Atlanta (via Fort Mill, SC)

We left December 27th to visit Steve & Marilee (and Cooper & Samantha). Butch had seen them in June, but I hadn’t seen them since December 2006. It’s unreal how time flies by. We decided to drive for many reasons. Airfare, flexibility of when to leave, being able to have our van (and car seats for the kids), etc. My friend, Tonya, lives in Ft. Mill, SC, which is a little more than halfway. We drove from our house to hers the first day….7 ½ hours. We stopped at a McDonalds about halfway down to let the girls play for a bit and get rid of that energy. Because of the short time we had for the whole trip, we had to get back on the road the next day. But, it was nice to stay the night at her house and get in a little visit. (Of course, with Leah’s sleep issues….and the fact that neither kid sleeps well when we travel…..I didn’t get much visiting time. I was out for the night when it was time to get the girls to bed.)

The drive from her place to Steve & Marilee’s was about 5 hours. Not too bad, right? We stopped at a Waffle House for lunch – because I’d never been to one. I thought it would be pretty good diner food….not so much. Oh well.

The last time Lacey & Samantha met, they were about 18 months old, so they had no memory of each other, yet they were fast friends. Inseparable from the start. They had a sleepover the very first night.

One of the nights while we were there, we went out to dinner. Steve & Marilee had hired a babysitter. I knew my kids wouldn’t go to sleep easily with someone new…in a new place, but it was worth some adult time. Dinner was great…as was the wine. J But, I was entirely too full to enjoy a drink after dinner. That was annoying since we headed to a bar after dinner.

When we got back to the house, we headed downstairs to the family room area….but that is past the area where the kids were “sleeping”. As soon as Leah heard us, she was calling for me. It actually worked okay for me since I was so tired and so full. I was able to get to bed without feeling too guilty. (I may have it rough with sleep at home, but it’s worse when traveling with them!)

Marilee & I took the girls to see Princess & the Frog – awesome movie. Leah came with us because I knew she’d feel left out from the girls if she didn’t. She fell asleep (thankfully) about 30 min. into the movie.

We had a nice time catching up with them and letting the kids get to know each other. I wish they didn’t live so far away. The trip was too short (only 3 nights there), but we wanted to get home a couple of days before having to return to work. So….off we drove to Ft. Mill on New Year’s Eve.

We stopped on our way to Tonya’s to see a friend of mine that I know from an online mom’s message board. I’ve “known” Becky for about 2 ½ years and wanted to see her in person since she lived somewhat close to Tonya. It ended up being pretty far out of the way, but it was still good to meet her and her husband….and kids….and see their house.

We didn’t get to Tonya’s until around 7:30. Dinner was frozen pizza….easy & perfect! I had intentions of getting my monsters to bed and staying up with Butch, Tonya & Ben. No luck. I fell asleep getting my kids to sleep. When I woke (around 11:00), everyone else was in bed!

We left fairly early the next morning since it’s nearly an 8 hour drive home. The drive home was much worse than the drive down! Everyone was tired and cranky and tired of being in a car.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel! That food is so good. Full of calories and fat, but yummy! Then, we were back in Maryland. You know that feeling when you are so ready to be home? We had it. But, we had to stop at the grocery store for milk! Ugh. While Leah & I were in the store, Butch & Lacey picked up Ledo’s pizza. At least we didn’t have to cook.

It was a great trip….but there is nothing like your own bed.

Girls Weekend - AST

When I went to college, I spent 2 years at our community college – then known as Charles County Community College….or Chuck County U. It’s come a long way since then and is now the College of Southern Maryland. Anyway, I spent 2 years there, then transferred to Salisbury State University (now just Salisbury University).

On that first day at SSU, I ran into some friends from high school and got invited to a party. So, my roommate (Debi) and I went. It was a Pi Lamda Phi party. I had no intention of going Greek when I was preparing to leave for SSU --- it isn’t a big Greek campus. But, I met several girls at that party that convinced me that I should Rush & try to get invited to pledge Alpha Sigma Tau.

During Rush week, I met many people that became very good friends. Jen, Shannon & I were all invited to pledge AST. Shannon lived on campus in a different building. Jen lived off campus in a townhouse community (Cynthia Place). We pledged – along with about 15 other girls. It was the biggest pledge class ever, if my memory is right. In fact, the following semester, we couldn’t participate in Rush because the size of our sorority had reached the maximum allowed.

