Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

If it is not one gorgeous morning, then I don't know what is! We haven't ventured outside yet, but bet your buns we will.

It got chilly in the house last night. Fall is upon us. I love it. Love it, love it, love it, love it. I love the crispy leaves, the thousands of small festivals, fresh peaches and apples, Halloween costumes, pumpkins, hayrides, love it love it love it!

Today is our 'nothing' day. Nothing planned. Except a small trip to the grocery, the bank, a good old balance of the checkbook, pay a few bills and 13 loads of laundry. Kidding about the 13 part. Probably just 11 or so. But tonight, tonight my friends is the Grey's Anatomy season premier. That means these small chitlins will be in bed at 8:59 and even if I have to use Benadryl wine or whiskey, they will be sleeping peacefully and I will be watching that show for a full 2 hours. ER premiers tonight too. My VCR will be humming!

I take this National Stay at Home Week thing seriously. ABC said to stay at home and watch their shows, so I am.

I'm having to be more organized. Much more organized. See, we've always functioned in chaos, pretty much. Oh, I've tried to be organized, but it never works out well. But now that Dan is gone most of the time (with the exception of lunch- which we get to spend together- but he wants scrambled eggs and we're having bologna) I have to be responsible and well organized. Not that I am, but I should be. We'll get the hang of it, in fact, I think we are starting to already. My mom came to visit last night, her visits in the evenings help us all to feel sane. The kids love seeing her, and I love the company (thanks mom!)

Yesterday, Dan announced that they are switching his start time, did I want 3 or 8? 3 or 8? Yuck. Being as screwy as his hours have been lately, he had to clarify AM or PM. Both are PM. Double Yuck. I told him to surprise me- both are equally gross. Whatever. We are missing him, it just felt more normal to have him home with us in the evenings. Hopefully just a few more months and things will flip back.

And on a final note, I was reading in a magazine yesterday about affordable sexy family vacations. Sexy vacations and family, all in one sentence.

Personally, there is not much sexy about flinging open the door of the family minivan after a multi-hour drive on the front porch hotel. As the door slides open, happy meal toys and straw wrappers fall onto the concrete and the sound of screaming children echos through the concrete tunnel. No matter how you pack it, Dan and I end up each with bags strewn over both shoulders and wheeling some piece of large pack n play or suit case type luggage as the children pepper us with questions- all including the word 'pool'. Sweaty and exhausted, we stumble into our hotel room and begin the hunt for swim suits, floaty rings, the forgotten goggles, and blow up balls. All the while, our children are jumping like beans on the hotel beds (just a small silly rule of ours). Nope, not much sexy about that.

Back to the article, they showed a small hut type building on the white sandy beaches of some exotic wonderfulness and wrote in the article that prices 'started at just $475 per night'. And that is probably for the dumpy villa not ocean front where you have to bring your own sheets. Yikes. $475 a night. It was beautiful, but golly, that seems like an awful lot of cash- even if it is a 'sexy family vacation'. And I bet there are little lizards. The kind that come inside and climb on the walls. See- it would be awful I bet.

Next summer, Dan and I were talking about vacationing in Galveston, TX. I read a blog of a lady who lives near there and it looks so awesome. I'm sure you've heard of Galveston, TX- it was pretty well wiped clean by the last hurricane. I'm off to search for a new vacation spot. Have a great day!

By the way- here are some pictures of Ally on picture day. She seems to be growing so very fast- hard to believe she'll be 9 next week. Such a good kid. (Picture tip- no need to scrunch down when taking a picture of a tall child. The effect of doing so ends up with a normal height 8 year old appearing to be 6.5 feet tall : ) Rest assured, she is not taller than the kitchen cabinets.