Bloggety Update

Dear blog,

Here's what's been goin' on!

Last weekend, we (the whole family) went to Minnesota to visit with Syd's parents since Syd had a show there. The trip started with a little drama...the carry on bag (Carley's pull along suitcase that looks like a giant ladybug) was left in an airport bathroom when we got on the plane. I realized it JUST as we were sitting down. :( Panic!!! This bag contained our nice camera, our ipod, the portable dvd player, along with other toys and things to keep the kiddos content on our plane ride. We immediately alerted the flight attendants who alerted the gate attendants, etc etc....and they came back to tell us they couldn't find our bag. Wow. We had already had this (well...not THIS) camera stolen from our checked luggage in a trip about a year ago. This, collectively, was going to be a pricey bag to replace. Sadness. Guilt. Not getting to "plug" the kids in during the flight. Wahhhhh. Shortly into the flight, we were notified that they HAD found our bag and the police had it. SHEW! We made it through the flights to/from MN without all of our kiddie gadgets and finally got the bag picked up a couple of days ago from airport lost and found. Everything was accounted for- a MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!

Anyway- The rest of the trip went without a hitch and the kids loved hanging with Nana and Papa in MN. We hit the Mall of America amusement park, played outside and played with Nana and Papa and listened to the quartet rehearse when we could. Carley went to the show on Saturday with Nana and Papa~~~and they didn't get home until after midnight!!! What a party animal! :) They said she was super good, so that made me happy. I had visions of a tired, cranky, whiny little one throwing a wrench in things, but apparently she was a trooper!

Last week was pretty normal- school in the mornings for Carley, gymnastics on Wednesday, tutoring on Tuesday. I had lunch with my friend Amber on Wednesday, and we had dinner with our neighbors, Nickie and Ryan (and Austin) on Wednesday night. Thursday night, a bunch of girlfriends and I went to hibachi for some time OUT. :) There were 9 of us- it was a fun group! Today was my friend Amber's birthday, so I took her on a progressive lunch in grand ole' Jefferson. (I snuck in a pedicure beforehand, which was amazing!)

Now- I'm doing lots of laundry, packing and getting ready for our trip to Missouri next week! We will leave on Monday (hopefully) after Carley's kindergarten screening, and stay through Saturday. I am soooooooo excited to see my niece, Annie, again!!! It will also be a lot of fun because Graham is making some big steps in personality and communication and is SO fun to be around right now! AND his current obsession is "ball". Any ball. He especially loves baseball, and loves to hit the ball off the tee, collect it, put it back on the tee and repeat. If the weather is nice, I can see the kids being outside...a lot!

Signing off for now- lots of packing to do! :)