I am finally back from my 3 week long vacation in Spokane and I totally need a vacation! The short version

• 3 weeks away from home
• 4 kids- ages 12, 10, 3, and 1 month
• Just me, Bobby did not come
• 3400 miles driven total
• Four 12 hour days of driving

Every year I try to send Austin & Christopher to see my parents, either by flying them up to Washington alone, or by flying or driving with them. Last year we flew them up first, then Bobby, Matthew and I drove up together and then the five of us drove back together. The trip from Colorado to Washington is about 1200 miles each way.

This year Bobby did not have enough vacation time and it was even more important for me to go because my dad is having some health issues and because I wanted my family to meet Sophia. I knew it would not be easy to drive that far with a 4 week old and a 3 year old, but they were actually very good. My van has a DVD player in the back and all the jacks necessary to hook up a game system, so the three boys brought their Gamecube and kept themselves entertained while the baby slept through most of the drive. We made a point to stop once or twice a day at parks along the way to get the kids out of the car. In Billings the hotel we stayed at had a pool with a water slide and the five of us unwound in the pool, which was heavenly after the long drive.

My dad looked amazing, we don’t know what is causing his health problems, but he has to be on oxygen and we are all pretty bummed about that because my dad leads such an active lifestyle and the oxygen pretty much keeps him tied down. My dad is a non-smoker, and the doctors had no answers to why he is having breathing problems, despite spending a week in the ICU.

While we were there we visited with Bobby’s nieces and nephew who we met last year for the first time. To make a long story short, Bobby and his brother had a falling out. We have always liked ex-SIL, but lost contact with her when we moved away. I met her back in 1997 when she introduced us to her oldest daughter, R., despite her husband’s (Bobby’s brother) wishes. I found BIL on myspace, contacted his girlfriend who gave me his ex-wife’s number, and we have been in frequent contact since.

Here is a picture of her youngest daughter with my youngest daughter. Click to see a larger image.

And here is a picture of her three and my four.

From Left to right is Austin -12, B. - 9, and Matthew - 3
Christopher - 10, A. - 6, R. - 11, and Sophie - 5 weeks.

In addition to spending time with my parents and his family, we also got to go to Faragut National Park in Idaho for a family reunion. My mom and her sisters and their families get together once a year for a long weekend campout. Since my dad could not stay the night and I did not want to camp with a baby, we drove back and forth each day (1 hour drive each way). My sister kept Austin and Christopher with her so they were able to stay the night. Matthew loved playing in the dirt as you can see.

It was so nice to spend the weekend with my sisters, Aunts and uncles, cousins, and all their kids. My oldest sister made me the nicest gifts ever, she is so talented. She scrapbooked a little brag book, and hand painted Sophia’s name on wooden letters, she also got her the most darling little outfit. All three were in Sophie’s colors, pink and brown, which I did not know were also my sister’s colors. I need to take and share some pictures, the scrapbook has got to be about the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen, I wish I had an ounce of her talent.

We also spent a lot of time up at their cabin in Priest Lake Idaho. The older boys stayed a little over a week up there with my parents, where the little ones and I drove back and forth a couple times (2 hour drive) since the cabin is unsafe with exposed electrical and a loft without rails. They are building it themselves, so they are waiting for inspections and such, and with my dad’s health issues, they did not expect the process to take so long. Since they are only a couple miles from the lake, we spent almost all our time at the lake. Click on the pictures below to see larger images.

Time flew by so fast, I only got to spend a couple hours with my best friend of 28 years, and my best friend of 14 years.

My mom started the potty for penny campaign with Matthew, and now he is almost potty trained, I am so proud! He is now peeing in the potty with maybe one or two accidents a day, and rarely needs reminding. Even more shocking is that he is pooping in the potty, something we could not get him to do when we almost had him trained a few months ago!

Leaving was bittersweet, I was so homesick and missed Bobby so much, but I did not want to leave either. I had such a wonderful time with my parents, and the boys were ready to leave me forever and live with their grandparents forever. My 11 year anniversary is tomorrow, and school starts in 2 weeks, so it was necessary to return. On the drive home, I did get some amazing pictures of Sophie, you can’t tell in the pictures, but her eyes almost looked violet in the light.

She was so good in the car, she only cried when she wanted to nurse. The rest of the time she either slept or just looked around contently, or smiling at her brothers.

