time flies when you're having fun . . .

Well, it appears to be August 29th ( I only know because I just asked my husband) and my 3.5 yr. old is making me a blanket cake (?), strawberry of course with the pretend kitchen things while the 11 and nearly 14 year old do math. The 19 year old is "in house" and the 1 year old is in bed for the night and that is all I know for now.

I will be back once I get my vacation pictures uploaded and have so much to write about! Nearly 5000 road miles produce a host of interesting writing topics to be sure.

Enjoy your week,Kim

He's home, Safe and Sound

Yes, he is home, not much else besides the clothes on his back but home.

Took another 24 hour stint awake/traveling to get him here but it is oh so good to have him home.

Thank each and everyone of you who commented and prayed and checked back in on me. God's answers are not always so easy to understand but this time, I'm thanking Him I can humanly understand His ways. Thank You Jesus!

Can't share much more without some sleep so I'll try again tomorrow.

PS Did I mention he's home and sleeping in my bed right this very minute?!!!

He's on his way

I sat down at this computer the minute I had changed diapers, and nursered the baby. Oh, and had taken my BP and meds (cringe) ~not even reporting what that number was.

7:24 am here. 12:24 pm there.

Hubby has arrived in Birmingham by high speed train w/o incident and after getting some lunch will start off to find the hotel he booked there. He leaves on early flight tomorrow to Frankfort, Germany. That will be a relief to have him out of England! Even if he does have to fly out. Not so relieved that his passport promotes him as a male, US citizen, traveling alone for first time out of country, My brain keeps saying "target". I know, dumb.

New prayer item. His car keys are in his luggage so I will be driving the 45 minutes up to the airport to pick him up and take along the spare key. I do a lot of drving, even city driving but I do not like driving to PHA. ah, well, for this, I'd drive in my underwear and slippers! Except I don't own slippers. . now where did that come from??


Again, thanks so much for praying, I'm being a wimp I know but what a scare.

Kids need Mommy to shape up now and get going with the day.

He's stuck, but safe

Can not even believe on his first trip "across the pond".

In a Heathrow airport hotel is where he stayed last night to fly out to Dublin this morning.

Not sure if anyone heard the news this morning but a terrorist attack was thwarted at Heathrow (the likes/size of 911 they believe) and the airport is chaotic. Closed down for now.

Still stuck at airport, trying to retrieve luggage. Alternate plans (for now) have him getting in a day late with no further buisness happening, just trying to get home.

Thank You in advance for all your prayers.

UPDATE: I was able to keep in touch via cell phone/e-mail most of the morning hours but than I did not hear anything until 5pm this afternoon. It was a long day no matter which side of the ocean you were on today I think.

Latest update is this.
He was finally able to leave Heathrow Airport this afternoon. His luggage had already been checked through to Dublin so is being rerouted back here to the states, home in fact. He asked me to watch for it, like lugage matters to me at this point! Tracking down luggage and finding alternative means of travel home took all day.


Latest travel plans for now.
He will stay overnight in London again but not at airport, closer into the city. He will then take a train to Birmingham (and yes that is the city where several of the suspected terrorist have been picked up and arrested) and spend the next night there. On Saturday he flies out to Frankfort, Germany and then on to Philadelphia and home. Still not much more than a day or so late, if all connections happen and flights don't get cancelled again.


Praises: He has been able to keep in touch with me for most part. He almost checked his phone thru (no taking it on plane now) when he heard his flight cancelled.
Although his words this morning were "It is pure chaos here." He seemed very calm and ever reassuring to his wife.
He was able to make alternate travel arrangements.
I have only cried twice, away from the children and remained mostly calm and in control. What else is there to do really?

Prayer: He has only his phone, no charger, it is in checked luggage. Pray his phone will hold a 3 day charge!
He has only the clothes on his back for the next two nights in hotels/planes/trains and he is a male. Will he shop? Doubtful.
Please pray Birmingham is peaceful and calm and there is no trouble with the train, etc. as it seems to be a hot spot for this group of terrorist.

Thank You again. Kim for my clan.

PS after I heard from him around 5pm (10 pm his time) I just had to get away from this computer for a while. I piled the kids in the van and took them to Friendly's. Dinner and ice cream. Then I went to Old Navy for some shopping therapy. I needed to get my hubby a new swimsuit but did not do it before he left and felt the sudden need to do it today,the mind works in strange ways hhhmm.

Home and exhausted.

He called!

Now, we had e-mailed a few times and that made me feel good.

