Chloe's Violin and Vocal Stylings

Last night after supper Chloe held a concert for us. She "played" her toy violin and sang for our listening pleasure. :) Clive obviously enjoyed the music too as evidenced by his head-bopping and applause.

Ah, these are the days, my friend. Too soon these sweet memories will seem distant.

Hello out there!

Well, we are finally back from our lengthy visit to Wisconsin. Whew! We had an extremely fun time but we're glad to be home.

We've been home now almost a week and we're finally unpacked and back to mostly normal routines and sleep habits.

Check out pictures of part of our trip here. I'm ashamed to admit that 5 days into the trip I stopped taking photos. It was too hard to remember to snap pictures amidst the whirlwind of activity!

How about you? Any summer trips or special activities lined up?

On the road again

Later this evening we'll be transferring two sleeping children to the fire-engine-red Chevy HHR we rented for our big road trip to Wisconsin.

We're all packed and ready to go! Just have some peripheral stuff to throw into bags and load into the car.

We decided a while ago that driving through the night was our only option to maintain sanity while traveling with two kids. Chloe would be fine but it's the over-active Clive that would cause problems for a daytime journey. Goodness, he can't even last for a 45 minutes home from church much less for the 9-10 hour drive from Ohio to Wisconsin.

So, if you're up to read this -- pray for our safe travels as we drive through the night. I'll do my best to blog a bit while we're away. Later, alligators!

A teaser for the grammas

Grammas (and Shauna), this video clip is for you. This happy smiley boy is coming out to see you VERY soon!

In frantic preparation mode

Our little family is about to embark on a 9 hour road trip. Eek!

We're headed to my homeland, Wisconsin, to visit my mom, grandma and old pals in the Milwaukee area. I'm unspeakably excited!!!!

Needless to say, I'm in crazy preparation mode. I have several to-do lists and I keep jotting down more thoughts as they pop into my head. I wish I could be more systematic in my prepping and packing. Instead I'm running frenetically from one task to another and talking to myself lest I forget what I'm doing.

I know I don't have to remember every possible thing; it's not like we'll be stranded in a desert wasteland. I can always run out and purchase something we need. But I ABHOR wasting money in that fashion. When I am forced to purchase an item on the spot I get stuck with a horribly high price for said necessity. I cringe just thinking about the pain of overpaying!

Help me out. What items are usually overlooked and forgotten in your vacation planning?