We spent lots of time being afraid of the sisters….waiting for them to come grab us in the middle of the night (I can’t give specifics unless I kill you after)….having to remember all of their names and greet them with “Good Afternoon Sister (Name)” whenever we saw them. With twins (Cathy & Carolyn) in the sorority, this made things pretty difficult!

After 1 semester on campus, Shannon & I moved in with Jen at Cynthia Place. It was awesome! J-D, Mike (a.k.a. Lude), and Ray lived next door. (They were from Pi Lam.) At some point some other AST sisters moved into some of the other houses and most of the community was filled with college students. We had several “Around the World” parties where each townhouse had a shot or shooter & the last one hosted the party with a keg. Good times, I tell you!

At some point….Jen had bought a cat while we were on break and we weren’t supposed to have pets. The land lord found out & we either had to get rid of the cat or move. Shannon & I couldn’t bear to get rid of our beloved Toonces. (Yes, the same dear kitty that I had until he died a few years ago.) So, we moved into another house in Cynthia Place. I can’t remember who we had as a 3rd roommate at first. But, eventually, Christy moved in. She pledged a year after we did, so we knew her through sorority.

When I graduated, I stayed in touch with my good friends pretty well. It was hard because most of them were still in college for a few years after me, while I was hit hard with the real world.

Christy, Shannon & I (and Jen at times) try to get together for lunch 1-2 times a year. Shannon now has a 2 year old and Christy has a 7 month old.

Then….along came Facebook. And, I was in touch with numerous other friends from college – some Greek, some not. One of our sisters decided to organize a weekend away for all of us to reconnect. We had it in Ocean City just a couple of weekends ago. Most of us are fairly local, so it worked well. But, 2 of the girls came from much farther….one from Florida and one from California.

Most of the girls went up on Friday, but Christy, Shannon, Shelly & I waited until Saturday since we had some Mommy Guilt. (Shelly pledged the year that Christy did, I think.) For the 3 hour drive, we probably spent 2 hours and 45 minutes talking about our kids! We tried several times to get onto a different subject, but it always came back to that.

We were on the beach by 1:00 p.m. Things change….I had on a very high SPF and my mantra was “Pale is the new Tan!”. However, 15 years ago, I would have had as little SPF as possible that would keep me from burning, but tan that skin!

After dinner, we went to Seacrets…which I could have done without. It’s a club and not the best place to have conversations. Christy was the first to leave….probably around 10:00 or 10:30. With a 7 month old, she was looking forward to a really good night of sleep. Shannon, Shelly & I left not long after her and we were all happily in bed around midnight.

We all (20 or so of us) had breakfast at the hotel on Sunday before hitting the road. My little group stopped at the outlets for a little shopping before heading home. Of course, I ended up buying several things for the girls at Gymboree and a big fat NOTHING for me. The life of a mom.

It was awesome, though! There is talk of making this an annual thing.

So, Facebook may be an addiction and time-waster in some ways. But, it’s so great to reconnect with people. I love being able to see what is going on in the lives of old friends.

Girl Time & Vineyards!

Okay, I found this saved & I hadn't posted it! So, it's an oldie, but a goodie. :-) It actually all happened toward the end of April.

Last weekend was lots of fun! It actually started on Thursday evening when I picked up my friend, Barbie. I have known her since high school. She & her family moved to the west coast when she graduated (a year after me), so our friendship has been long distance for a long time. I was one of her maid of honors in her wedding 9 years ago...hard to believe it's been that long. Anyway, the last time I saw her in person was about 7 years ago in New Orleans. She & I met there for some girls time. She came to DC for work and I picked her up on Thursday evening to head down to Fredericksburg to meet another friend from high school.
I barely knew Sarah, but Barbie & she were good friends. By the time we go to the restaurant, it was nearly 8:00 (thank you, DC traffic) and we ended up talking long after we were done eating. By the time I got Barbie back to DC, then drove home, it was 1:00 a.m. That's extremely late for me! It was well worth it, though. I had a great time catching up and hope it isn't 7 years until the next time. Her boys are about the same ages as my girls, so we're hoping we can figure out a vacation together sometime.

Friday I worked from home and went to bed very early to prepare myself for our day at the vineyards!