…or as my kids know it… “Mandatory Slavery Day”.

So today DH painted the wall around our fireplace and finished painting the kitchen so now 100% of my two main floors are finished.

Austin and Christopher scrubbed doors, counters, and trim.

I vacuumed, shampooed carpets, shampooed my dining room chairs and living-room furniture, fixed a hole in the back of a sofa cushion and puttied a hole in my window from where Isis ripped down the blinds.

When DH was done painting he made a super yummy dinner for Austin’s birthday of BBQ steak, pasta salad, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. I also made him the cake he picked out. OH YUM!

We got SO much done, I am exhausted and we are going to go lay in bed and watch movies, if we can stay awake.

Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers!

My little Christopher made his appearance into this world.

He was slightly blue, and a very long cone head, and was easily the most beautiful little boy I had laid eyes on.

It’s hard to believe that this darling little 5 year old has grown up into my darling little ten year old.

This picture I love, because it shows the initiative of a cleaver little pre-schooler to label the dishes for his cat.

What a cute smile he has.

And here he is today, a charming, smart, funny and compassionate 10 year old. It seems like just yesterday he took my breath away when I held him for the very first time.

I love you baby boy.

I hope all you mothers have a great day, celebrate it by hugging the little darlings that made this day possible.

I had a nice day, I asked for the gift of time so we painted our living room, it looks really nice. I am not quite done so I have no pictures to share yet, but once we pick a color for my fireplace mantle I will post some pictures.

I hope all you mothers got what you wanted and had more of a relaxing day than I did.

Today is Austin’s birthday, he is now 11. My god he is getting old! He was so funny this morning because I asked him how he felt and he replied “I feel ooooold”, you know because 11 is almost a senior citizen and all!

He had a nice day, after school he went to Taekwondo; their Master likes kids to come on their birthday, he gives them birthday spankings with the kicking paddles. As he was walking in the door he got a call from Grandpa (my dad) to wish him a happy birthday, then from his grandma (Bobby’s mother). After TWD we went out to the restaurant he chose, Red Lobster, where we all enjoyed a family meal. Austin got crab legs, Christopher got chicken fingers, Matthew got macaroni & cheese, and Bobby and I got crab, lobster & shrimp plates. Austin and Chris got smoothies too, so they will thrilled.

During dinner the phone rang, and Bobby almost did not answer it because we were eating, but he did not recognize the area code, so he stepped out to answer and it was Austin’s birth mother. She wanted to let Bobby know that she was late mailing Austin’s birthday card and asked if she could wish him a happy birthday. Bobby agreed and gave Austin the phone. Here is what I heard:

“Good”
“Thank you”
“Good, I am a green belt now”
“Eating dinner”
“Love you too, bye”

And that was that, maybe 60 seconds total. She then spoke with me for a few minutes about some pictures I asked if she could take to get scanned for me to have copies since I have almost no pictures of Austin as a baby. She stated it would a few weeks before she could get them because she needed her husband to go with her and she won’t have a babysitter for a few weeks.

When we got home he opened his presents; he is really into Star Wars, so we got him a new light saber, a nice Anakin Skywalker figurine for his dresser (the boys got new dressers over the weekend that were delivered this weekend, real wood), a Pirates of the Carribean chess set, some Yu-Gi-Oh cards, some cars, etc. We are also giving him his favorite gift, cash, to spend this weekend.

After gifts, Grandma (my mom) called to wish him a happy birthday and they got to talk for a while even though his attention was probably on the light saber. The kids all finally went to bed around 10:30; I could not believe how late they stayed up!

What a week! I have been so busy with preparing for Easter, dental appointments, a crabby baby A., feeling nauseous all week and now dealing with the bully again. I just want to climb under a big fluffy blanket and sleep for a week.

I know in time it will all get better, but for right now I am just sick of everything I want a break. Of course I also know that it is how we handle adversities that make us strong, so I keep reminding myself that next week this will all make us better people.

I officially turned 28 today. It was a very nice birthday and despite a couple bad things, turned out to be a great day. My husband is a real gem and I totally appreciated him. Last night we went to a comedy concert called “Friends of Bob and Tom”, and had a real blast. This morning I woke up at 10:30am to the sound of the doorbell, I called down to someone that the door was ringing, figuring Bobby was playing a video game, and the boys were watching.

