Ah, Siblings

Todd brought the kids to visit me at work today. Evan was so excited that there was a baby at the nurse's station. I asked him if he wanted me to bring the baby home with me, and he said "Okay, but Madilyn has to stay here." For all of you that think I am lying when I say my kids hate each other, now you know I wasn't lying!

School Time Again!

I love this time of year. I remember being so excited on the first day of school to get to see all my friends again and show off all my new clothes. Living next to the college, I also am reminded of how fun each semester of college was.

Evan started preschool again this year and I am hoping it helps him a lot. Evan is still having a really hard time with his speech. We had him evaluated three times to go to the free pre-school here to get help, but each time he was just above the cut-off and is barely normal for his age. It makes me sick because he really does need help. I am sure praying that this preschool will help him.

Here he is on the first day of school:

Every time I sit down to play the piano, I am attacked by the kids. I thought I would get a few pictures of them having fun:

A friend of mine lost her husband yesterday to lupus. I have been deep in thought and so saddened for her. How greatful I am for eternal marriages and the gift of a comforter. I cannot even begin to comprehend the pain she is going through right now. He was so young! It makes me hold my family a little thighter at night and not want to comlain about my trials.

We Made It!

I still hold fast to saying that I don't like to travel. We did have a great time though and it was so nice to not have to take the kids with us. The kids were thankfully very good for their grandparents, and happy to see us when we came home. We are so lame that we were more excited to come home than we were to leave. I guess we don't get away from our kids enough.

We only had 2 1/2 days to see Washington, so we had time to take 200+ pictures and get a glance at most of the things. There is WAY too much to do there! I'll share a few of my favorite photos and won't tell you all that we did. Like anyone cares!

Washington monument (we got shots of this thing from every angle... it just is so cool to see)

We also have a million shots of the U.S. capitol. The building is absoutely breath-taking. And, I am a sucker for old architecture.

Arlington National Cemetery. I had no idea how huge this place is! The mood there was so special. This was one of my favorites of the trip

The Tomb of the unknown, Arlington National Cemetery. We got to watch the changing of the guard, and it left me speechless.

In front of the White House

The White House

We were so hot and sweaty, but we did capture a few good shots

The U.S. Capitol

We loved to see all the old buildings--there were so many amazing ones. I have never seen so many people that didn't speak English. There were a lot of homeless there too. Riding the subway for the first time was fun, and it was way convenient and inexpesive.

As much fun as it was though, I know that I belong in Arizona now. I felt so out of place there!

The best part of the trip was the conference of course. Another nurse from the hospital here and I went to an external fetal monitoring conferece. Our speaker was so good and I loved her Chicago accent. We learned a lot.

We have spent the last couple of days getting the laundry done and house cleaned. It is so good to be home!

I Never Make Up My Mind

There are so many times throughout the week that I whine about having kids and just wanting some quiet time wthout them to get stuff done around the house. Now, we are heading off tomorrow so I can go to a fetal monitoring conference in Maryland, and I am so sad to leave! I have to keep telling myself that Todd and I NEED this. We have been under so much stress with him being layed off and unable to find work. Plus, he's been off since february, and still is fighting for unemployment.

So we are off on a trip we can't afford, but that has already been mostly paid for (except for food, of course). We get to spend two days in Washington, D.C. after the conference... for a total of 6 days and nights away from the kids with a 5-hour plane trip over and back. Eek! I miss my kids already and have been trying to spoil them all day.

Expect lots of pictures. We leave tomorrow and will be back the following Monday.

I don't update this enough, but we have TONS of stuff going on that I don't write about because it's too stressful and there are no resolutions to them. I always like to write about things after the fact so that I don't look like an idiot when I get the real results.

So off we go hoping for a safe trip and well-behaved children who enjoy the time with their wonderful grandparents.