Family Reunion, Part One

Let's walk.  Come with me, while we look at the archives of where I've been the last few weeks.  We start with me getting the family ready for a week-long car trip, while Wonder Daddy is at a conference on the other coast, and end with us reuniting happily with my husband's family at a camp site in Idaho.  And I don't sleep.  Ever.  (Don't worry, that gets better!)

Madebymyrnie ✆	Jun 19
to Wonder Daddy

I'm never going to sleep, am I???

Cocoa fell asleep on the way home, and has woken up at 12:30, 1:30, and 2:15. Ernie was up at 1:00 finding and filling the sippy cups and crying because I didn't take the tags off her presents yet.  Cocoa hasn't stayed awake long enough to take medicine, so I just did it now.  Amazingly, he swallowed it instead of breathing it in (what normally happens if I give it to him when he's not totally awake.)

I have a dentist appointment at 9:00, because it's been a week since my fillings and I still can't open my jaw more than a finger-width.
It's 2:30 and I've been awake for 2 hours.  At least I got two hours of sleep before this all started!!

I'm nervous about this trip.  I can't get any sleep at home, and trips are normally worse.... :(. I know you are saying "It will be fine!" right now, but I'm just too tired!!

Madebymyrnie ✆	Jun 20
to Grandpa

Thanks Grandpa!  Nine hours on the road, and we're in Mountain Home.  Not bad for four potty breaks and one stop at a drive-thru!  Kids are thrilled to be out of their car seats :). They've had their baths, and we found a two-room hotel room for a good price.  We didn't bother with a hotel with a pool, because we arrived so late!

Love-

Myrnie

Madebymyrnie ✆	Jun 22 (8 days ago)
to Aunt LoLo

We made it to Mountain Home Wednesday night, around 9:00 I think.  Girls went to bed at 10, Cocoa went to bed at midnight.  Arrived in St. Charles Thursday afternoon to the camp site.  No burns, no bug bites, win for spray on SPF 50 and deet canisters!  The girls went to bed after dark, Cocoa followed an hour or two later.  Sleeping didn't happen for Cocoa and me, I know I slept twice but I don't think it was very long.  At 4:30 I gave up rocking Cocoa and got in the car.  I gave him half a granola bar and he fell asleep till 6:30.  We drove till 8:00, because he was sleeping again.  I drove south to Fish Haven, North to Paris, up the Paris canyon until I saw cows in the road, south to Garden City (past Fish Haven again) to see what kind of motel I could see, then back north to St Charles to try and find Uncle Terry.  Wonder Daddy passed me looking for me, in case I'd driven off a cliff.

We spent the rest of the day breaking camp, touring Minnetonka cave, eating lunch in town (blt, fried pickle spears, and raspberry shake for me!), taking the girls to see my great aunt and uncle, and settling into the lodge. 

I'm so tired and grumpy!

Cocoa developed a runny nose today, his gums are swollen, and he's been crying and squirming and drooling for an hour which is kind of what he did all night last night.  Ok, now he's goofy and mischievous because the Advil just kicked in.  It was in the 90's today, but it will cool down tonight.  It was 43 when I turned the car on this morning!

Ernie and her Nana

Cocoa and his TEETH

My nephew

HAVE A PONY, LITTLE BOY!  Cocoa is just fine with his licorice.  Life be good.

Tea Party

Ernie's birthday is coming up soon (seven!!!!) so I kidnapped her last week for a surprise cooking class at our food co-op. We made tart crusts and filled them with chopped strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. We had cucumber, carrot salad, and egg salad sandwiches. We had mint chamomile tea. It was all so fun, and E did a great job chopping and stirring and mixing and TASTING :)

She was so cute after the class- half an hour after everyone else had finished eating and gone home, Ernie was studiously filling out her "how'd we do" survey, writing down all the recipe titles we made and rating them with "smiley face" bubbles.

Odds and Ends

1. I got a new computer today- it was scrap heap bound from my husband's office. The USB ports don't work.
2. My husband has been trying for 3 hours to make the USB ports work
3. I spent 4 hours in the car today delivering two orders of starts from the greenhouse, taking dinner to my cousin, picking up RAM and memory from a freecycler, picking up my husband (and computer) from work, picking up Dick's Hamburgers, driving through our alma mater campus (go dawgs!), picking up my husband's truck from the park and ride, and driving the truck home (alone. Because my husband is awesome and didn't say a word. Just handed me the keys, and drove off into the sunset with three greasy-fingered kids.)
4. Sourdough bread is fermenting on the counter.
5. My son has remembered how to go to sleep on his own, and trusts me that I will get him when he wakes up. Yippee!! I didn't hear him wake up from a nap last week, and by the time I got there he was frantic. We've had a rough, sleepless, week, building his trust up again. When he wakes up from a nap, I run in with big smiles and cuddles. See? I'll always be here for you. Even when you wake up, sobbing, 6 times in one night. Can you see we don't think much of letting kids cry it out? I think it damages them.
6. Everyone but Daddy got a haircut on the back deck yesterday. Ernie is back to her ear-length bob, Cocoa had his tuft on top shortened, and Mimi and I just had a trim. She's probably told me ten times since then NOT to cut her hair like Ernie's- she wants it looooong like Rapunzel's.
7. The only reason Mimi brushes her hair is to get the curls out so it lays longer and flatter.
8. Ernie finished first grade last week, and is thoroughly enjoying her summer break. 9. I read 6 novels last week. Ernie read more.

Sticky Fingers

I'm hiding in the back room, while Wonder Daddy shows funny videos to Cocoa on his IPhone.  Ssssshhhh.

We had a bit of sun this week, and the girls begged fudgesicles for a snack.  They were thoroughly enjoyed.





Cocoa is getting good at trotting across the lawn, and exploring the dirt on the other side





Our yearly annual garage sale happened this weekend- I manned the goods all day Friday and Saturday.  It felt awesome to get all that stuff out of the house- I purged the entire house back in April, and stockpiled all the stuff in one room.  I told folks that if I made $30, I'd be a happy camper.  I went ahead and priced everything at a dollar, so I didn't have to deal with price stickers or hard math.  Plus, everyone loves the dollar aisle at Target: surely they'd love a dollar sale in my garage?

I was right- we did pretty well.  I actually made $50.  It was so completely depressing to count up the cash and only find $32.  Yes, I made my goal.  But knowing that I spent two days of my life on this sale, and that a 1/3rd of the proceeds just walked out the door somehow, was a bit crushing.  The first day was fun- people were happy to be there and find a bargain, my oldest girls were off playing so it was just me and Cocoa, and my little sister came to keep up company.  The second day, someone tried to sweet talk my 6-year-old into selling my patio chairs while I was out of sight, little kids came with all their yelling and throwing and wanting to buy my kids' toys that WEREN'T for sale, and everyone was just grumpier.  No more garage sales, this absolutely wasn't worth $32.  $14 of the proceeds belonged to the girls, and $2 belonged to my sister.  I took the five-finger-discount out of my husband and my share.  It almost paid for the two pizzas he picked up that night for an easy dinner while we babysat my niece and nephew.  I should have taken everything to the donation site as soon as I pulled it off our shelves.  Bah.  (Dad, you were right.  Again.  Ha, when will I learn that you're ALWAYS right?)