When it rang again, I got dressed to see who it was. I had a note on the door from the shipping company telling me that they had hidden a box they delivered for me, it was my shoes!! All but one pair fit, so I will need to send them back, but I was so thrilled. The boys were nowhere to be found, and the car was gone, so I figured Bobby took the kids out for the morning so I could sleep without interruption. I thought about going to get my hair done and get a pedicure (for the new sandals of course), but my capri pants were dirty so I washed them thinking I would go after they were clean and dry. Before they had a chance to dry, the boys came back bearing gifts, and sent me back to bed so they could set up. Bobby had a cake made for me, and they each had three well thought out gifts… three cute little cat nick nacks that can hold pictures with their tails, a basket/candle holder with my favorite scent for candles (cucumber melon) and a very nice rustic birdhouse for my birdhouse collection.

I had some asparagus I wanted to cook up and some chicken that needed to be used up, so Bobby grilled the breasts on the grill and I steamed the asparagus and we had a really nice lunch together, all three boys gobbled it up; all except Matthew who asked for a napkin to hide his asparagus in. He is only two, I cannot believe he has figured out the napkin trick, but I am not surprised he has not figured out it does not work. For the rest of the afternoon I played with the kids, did some more laundry, talked to my mom and my mother in law, and basically piddle-dinked the afternoon away.

Around 6 I finally realized I needed to shower if we were ever going to get to the restaurant so I went up to get ready and noticed we had no hot water. Bobby tried to re-light it, but the pilot light would not spread to the burner. We decided just to turn off the gas and mess with it later, and boiled some water so I could take a bath. Dinner was lovely, I love Korean food but Bobby really doesn’t; since it was my birthday I chose to celebrate it at San Chang, the best Korean restaurant in town. We got some really good bul go ki, teriyaki chicken and some beef ribs; the food was fantastic. After dinner we went home to watch Clerks, since I had never seen it before and Bobby wanted to see Clerks 2 (we watched that the next day, it was too late).

So despite not having hot water, I still had a really great birthday.. and 28 feels great.

I have never been one for Valentines Day; I think it is a made up holiday to celebrate commercialism. I usually swear off all gifts, but this year DH was moved to get me something, either spur of the moment or planned… whatever the case may be, I think it was super sweet on the part of all my boys.

I had been getting sick on the 13th, and had laid down for a nap when Bobby got home from work. The older boys needed cards for their classroom the next day so he loaded up all three boys and headed to the store. He ended up getting fixings for dinner and he got me a teddy bear (from Matthew), a rose (from Christopher), chocolates (from Austin), and a beautiful lily plant from Bobby (pictured to the left, click to enlarge) and a balloon. When I came downstairs they had already made dinner and had arranged my gifts for me.

Of course, then I felt bad about not getting anything for Bobby, but he insists it is “my day” not his. He knows I hate Valentines Day so I know he did not expect anything. I have always loved how Bobby is romantic all year long and not just one day a year, so usually for Valentines Day I ask for time together. We joke that last year we went to the gun store for V-Day, but I loved it! I love just hanging out with him, spending time with him, commercialism aside. So thank you to all my men (big and little), for making this Valentines Day special… I love you all.

We are all sick with a stomach bug… I will update you all about my Valentines Day and new doctor once I am healthy.

What could be a better gift than swimsuit models for Valentines Day. I know my husband sure would love to receive the February 14th release of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. I am not sure I know a man who would not love to see beautiful young women scantily dressed in provocative poses. I, for one, have never been against men’s magazines, especially if they are done tastefully, like Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition where all the women are wearing what they would be at the beach.

As if the magazine is not enough, you can also download cell phone wallpapers of Sports Illustrated swimsuit models available at SI Mobile, www.simobileswimsuit.com. The images from SI Mobile Swimsuit are only $1.99 each, come straight from photo shoots featured in SI magazine, and are available for all major wireless carriers. With over 50 different super models on the website, such as Heidi Klum, Maria Sharapova, or even classic SI cover girls like Elle Macpherson, or my husband’s favorite, Kathy Ireland, it would not be hard to find wallpaper he would enjoy. Make sure you also check out the video clips, screen savers, and more.

So if you are contemplating Valentines Day gifts for him that he will appreciate more than a new tie, look no farther than Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and www.simobileswimsuit.com.

*This is s sponsored post.