Long weekend!!!

Whew, it was a long and busy weekend!!!

Friday I spent a lot of time organizing and going through the garage sale boxes. I sorted some of it by size and took pictures to post for sale. No bites, still!! Ugh! I really need to get rid of this stuff and it would help a lot to make a little money off of it, God knows we could use it! I just really don't think I can get organized enough for a garage sale... I would need probably an entire kid-free day to sort everything, and that's just not gonna happen.

Friday afternoon we went out to my dad and stepmom's house for a cookout. They got a new grill, so of course they had to use it!!

Saturday I did some more organizing, this time in the foyer, and cleaned off the top of the changing table. The changing table that has, for it's entire life, been used to change maybe a couple dozen diapers! It has constantly been the dumping ground for whatever junk doesn't have a home. Ahhhh well.

I took Rayce to Highland Park and Mom took Charlize and Liliya down to her aunt's house in Great Bend. Everyone had a blast!!! I do have to admit we got to the park a little too early and Rayce was bouncing off the walls (err... grass and bushes?) by the time the fireworks started! But everyone had a great time. Traffic home was less than great, though. It took me almost an hour to get the 4 or 5 miles home!!

Yesterday we went to Syracuse to see my father in law and Anthony's grammas. It was a long day, it didn't work out how I had planned, but it was good to see everyone anyway. I wanted to leave Syracuse by 5 to be home by 7, and we didn't even leave until 7! I was sooooo tired by then and the hour and a half drive home was really rough. The kids were all overtired but they would *not* fall asleep, I was tired and my eyes were burning and I felt kind of 'zoned'. It was a long drive. Felt like a lot longer than an hour and a half. But, like I said, it was sooo nice to see everyone.

I've only been up to Syracuse two times since the funeral. Even the drive is a lot of work. I have a hard time driving for more than 15 minutes at a time, I get tired!! And driving that same route we drove on the morning of the funeral... yeah... terrible, terrible flashbacks that leave me zoning and breathing rapidly and shallow... not good when you're driving and you've got 5 little lives in the back! Add 5 kids under the age of 5... yeah, LOTS of work. Then getting them all into and out of the car several times, and keeping them out of trouble in places that are not child proofed for hours on end... more work. Fifty dollars to fill up my tank and it's more than half gone by the time I get back home, and usually 2 fast food meals for 6 people on the way there and back... it's an expensive endeavor for a broke family!

The rest of July is going to be just as busy. This coming weekend is our family reunion, then the following week we're going on vacation to Massanutten, VA. I am soooo excited for vacation! Dad and Kim have a timeshare there, in the mountains of VA. There is an indoor-outdoor water park there, among lots of other things. We're gonna do the water park, the children's museum in Harrisonburg, Lurray Caverns, and I'm not sure what else. It'll be a busy week, I'm excited though, we need a vacation!! I soooo wish the kids were all a little older so I could take Holden and Dante too! But 5 kids under the age of 5 just isn't possible for such a busy (and expensive) week and not enough hands and eyes. We're trying to plan a trip to Disney for 2 or 3 years down the road... by then all the kids will be older, better able to follow directions and stay in a group, and old enough to appreciate the trip :o) I already can't wait for that!!!

Anyway, enough for now. I should get some things done around here now so I can actually relax when the kids down for naps... or take a nap myself!!!