Someday My Prince will Come

Or at least, that's what Lady Jane believes. Yesterday she put on her pretty sparkly sandals, her dolphin necklace (bought while on vacation), and wanted her hair in a "high" ponytail, not a low ponytail and definitely not like Zoey (pig tails). This way she could wait for Prince Charming she informed me. And he would kiss her and marry her and love her. I didn't have the heart to disillusion her, but I don't think anyone would be willing to do that. Now a days, the Prince does not ride in in time to save the Princess. Most of the time the Princess needs to be able to save herself, if not the Prince too. And by the time the Princess meets the Prince, he'll probably have tons of unresolved issues that will have to be dealt with prior to settling down and living happily ever after. Not to mention the plethora of frogs that have to be kissed before finding the Prince. But for now Lady Jane is a Princess waiting for Prince Charming to come and declare his undying love and that's the way it should be.

"Lady Jane"

My mom took to calling my little girl "Lady Jane" at a young age. Though my daughter prefers to be called Princess. Always a little bit stubborn and always sure of herself, Lady Jane seemed to fit. Poor Lady Jane has had the most trouble readjusting to our schedules. Daddy had to leave on Monday for a trip leaving the three of us alone. She gets a bit panicky if I try to leave. She has cried at daycare yesterday and this morning when I left her. She wants her paci and blankey all the time. She's three.

So on Monday, my mother in law started lessons at the local Y for swimming for both my little man and Lady Jane. My little man changed to a lower class than the one my husband suggested and is doing much better (it was the class that I had suggested, but no one's keeping count). I went along the first day to help. Lady Jane sat peacefully on the side of the pool listening to instructions. A late little boy started crying and the teacher took him into the water. At the point where they were all to get in the water, the two little girls began to cry. The other calmed down after a while, but Lady Jane had panic all over her face. The teachers tried to keep her in the water with them, but she ended up with me on the edge of the pool and her playing in the water. The only reason I had asked my MIL to include Lady Jane was because I figured she'd protest because little man got to do something she didn't. (Minus 1 for mommy)

My in-laws picked up the kids yesterday to give it another go. Little man loved it. Lady Jane hated it. Fortunately the Y will give us credit and we'll probably sign little man up for the next session. Of course, when Lady Jane decides she's ready I'm positive she'll let us know.

Reality Check

For some reason coming home from vacation involves a reality check. At least it does in my case. On a week ago Friday, I drove the kids half-way to Grandma's house. Don't worry Grandma drove the other half and met me. Having shipped the kids off the a week long vacation of fun at Grandma's, I drove back home for a round trip of 4 hours. The next day we pile into the car, my husband, his sister and her husband and we spent a delightful 8-10 hours in the car on the drive to Gatlinburg, TN (we stayed in Pidgeon Forge). We had rented a two-bedroom cabin. Okay, for those of you who thought a cabin should be a rustic built-with-sticks "house" with a lovely outhouse checkout http://baskinscreek.com/external/2_bedroom_cabins.html and select Above It All Log Cabin. That's where we stayed.

So we have this awesome cabin we're staying at and the area is definitely a tourist's dream (which husband and I are not), but we were close to the Smoky Mountains National Park which is my husband's dream. I, on the other hand, just liked being in a cabin that was clean and air conditioned and being able to relax with no kids and not having to worry about what should be getting done around the house. So everyone did there own thing for the most part. My husband went to the park everyday to hike or bike. My BIL and SIL alternated between site seeing and the park. On one day I actually went into Gatlinburg with my SIL. We went to a psychic (we went in separately) and then laughed at lunch after since she fed me the same lines as she had fed SIL and then had asked both of us if we wanted the "negative energy" cleansed from us. Of course, we both tentatively said yes until she added "oh, yeah, that will cost ya". Apparently my SIL, who went first had a really dirty aura, since the psychic told her it would be $300 for the cleansing. I'm only a little dirty (dramatic pause) so she told me it would cost me $50. Darn the luck. The credit card machine was broke and I didn't have enough money, I guess I'll have to figure a different way to cleanse the negative energy. If she hadn't fed us the same exact lines (note she was doing a tarot card reading for SIL and a palm reading for me) and maybe had been a little better at the actual art of tarot and palmestry, it would have been more fun.

Anyway, we then went shopping and then went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium. Which was really good by the way. Picked up pirate hats for the kids (they loved it). Of course, I showed the $1 brochure of the Aquarium to my son and he asked why we didn't take him (I told him maybe next time). We did Hillbilly MiniGolf on the side of a mountain. They trolley you up a ways and you work your way down. Very amusing. I suck at MiniGolf, but it was fun. Another night we went on one of the ghost tours. It was okay. Kinda like watching the travel channel but actually being there.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the kids are having a blast at Grandma's(my mom's) with their cousins. I called my mom everyday (free long distance with the cabin). My Grandpa's condition got really bad one morning and he called my mom at 5 am to come out and watch Grandma (she's paralysed on one side due to a stroke). He spends the next night in the hospital on a diaretic to drain the fluid in his lungs because the doctor had told him to stop taking the diaretic. My mom and my kids spend the night out at my Grandparent's farm that night and Grandpa comes home the next day. Mom tells me in the phone call on that day that not only are most of his arteries clogged going to his heart and he has an aneruism, but the enlarged prostate is probably cancerous and his kidneys are failing, but he's coming home.

On Thursday, we drive back from vacation not as much fun is had in the car, but we're still in good spirits. My husband and I unpack and then repack for my mom's house for the weekend. Reality Check. That night I sat and thought about all the things I wanted to ask my Grandpa about his life and all the things that I want to tell him. But when the time came when I was with him and Grandma, I did what we always do. Sit in silence. When I left for home today, I kissed and hugged him and told him I loved him. Now, all I can hope is that I'll get another chance to sit in silence and kiss and hug him and tell him I love him.

Domestic Goddess?

I've spent the whole day eating bon bons and watching soaps. Yeah, right. Multiple loads of laundry, a reorganized and vaccuumed living room, changed litterboxes, and picture files backed up. Breakfast and lunch for three. One bad movie. And it's only 3 o'clock. My girl fell asleep before lunch and has been hoarse all day. We did go outside and play in the kiddie pool and produced some fine art (a picture of Darth Maul from my 5 year old). The problem is I don't have enough time to finish everything that needs to be done. If I were working everyday on it, I could maintain our household. At least when we had a maid come every month, everything was picked up for her. I get caught up in putting things in order, but by the time I get through all the rooms the house will be a lot better. Right?

Live in Slow Motion

At least I hope it will slow down. I'm officially on part time. Work Tues, Wed & Thurs and stay home with the kids the other days. Well normally stay home. Friday we had violin lessons, the kids were royal brats and we will probably not be continuing lessons this summer. My boy cried the entire half hour session. And the girl didn't want to play because her brother wasn't playing. So after explaining to my boy that the cost of that lesson was coming out of his allowance and that he wouldn't be getting to go to the pool or McDonald's on Friday, we went home. The boy had a doctor's appt in the afternoon and after that got a chance to go to a friend's house for a little bit. My girl spiked a fever of 100.8. No clue why. The next morning it was gone and today she's loosing her voice. We babysat for our nephew on Saturday, so my SIL and BIL could go out with friends to dinner and a movie. Today has been pretty lazy. I went and got a massage (yeah!). We went to Target and got some general stuff and stuff for our vacation next week. Three more days of work before vacation. Tomorrow the kids and I have major cleaning goals to meet.