There was a large group of us....6 "old ladies" (including Kristina, Dee, a few of Dee's friends & me) and 8 "young uns" (Kristin and several of her friends). As I was driving over to Dee's house to meet up with a few others, I was dancing & singing in the car. It was a GORGEOUS day and I couldn't help myself!

We got to Ingleside around 12:30 and started out with their barrel tasting. We tasted 2 Chardonnay's and 2 Merlots right from the barrel.
Then, we tasted all of the wines that they had bottled. The only bad thing is the guy that was pouring & telling us about the wines went entirely too fast. We either had to chug it or dump it. Not very good if you are really trying to decide what you like. After that we just relaxed at a table outside while listening to the band and munched on the very small selection of food they had.

We left around 3:15 to head to Belle Mount to taste a little more. That's also where we were staying the night - they have little cabins for rent. The tasting was a joke. The lady pouring wasn't even telling us about the wine and she was pouring such a tiny amount that we couldn't even really tell if we liked it.

We got over to the little cabins at around 6:00 and chowed down on all the food we brought. I ended up so full (from both wine & food) that I couldn't drink anymore for hours.
Our intent was to play games like Outburst, but those plans were messed up when our party was crashed. The other 3 cabins were being used by several couples in their 50's and then men ditched their wives to come plan LCR with us. Strange. They all seemed to be nice enough, but why their wives (1) didn't come, too; or (2) let them leave for so long is weird. And, Dee & I agreed the next day that we should have politely explained that we were there for girls time. But, we would have felt rude, so we didn't. Oh well, it was still fun.

Kristina, Lynn & I headed to bed around 12:30. Dee, Dana & Lisa came in at 1:30 and couldn't stop giggling, so we were woken up then. :-) No one had a great night of sleep given the uncomfy beds (for those of us that had one). Dee slept on the couch & Lynn slept on a twin size air mattress.

We've all agreed we need to try to do one in the fall again. Those of us that are married talked about needing to do one with the men.

Weekend Update

Last weekend was a busy one! I took Thursday & Friday off because my friend, Tonya, came to visit from the Charlotte area. I picked her up at the airport on Wednesday & we just hung out at home that night.....well, Butch & I watched Lost while Tonya dozed in the chair.

Thursday was a quiet day, too. Tonya & I went to lunch at Red Robin before heading to the mall for a little bit of shopping....mainly for her to buy some athletic shoes that she needed. She & I headed to the gym for turbo kick that evening. (I love that class.)

Friday, we drove to Crofton for a "real" shopping. I walked out of Old Navy with a few things. Then, we met old friends (Cynthia & Susan) for lunch. We all used to work together.
Even though we finished our lunch before 1:00, we were in the restaurant until nearly 2:30! It was just too much fun to stop. I think we would have stayed longer, but we needed to get home.

That night, Kristina (and Rick) came over to babysit so Butch, Tonya & I could go to Alexandria to meet Yudha for dinner. Yudha is Tonya's ex-husband, but they have stayed in touch and are good friends. And, he's Butch's & my friend, too. I wish he & his wife lived closer so we could get together more.
Saturday's plan was for Butch, Yudha & Tonya to go rock climbing in Alexandria. However....it was not a great night of sleep (thank you, kids). That, combined with a little bit of alcohol, had Butch not feeling very motivated! So, Tonya took my car to Alexandria and climbed a bit....even though she had no stamina that day. Butch & I were lucky enough for both girls to nap at the same time, so we could catch up a bit on sleep.

Saturday night was the Twilight viewing party at Dee's house. Lots of fun. Most of us had read the book, but a couple hadn't and still liked the movie. We had lots of good snacks, too.


This weekend is full of more fun for me. Kristin planned a girls overnight wine tasting party! We are driving down to Ingleside on Saturday morning and plan to be there for a few hours (they have their Spring Barrel Tasting that day. Then, we are heading to another vineyard for a quick tasting before checking into their little cabins for the night. More wine, board games, girl time. (Butch is going to catch on soon and start filling the calendar with guy time!)

When I get back on Sunday, I'd better not be feeling too bad! Butch is leaving for a conference late that afternoon and will be gone until Tuesday.

Random

Butch is working this afternoon an open house at Ryken. He'll be back around dinner. The girls are in great moods today...thankfully. It's too muddy out, thanks to the snow, but we played on the deck for a long time. It's so warm. I am so ready for spring!

