versus felt up (and down). oh Lord, please give me the patience to get through security...

as of today, i am shaved, tanned (for 3 week prior now), french-pedicured, and ready to go! our bags are packed, the airplane bags are loaded with new books and new treats, cheap games so no loss if they're left behind, and dilly has a couple new toys to gnaw on. even ben has his goodies that i was sure would need to be locked up yesterday because he's already demolished half the box of gushers. he asked me if i thought it was strange that he needed his own treats for the plane to which i responded "yes, dear, but i love you anyway." i even purchased a video for jack on my iphone that i'm sure we will have memorized by the time we land on lush maui.

the forecast for the week is between 80 and 83 degrees, with lows of 69 degrees. i wonder if ben knows he may be leaving without me next thursday. he jokingly told me last night that he was going to stay behind with jack to set up his trap line. i responded with an enthusiastic, "gooooood bye!" i have a feeling ben is going to enjoy hawai'i much more than he anticipated.

do i dare mention that our christmas tree has been up all week? i know, i know, but i really wanted to come home to decorations, so it only made sense. ben got the lights up on the house two weeks ago, so naturally, the tree was the next step. and, here's the real kicker: i went fake this year. never in my thirty years have i had a fake tree. always enjoyed the smell of an evergreen. that mixture of pine and cinnamon (because you just gotta buy those cinnamon-scented pinecones to decorate too, right?!) floating through the air. i think after last year's 45 minute vacuuming experience, i was completely over the needles. and let's not forget all the watering, fear of overflow, fear of ruined carpet underneath, curious toddlers, etc. oh, it's just another thing to take care of.

took him all day, but i know jack had a fun time. the picture below is kinda hard to make out, but we have a 40 foot tree at the end of our driveway that ben lit up with colored lights and topped off with a star. you can see it a mile away.

we've had a mother and her twins visiting our neighborhood this year. i'd like to think it's the same mother as last year, but you never know. on monday, i caught her playing with jack's buoy swing in the back yard. she kept nosing it, back and forth. jack was really tickled by it, but was p-o'd at me that i wouldn't let him outside to "play too?" um, no.

ok, in closing, here's one last look at my beautiful babes before they're smattered with sunblock, smelling of chlorine and ocean. i guarantee this: one will come home tanned and the other may have a tinge of reddish-glow. i'll leave it up to you to decide...

directions

take your first left at tantrum boulevard. then, proceed to meltdown avenue where you will then take a right on screaming fits lane. from there, count to 5 in your head at which point you will then be at the junction of where did i go wrong and what number time out is this today.

i'm sure everyone has had days like this. it brings me great joy to admit that our days are no longer this awful anymore. we used to have day after day of this sequence; that can really wear on a mama. nowadays, jack typically saves his freak outs for mondays - because they're not hard enough as it is, i guess. i've been toying with the idea of changing his school days to monday/wednesday based on repeated terrible, no good, really bad, mondays.

for the most part, my jackie is lovable and full of smooches; wants to give and receive huds (hugs); enjoys meal times and announces when it's nap time. he helps put his toys away, and even picks up dylan's toys when she drops them. his latest obsession is helping with laundry. and when i say helping, i mean it very loosely. long story short: he is growing so fast. he's talking non stop and like everyone warned me, he doesn't shut up. ever. really. like, i wouldn't be surprised if his ambitions lean toward sports broadcasting, where he can provide play-by-plays. this kid comments on everything. and as cute and adorable as it is, at the end of the day, i'm mentally exhausted. i have nothing more to comment on. see and that's the other thing - if you do not acknowledge his findings, he will keep on, keeping on. so there's no getting out of it. truck rides are comical. i imagine it's like what playing i spy with a spider would be like; eight eyes, noticing eight things all at once. maybe? so yes, he talked when he was ready, i'm just not so sure we were ready for it. all that energy inside of him is now spewing out at a rapid, regular rate. the latest: jack miebs, didi miebs, mama miebs, dada miebs, belly (bella) miebs... and ending in fits of laughter. he's a riot.

hey - are you wondering about our financial status, like, can we not afford to cut this child's hair?! ben seems to think he looks like a orphan. and yes, perhaps he is a tad orphan-like, but i really want to grow out his curls. i feel that my window of having control over his soft tresses is very limited, and i may as well hold onto those reigns during this time. i've promised ben we can trim it after hawai'i, but he keeps threatening me with great clips.

and speaking of hawai'i, we leave in just a few days. i can hardly contain myself! but, i won't say anything else for fear of bragging. also, i guess i can't get too excited because we gotta get through the 6 hour flight. sheesh. may the force be with us.

more soccerball

gramma d came with us to soccer a few weeks back. she was able to snap a few pictures, in between juggling the dilly. this is our last week for soccer, and it makes me a little sad to say goodbye to all our new friends. jack has had a lot of fun, and surprisingly, he's come a long way from our first day. but, next up is tumbling, and i have a feeling he's going to enjoy that even more. here's to new adventures and more memories.

after soccer, we always check the mail. this saturday, there was yet more packages - the birthday celebration lived on one more week! jackie received some new fuzzy jammies, a hoodie and a new board game from his friend rylee in arizona. he insisted on wearing the jammies immediately, said the hoodie was "cuuuute" and was super-excited about woody and buzz on this new-fangled box. thank you, haloff's! he also received a package from his uncle matt and aunt renee. this one, he wasn't quite sure what to think... his name is stinky the garbage truck. he makes incredible noises, his sayings are ridiculous, and he actually "eats" cars and poops them out. only his uncle would think to buy him this! jack still jumps back at times, but i think he's finally seeing the humor in it.

sUrPRisE!!!

so i blogged the day of my birthday, writing about of all the wonderful things that made up the day. what i did not know was my family and friends would be waiting at dinner to surprise me. i am still reeling in all the love that made up that beautiful november 9.

ben planned the whole thing, making calls, trying to gather as many of our friends and family together. i asked about some that weren't there, and it was either they couldn't make it or oops, i forgot to call them! (so blame benji if you're reading this and didn't get an invite!)

dinner at evangelo's was great, but mostly, it was about getting smiling faces together for laughs and a good time. i hope those that made it out had as much fun as i did. i feel so blessed to have such phenomenal people surrounding me.

after dinner out, we came home to more birthday wishes and more cake. white cake with cream cheese frosting - um, yes please! this is by far the best birthday ever. and, i know this because i've had thirty of them!