signing off until my return from FL

I have now finished my readings and contributed my post. I have packed up most of my office, printed confirmations and confirmed directions for the trip. I just need to study for my exam. I am starting to feel somewhat successful, and I'm signing off until I return from my trip. Tomorrow morning, after I finish my exam (at around 11ish) I will have to finish packing the rest of my office (computer included) and then I'm heading to Carolyn's retirement party.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

yet another update

I finished the readings and my first post for my ed. leadership class. I had finished my last paper for workplace diversity (not sure if I'd updated on that or not). I finished my paper for my ed leadership class. For today: pack up entire office. study for final tomorrow at 9 am. do next set of readings for ed leadership class and begin post. when i get home i have class at 7. i need to continue studying. finish packing the kiddos and i for vacation and be sure we have the appropriate paperwork and directions ;) i need to do my nails (superficial and totally not at the top of the to do list, but necessary) and finally, sleep. i feel like i'm moving in the right direction and will be really excited when i'm in the car, on the way to fl.



oh and i need to ask brooke for the car cd player! hopefully that will help my sanity during the long car ride ahead.

feeling slightly better

about the wedding that is. still not super excited, but i'm focusing on the spending time with carl and the girls portion. the swimming in the ocean and in the pool portion. the staying on disney property and eating at disney restaurants portion. and now i'm feeling better.

we picked up my car. i haven't driven it yet, but carl says its better. i'm guessing just about anything is better than having a car that smokes and over heats when you drive it! we had chines food for dinner. it was sketchy, is this really chicken general tso's chicken? we won't be going back to that particular restaurant. i thought it was the same one where we bought the sex and the city food from. it definitely was not.

i finished one paper and turned it in. i have written/ thought out most of my post, so i should finish that tomorrow morning. one more post, one more paper, and a final left...plus, i still haven't packed. ;)

i wanted to send a shout out to brooke! carl and i are always here if you need us. get some sleep tonight!

crunch time

I took Friday off. I wanted to keep an eye on Laney. I can't decide if she's sick or not. I ended up bringing the kiddos to work with me for a bit so I could get a few things done. The girls seemed to have a fun time. I wanted to get some schoolwork done Friday afternoon, but my car broke down instead. ugh! Something is wrong with the coolant...the car overheated and was smoking, in the Kohl's parking lot. AWESOME!

Saturday, I was planning to clean the house. I was planning to work on my papers for school. I was planning on working on my post on educational change. I was hoping to make a list of things to pack. I wanted to get our house in order, just in time to tear it apart packing. Chrissy and I were going to the wine festival. Instead, I did a whole lot of nothing. It felt like I was doing something, but I was hot and tired and didn't accomplish much. I did cut up watermelon and we made a yummy dinner. I read a lot..of a non-school book.

Sunday, I did clean some of the house. Chrissy and I went to the wine festival and it was LOTS of fun. She bought a cute purse. We bought some wine. We sampled many wines. We want to go back next year with a larger group (Brooke, Wendy, are you in?). I put away the girls clothes and pulled some of the "must-brings" from their stash of clothes. I didn't do any schoolwork. Instead, I put my clothes away and relaxed in my bed because I was hot. I made a "working" list of things to pack while eating dinner and listening to Alie chat away. We prayed to the car-gods...and then drove my car to carmax so hopefully it can be fixed in time for our trip.

Today, I turned on the ac. I can't use being hot as my procrastination excuse anymore. I'm out of time to procrastinate. Chrissy is watching the girls while I'm at work. Maybe I can write one of my papers or work on my post while I'm here. Hopefully. I have class tomorrow night. I have class on Wednesday night. I have a final on Thursday morning. We are leaving on Thursday night after "My Gym" with the girls. At some point, I'm hoping to have to pick up my car from Carmax. I hate the explorer, it doesn't hold my coffee cup well. Wish me luck. This will be an interesting week.

a class with teachers

Last night was my first face to face class of my grad program and it was almost as if I had entered a surreal world...a world filled with k-12 teachers. Although the class, educational leadership and technology, seemingly lends itself to a variety of degrees judging from the description in the catalog, it is apparently a biggie for the k-12 set. I have entered the alternate universe of binders, highlighters and multi colored pens. I thought that I had left this world behind, and would only enter it occasionally as I volunteered in my daughters classrooms when they get older. Apparently not. This will be an interesting 5 weeks! The good news is that my professor does not want to waste gas (at $4 a gallon) driving from Harford County to Towson twice a week, so she has cancelled one meeting each week.