Yesterday we went to the library for a birthday celebration for Dr. Seuss. There were tons of kids. Lacey had no interest in the party & just wanted to go find the books and DVDs, so off we went. I'm looking forward to the little Amish market opening for the season. They set up at the library, so our Saturday morning tradition is to go to the library & market with the kids.

Other than that, yesterday was no fun. I don't know if it was mostly me (stressed and grumpy) or the kids misbehaving...or a combination of the two. I feel like all I did was yell at Lacey. She wasn't listening at all. Today, I made a decision to stay calm the entire day and it's worked well so far. She responds best when I'm calm. If she isn't listening, a count to 5 and a loss of a "point" usually does the trick. I need to remember that. Sometimes, it's just hard to do when they are pushing my buttons all day.

I went through our local events calendar yesterday to find upcoming events and wrote several things down on the calendar. I love this time of year!

My local HIP Momma's meetup group hasn't done much to include the working moms in a while. Most (probably 80-90%) are stay at home moms, so there has been lots on the calendar, but mostly weekday things. Anyway, our fearless leader has moved into her new house and is setting up new things. I'm looking forward to some time with the girls. Of course, the day they have scheduled our first Mom's Morning Out (breakfast) since November....is next Saturday....when Butch has to administer SATs. Oh well. I'm considering a sitter, but not sure it's worth it.

Lacey's going for her well visit in a few weeks and I can't wait to talk to Dr. Jill about the ongoing constipation and diet issues. Leah gets to go to the dentist for the first time next month, too. Yippee. Hopefully she'll handle it better than Lacey did at this age!

Is all of that random enough for you?

Kid-Free Time

A few weeks ago we tried a teenage babysitter for the first time. Other than official daycare and family, no one had watched the kids for us before. Lacey's old daycare provider, Miss Kim, has 3 daughters. The oldest is in college, the next (Alex) is 16 and the youngest is 15, I think. So, both the youngest ones babysit and I know they helped Miss Kim with the kids (played with the kids) when she ran the daycare.

Rather than try to have a teenager who the kids don't know get them to bed, we planned an afternoon date. We went to lunch and then to see He's Just Not That Into You. Very cute and so nice to get out.

Alex worked out great - both kids seemed to like her. She got Leah down for a nap without any crying or fighting, too. We're planning on doing this every 6 weeks or so. I don't think we can afford to do it more often. Although, we might alternate having Dee or Kristina watch them (if they can) with paying Alex or her sister.

Last weekend, we'd made plans to go to Bonefish (yum-o) with some friends of Butch's in Northern VA. I love that place. (Did I already say YUM-O?) It was good to see Victor & Mary, too. I don't know them very well, but they're sweet. The only negative thing (to me) is that they both play volleyball....which means that with 3 volleyball players, the conversation sort of kept going back to it. :-) I don't really mind...no interest, but I know Butch had fun.

Now that we've had those couple of dates, I can't wait to get out again. It's nice being able to have a conversation without having kids interrupt. As Leah keeps getting older, it's going to get much easier.

Publish Post

Girlfriends

Now that Leah is getting a bit older, I really want to find some good girlfriends who live around here! You know, someone you can call and say "let's go to a movie"! My friends are all thrown about the country and it's a bit depressing at times. My very best friends each live a few hours from here. Tonya is in SC and Agnes is in upstate NY. If either of them lived within an hour, I'd be a happy camper.

Others are in IA, CA, NV, FL, MO.....you get the picture. It's annoying. I do have some girlfriends that live in other parts of MD, but they are all at least an hour away. And, when everyone has kids, it's tough to get together. Especially since their kids are older and involved in so many activities.

Dee always tells me (and I know it's true) that once Lacey and Leah get older and involved in activities, we'll find friends down here easily. That's how they met many of their friends. It's just crazy because I grew up here. I knew lots of people around here 20 years ago. But, you lose touch with people and it's tough to reconnect again.

Anyway, I thought about all of this again because last week I went to see Sex & the City with Dee, Brianna (Dee's SIL, who I also happened to go to high school with) and Bri's sister, Holly. It was just nice to get out with the girls. Not like I have tons of time to do it, but it would be nice to be able to. ;-)