Chickarooba!!

We strapped ourselves in the van and rode the crazytrain across western Kansas for 10 hours to spend Thanksgiving with family at the greatest cabin on earth...

Chickarooba.......

You know it will be a grand time when adult beverages packed in snow greet you.

We spent a solid 3 days doing exactly what we wanted whenever we wanted.  

All day kids art...

all day pjs...

dance parties...

and purple hair...

uker...

aunties to spoil us...

and one very rad 80's dance party...

there aren't words...

the cutest little Chuck around...

and full-on turkey dinner...

Another 5-star-I-mean-olive Chickarooba Thanksgiving for the books!

5

The Buzz is F-I-V-E!

I held him the morning of his birthday and told him again the story of his birth - 

how I laid on the couch 24/7 for weeks to let him cook, 

how I first saw him kicking when he had been in my tummy for only 10 weeks, 

how he peed all over the doctor when they pulled him out,

how he made little grunts when he breathed,

how he is my favorite boy in the entire universe and I'm so happy that he's five.

He wriggled free when I finally came up for air and went to play with his monster trucks.

Nothing gets between this boy and his monster trucks.  No-thing.

So that was his birthday party!  We pretended we were at a monster jam - invited a few of his friends, got loud, ate junk food, and celebrated one very cool boy.

The Orange Crush pop was his very favorite part of the day, scratch that, his favorite part of his entire life. He popped one open when the first friend arrived, and polished off three by the time they left.

Treats for friends....a monster truck, peanut butter crackers, chocolate milk, and a gold medal necklace.

What a cool, cool kid.  And what great friends he's been given.   I love you, Buzz!

The Rules

The stud I live with was gone for a whole week to God's Great State (see here).  

When the time approached for her to be delivered, she brought forth...

Oh wait, that's not it.  

When the time approached for him to leave, I got out of the house - with friends, to Target, to the bathroom, well, anywhere - keyword being by myself - for the 3 days leading up to him going.  I was gearing up for what I thought would be the worst week of my life and those grays I'm dreading would for sure make their appearance.  I do most of the kid-care because I'm at home with them, but we are a team after 5 pm every day.  Also, I've developed this morning habit of sitting like a lump for a good 10 minutes after I wake up and drinking the coffee he's made, while he makes their breakfast.  Not to mention that I would just plain miss the man.

But I was praise the Lord so wrong!  Well, I did miss him a little.  But...

The week went fine.  You know how you just sort of Woman Up and do the things you don't want to do because YOU are the woman to do them?  That's what I did.  Mix that together with the serious miracle of no one breaking any bones or appliances breaking down and toss in the following rules, and ta-da.....One Great Week!

So....The Rules for When Dad's Gone in no particular order:

1.  No heroics.  This includes makeup, blogging, laundry, all of it.

2.  Move all clocks forward one hour.  Bedtime comes early and no one knows but me.

3.  Facepaint free-for-all every day.

4.  TV is our friend.  Obscene amounts of TV is our BFF.

5.  As long as they eat, it doesn't matter what they eat.  Call any meal - including hotdogs and halloween candy - a Win.

6.  Go to bed with a movie as soon as the kids go to bed every single night.

7.  Bathing is optional.

8.  Unless done so by the nanny, toys will be picked up once and only once.  Right before Dad gets home.

9.  Midweek, schedule an evening with Grandma and Grandpa.

10.  When all else fails, remind yourself of the serious equity you're earning this week for a trip to the Bahamas, or ok fine, to the spa as soon as he gets back!