In other news, my kiddos have yet another health issue. This time a cold. Dr. Lake prescribed something for their nasty coughs. Laney has a runny nose. I feel so terrible for my little ladies. I guess this is par for the course when you're two.

breakdown

I had a minor breakdown on Friday afternoon. It is no secret to anyone that knows Carl and me(unless you are Carl's parents or his brother) that Carl works...ALOT. I spend my days and nights looking forward to any amount of time I might get to spend with him. I know a few months ago (probably in January) ,I said that the summer would be no problem since I had him home during the fall and the beginning of the winter. I lied. This is much more difficult than I imagined, and I thought I had been imagining the worst. He has been working at least one weekend day each week since the beginning February and both weekend days since mid March. He has been working late nights and leaving very early in the morning...and its hard. Frustrations build making things harder. Last weekend was the first weekend since January that Carl was home the whole time...But I am having a problem, I idealize our time together in my head. Life never plays out the way you think it will, so I am inevitably disappointed. It sucks. He plans to come home for dinner or by the girls bedtime, but there is always rain or traffic or some other something that keeps him from being home. I try not to feel disappointed, but I am. I can't help it. So in short, thank you to my friends that help to keep me sane. Without you, I would probably slip into a deep depression and never leave my house. I appreciate all you do for me!

Now, for the more uplifting stuff....the weekend! Friday night, following my funk, we joined the Ambrose family for dinner and it was nice. The girls ate their first flavor-ice (a favorite of Ryan). It was a little challenging for them, but they seemed to enjoy it. After Carl and the kiddos went home, Brooke and I watched "Mad Money". It was cute, but not as funny as I had expected or hoped.

Saturday morning, in light of my duel with Brooke, I decided to raise my personal bar and go jogging with the kiddos. HAHAHAHA (laughing hysterical outloud) the jogging did not go as planned. It is HOT and HUMID outside. I would literally run an eight of a mile and have to walk...I'm not in the shape I was hoping for. We did my run walk thing to Target and back (I needed to pick up makeup and a converse shoes for Carl for father's day. All together it was a little over 2 miles (pitiful I know, but I guess you have to have a jumping off point right? hahaha). After our morning "jog", the girls and I spent the rest of the day enjoying the cool air conditioned inside. We played with their little people house (this time I didn't even get to be a little person ;() and had blueberry pancakes for lunch. I have a pancake-making deficiency by the way. Carl made it home by 6, and we headed out to the grocery store.

Sunday, fathers day, the girls and I had chocolate donuts for breakfast (I had to make up for the jog on Saturday). We laid around on the couch. I FINALLY finished Pope Joan, and the girls watched Peter Pan (aka Tinkerbell in my house). Carl came home a little after 2 (woohoo) and we headed to Cirucci's to go swimming in her pool. The kids in the baby pool were quite something (a story for another day), but the girls really enjoyed being in the big pool with us. Cirucci made us a delicious dinner! Carl and I took the kiddos to Moxley's for some ice cream afterwards. It was a nice afternoon :)

vacation in 2 weeks!!!

Carl's brother Dan is getting married on June 28th, in Clearwater Beach, FL. We will be driving down Thursday night (after I take my final in the am, work all day and have class in the pm...) and hope to arrive in clearwater by noon on Friday. My mil gave Carl some money to pay for his best man outfit for the wedding, and gave a little extra so I could buy a new dress as well. We went to Kohl's last night and I picked out a blue dress with black sequins on the straps. It kind of sounds weird when I describe it, but I think it looks really pretty. Laney and Alie have had their flowergirl dresses hanging in their closet for a few weeks.