And I've been keeping up with the time difference and all so I knew he was just about ready to turn in for the night and still no e-mail for the day. . .probably couldn't get computer to work or something or just way tired.

But no, HE CALLED! Sometimes little things like that just mean a lot to me. It's been a great trip so far and he has been able to fit a lot in and see so many things as well.

So tomorrow he is off to Dublin, cool. Hope it is another spectacular day. I miss him but no way I would want him to miss this experience.

Kind of makes me feel like I should be doing something really great here too, like cleaning a whole bunch or organizing our never ending paper trail or getting ready for this trip that looms ever closer but it's not happening. So frustrating.

I have had lots of giggle time with the little man, snuggle time with the walker, talk time with the preteen and no knock down drag out fights with the resident teen ager so I guess something has been accomplished! Oh, and visit with the parents, phone call to the in laws and the college boy, cooked dinner two nights (of course you'd have to know me to know what a big deal that is and "cooked" is a relative term) and well, survived without that break in my day that always says to me "okay, this part of the day is done and there is only so much more to go" . . .you know without hubby coming home, my day just never seems to end and that's just exhausting!

So anyway, I'm just happy he called!

She Walks!

Yup, Little Miss Jillian Elyse Walks! I know I said I would not be excited by this because of all the extra work involved and added freedom and all that other stuff but ... well...

There is just something so precious about those first little steps. And to couple that with her rocky start in life and her excruciatingly slow weight gain, well... it's just so fun to see her do something so normal and cute and sweet and and well, you know, so precious!

She gets this little look on her face like "hey, look at this, look what I can do, hey did you see that?"

She had been cooped up in a stroller, our arms, a hotel room and the car for the better part of 2 days and when she hit the family room floor after that at 10pm she just had a look of sheer delite on her little face.

She has been standing randomly for a while now so we had produced the required "walk behind toys" and all of that. She mostly just pushed them for a few minutes and then squealed for someone to come do it for her. Smart woman I say.

I think little Miss Jillie decided that since Daddy was going away for a whole week she should preform for him before he left. And what a grand preformance it was.

Jillie took several jaunts of about 3-4 steps each time. So cute to watch.

Since Daddy's been gone she has progressed rapidly! Tonight she "walked" about 8-9 steps across the room to her big sister while her MomMom and PopPop were here. wow!

Wait until Daddy sees this!

He's Off

After almost an hour delay, his flight has departed.

That means by my time 2am, the hubby will be arriving in Frankford, Germany at their time, 8am and hit the ground running, so to speak. I pray he was able to sleep across the Atlantic. I pray he can function properly at 2am, his body pretending it is 8am and checking out of the airport and customs and going straight to the office there. . .

He is actually one incredible guy, this hubby of mine. As he held me in his arms as I bawled last night for no apparent good reason other than my fear that he would not come back safely from this international week long trip. It is an irrational fear right? Lots of people do this all the time I know but not my hubby.

So, although he has never been overseas before and had to be ready to go into work (here at home) this morning (he left before 6am this morning) before he came home to pack and leave for airport this afternoon, he spent all week end with his family, away from home. And let me tell you, home is most often where my hubby wants to be when he is not at work. He never seems to have enough time here. Yet, instead of "puttering" around here, we were off to a Family reunion 3 and 1/2 hours away.

We often make the trip a "day trip" albeit a long one. This time hubby let me book a room to make it a bit less rushed and a little more leisurely. The reunion itself was neither great nor awful so average is kind of nice for a change. We were able to get away at a reasonable time, drive over to our hotel and check in before we headed to a local amusement park. What a fun time that was as well. And the late night swim after. And the nice big suite and the super comfy beds, the wonderful breakfast buffet, and then back to the amusement park for a few more hours. I thought we would head right home but no, hubby wanted the kiddos to have more time to enjoy trip. We ended up leaving there much later than I thought we would, and hubby still had to drive home. We made it home inside of 10pm but that was still plenty late after all week end. Only a guy totally committed to his family would try to fit in all of that right before going away!

And now, he's off. I cried again, when he left. I already miss him. And, well, one incredible guy.

It's Friday

And I'm so sad because I had a great post on time all written out and my Internet connnection went out on me.

Bum.

Not nearly as poetic but it's been a busy week, it's going to be an even busier week end and even busier month overall if you can even believe that!

And the one precious statement I just have to retype is this,

Each time my 3.5 year old ask me what time it is or is it time for ________. No matter what my response is, every single time his response back to me is the same.

But Mommy, the hands just keep spinning round and round.

Oh my goodness, they sure do and time just keeps on moving but his statement always reminds me how precious each and every moment with my little ones really is.