I registered Laney and Alie for "My Gym" last night. We start on the Thursday night, right before we leave for vacation, but will generally attend the Saturday morning class. I'm so excited and I'm hopeful that the girls will really enjoy the class and the social interaction. I have really wanted to do an "activity" with them, and I can't wait to get started!

my big girls

After much deliberation, Carl and I decided to give Laney and Alie their own rooms. We spent the weekend cleaning out the "Eloise" room, installing a fan and moving Laney's dresser and clothes in. Last night, we moved in her bed and they spent their first night at our home separately. The move is bitter sweet. It is time for them to have their own rooms. If they were not twins, they probably never would have shared. But, they have always shared. They shared in the NICU, they were together in our bedroom in bassinets and they were together in cribs in their shared room. Now, they are really my little big girls. They did such a great job and were so excited to have their own space! I'm hoping that being separate helps them to get more sleep.

Ugh! Baltimore weather

Gotta love the weather in Baltimore. Eary June has brought heat and humidity. Yesterday, Carl took off and the whole fam headed down to the zoo for the morning. Our visit was fun, but incredibly humid. It was only 74 out, but there was sweat running everywhere! I had to have a frosty afterwards (I am newly addicted!). This weekend, the weather people are calling for temps in the mid 90s...is it August already?

Carl has the weekend off, woohoo. Tonight I'm headed with the ladies to see Sex and the City. Elizabeth said it was really funny and I have heard other great reviews, so I'm really excited to see it! I think we're going to make a night of it and head out for cocktails afterwards :)

lunchtime discussion

Brian and I generally cover a variety of topics during our lunchtime discussions. During any week we generally hit the biggies of politics and economics. This week (and its only Wednesday) we have discussed some heavy hitters....war, parenting, protections of rights in the US vs other countries, the election, grad school, education, etc. I think its funny that at lunch we generally end up examining these serious topics at some length. Be on the lookout for the book we plan to write soon..."Opinions from lunch hour" by Brian Myers and Haley Klein ;)

Morning

This morning was totally one of those mornings. I woke up late and of course the girls want to play with playdough. They stood in the bathroom during my shower asking about the playdough. They watched me get dressed, pointing out my body parts and clothes as usual, but managed to fit in their playdough requests. When I went to get them dressed, they were out of princess and elmo "big girl pants" so plain training pants it had to be...that didn't go over so well. Breakfast (yogurt) went well, but as soon as I walked into my kitchen I noticed coffee everywhere! All over the counter, all over the floor...it was awesome. The problem seemed to be that the water (coffee) wasn't getting through the filter. I didn't have time to fix that so lucky for me, my friend Ryan made me a pot so I could grab it while dropping off the kiddos.

Now all is well and Renee Zellweger and Chris Noth might be staying in the Towson area! She was spotted at the Target yesterday which is about a mile from my home.

we're back

This weekend I went with Brooke and Farmer to celebrate the impending arrival of Baby Walo. We left Friday evening, stopping in Philly to meet Rachel for dinner (super yum-o) and then ventured on to CT to spend the night. Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and headed to NH for the shower. It was really wonderful to see Doug and Katie. She looks so beautiful and has that wonderful pregnant glow. After the shower we headed to MA for dinner at Friendly's and hang out time at Katie and Doug's wonderful home. The whole afternoon/evening was a lot of fun! Around 12:15, Brooke, Farmer and I headed to a hotel room in MA...we were exhausted. This morning we woke up, ate yummy breakfast bagels and headed home. Brooke drove the first part and I finished up.

I was really glad that we were able to be there for Katie's special day. She received some really wonderful gifts and I am looking forward to the arrival of Baby Walo! Although long, I really didn't mind the car ride (I LOVE road trips). Brooke, Farmer and I talked ALOT.

Some highlights from our trip....

"The pool is open from 6 am until 11 pm. Unfortunately, the pool is not opening any longer this evening but we do have free internet access available!"

"Are you reading the phone book?"

I missed Laney and Alie, but coming home to lots of hugs is always really great!