No matter how tired, or how busy or how many minutes there are. . .each one is a gift to be thankful for.

signing off for now, but treasure each moment because those hands just keep spinning.

One more room and a precious one year old!

Okay, so I've been a little busy lately (I'm sure to hear murmurs of aren't we all?) And as much as I truly want to have you over and invite you in. . .there has just not been time to clean up anything! And when I don't clean, you really don't want to see what happens around here (think two Jr. Highers watching two pretot/toddlers and Mom ignoring not only the housework but the kids and nutritional needs of her family as well [um, McD, Pizza, and Pop Tarts nearly everyday] and then Dad throwing in some "more fun than all this work, let's go! suggestions" and you have a sorry looking mess!

Confession time! The pic of my daughter is from the State Fair and is as close to live animals and their surroundings as I go all year long. My 11 year old once called horses "big dogs" because her Mother had not taught her any differently at the age of 4 years, opps. So now, come rain, heat or whatever, we head down to the rural part of my small state and see horses, cows, pigs, goats, chicks, rabbits, and on and on it goes I'm afraid. We even climb on tractors. My favorite part? Touring those mega motorhomes and double wide modular houses! They'd be perfect for a place at the beach. . .so I like to dream! Guess there's just not much country in this girl.

Now the 3 yr old is properly versed in all domesticated, farm and wild animal names so you could say I'm reformed, sort of. I still do not have any pets and leave no hope in my children's minds that I will change my mind anytime soon.

But isn't it a cute picture? Barefooted and hay! so cute.

uh-anyway, confession number #2 I actually threw stuff off the couch onto the floor by the couches so you could not see it in these two pictures of my family room!! Don't look to close or you'll see lots of stuff I didn't move at all or look hard and have a grand time seeing the lovely toys my children drag around each and everyday from all over this obnoxiuosly large house (yup, I don't feel guilty and I love it! Hey, 7 of us fill it up).

The shot on the left is taken from my kitchen (which you will not get a picture of today for sure) into my backhall and family room. Down the hall is my powder room and to the left you can see my overflowing bookcases in my office. There is a 3 year old being babysat by public television and a 4 foot pink stuffed bunny from Easter that the little ones think is a great chair. Otherwise I love my big chair and halfs as we call them. These shots are from early in the day. I have morning sun in this room which is wonderful in the winter streaming through my double french doors and 3 Palladian windows (they match the window over my front door). You can just catch a corner of them in shot number 2. Oh, before I leave shot #1, notice the back hall has been painted. woo-hoo! It only took me 5 years to convince hubby that I could not stand builder white any longer. I guess shot #2 is pretty self explanatory. We sit in here everyday. We read in here. We occasionally watch the news or tv in here (only once or twice a week actually for the adults) Seeing the 3 year old in here is kind of deceptive and not of my choice. His Daddy has started a morning routine and I can not seem to break either of them of it. Every morning while I am still in bed (yup, he does not want me up and under his feet he says, I'm happy to oblige.) before he leaves for work, this little guy hears his Daddy putting his shoes on (He drops them on the hardwood for goodness sake as he comes down the steps! We all hear him!) and gets up out of bed to say good morning /goodbye to him. This also includes Daddy indulgently making him a cup of choch-ey milk and turning on PBS. Not a big deal? AAHH! This is builder grade carpet. This is a 3 year old prone to spills with no supervision, this is the big people family room, the kids have their own finished basement family rooom with a perfectly good tv down there. . . .oh , never mind, I have given up and besides, it is kind of cute that they have their morning thing going on. . . even if I'm not invited.

Other points of interest? My antique barn box, my grandmothers 100 plus year old quilt, one of many oil paintings ( Hubby I like to shop for art) and a stack of library books. The couches do not even have their throw pillows or throws on them (heaven alone knows where they are this morning) . The french doors need dressing up but I can't really decide which unobtrusive treatment to apply to them. All suggestions welcome, under $20 of course which is about how much my decorating budget would be this month! And please make it colorful, it's a very brown room (which I personally love but hubby thinks I'm nuts) . Can't quite see in picture, but accents are there in red and blue and yellow! Fireplace was suppose to be between those doors but we built it in the basement family room instead and now don't really want another in here so we must decide what to do.

So there you have it, the center of all activity in our home, the family room not the kitchen(I avoid the kitchen whenever possible to be honest except to entertain or buy pretty things for it or cook with kids . . .it's that regular meals thing that flusters me) . It's a lovely kitchen though, so keep checking back and I'll show it to you!