Why is Packing Always the Mom's Job?

Tomorrow after Hannah gets out of school we are heading up to the Wisconsin Dells with 3 other families and Willie (who is everyone's favorite "uncle") for the weekend. We went up there at the same time last year and it was a lot of fun. This year we decided to rent a cabin instead of individual rooms so that we could all be together and not have to be crammed into a tiny hotel room. I'm curious to see what this cabin is like because it sounds a lot nicer then my house - I mean it's got a small viewing room for crying out loud!!

I am excited to be getting away for a few days and Hannah can't stop talking about the waterslides. Alexander doesn't really know what we're talking about but he knows that we're going to spend the weekend with "all the kids" and is excited about that. However as happy as I am to be getting away and getting some time to just hangout and relax for a while I have one problem - I HATE PACKING!!! I never know what to bring and I ALWAYS over pack. This past October when we went to Mexico for my SIL wedding I went nuts. Half of the stuff that I brought came back unused which was annoying AND it all had to be rewashed regardless of whether or not it was used because, well because that's just how I am!

So now I'm trying to pack for myself and the kids (I don't pack for Bill, he's a big boy and can pack himself - sort of..) and am slowly driving myself insane. I constantly question myself: Should I bring short sleeve shirts? What if the kids get hot and all I have are long sleeve shirts? How many swim suits should I bring? Do I think we'll need extra pajamas? Should I pack extra sheets (FYI hotel sheets GROSS me out!)? How many pair of shoes do we really need? - the list goes on and on!! I HATE PACKING!!

I can't let Bill pack for us either - we'd have one mismatched outfit, one sock and no underwear or something crazy!! Packing for more then one person requires patience and my sweet, wonderful husband doesn't have a lot of those to spare (Sorry Honey). I wish I could hire someone to come to my house and just pack for me and hand me my suitcase as I'm walking out the door. I am going to hate it whenever we decide to move to a new house, I may have to be sedated!!! Oh well, I guess I should get back to the torture - I mean packing. I'll be back sometime on Monday with plenty of stories to tell I'm sure! Enjoy your weekend!

I am Addicted to Facebook!!!

Saturday night Bill and I went to dinner with my parents and sister. My in-laws were wonderful enough to stay with the kids so that we could have an adult night out which was totally nice of them and for which I am truly greatful.

Anyway, while at dinner the we somehow got on the subject of Facebook. My mom and sister are both members as are Bill and I and we were trying to explain the whole concept to them because they are still pretty new to it and are still trying to figure it out. For those of you who don't know what Facebook is - it's basically a way to waste time all day and it's VERY addicting!! My mom actually scolded me because I have been ignoring my blogging duties and she is one of my (very few) faithful readers - Hi mom!! It didn't really occur to me just how much I am on Facebook until she mentioned that. I mean, I am on ALL the time!!! Today alone I've been to it at least a dozen times and if you think that's bad, Bill has probably been on at least two dozen times - he's much more of a computer junkie then I am (sorry honey!). It's like I have this crazy obsession to send people drinks or throw food at them or check my scrabulous games - it's INSANE! I think I'm going to try to cut down of my Facebook time.

I wonder if there's a self help group for this? Maybe I'll start one... Anyone interested in joining Facebookers Anonymous?

I Just Wanted to Say...

I have a Million Things to do and I'm on the Computer!

Like it says above, I've got tons of stuff to do. I've got to finish making treat bags for the kids to take to school tomorrow, help Hannah finish writing out her valentine cards, bake cupcakes for Hannah's class because she has snack day tomorrow, bake cookies for Alexander's class because I volunteered to make cookies for his valentine's day party before I knew that I was going to have to make 25 cupcakes for Hannah, decorate said cupcakes and cookies (and heaven forbid they don't have frosting AND sprinkles!), attempt to finish the laundry, straighten up the house (which is a never ending chore!) and figure out how to thaw a half thawed pot roast in time to put it in the oven at 3:00pm. I'm sure that there are lots of things that I'm supposed to be doing that I'm forgetting about too! And yet despite everything I have to do I am sitting at the computer wasting time.

Sometimes my mad time management skills just amaze me!

Our First Trip to the Field Museum

Bill took the day off of work this past Monday to nurse his Superbowl hangover but he didn't overdo it and felt fine enough for us to take the kids to the Field Museum instead. We had a great time and had the museum practically to ourselves - there were times that we were the only ones in the exhibits!

Hannah had a hard time understanding that the things that we were seeing were once alive but now dead so she was a little scared a few times while we were wandering around. She did NOT want to go into the pyramid because she thought that the mummies were going to come alive and chase her (like on t.v.). After we convinced her that mummies really don't come back to life after they're dead she was fine - at least until we went to the underground adventure. UA is a temporary exhibit that gives you a view of life under the soil if you were the size of a bug. It was cool in a creepy sort of way, but again Hannah was scared. The exhibit pretends to shrink you using mirrors and cameras and she hated the idea. She wanted out of there in the worst way until we explained that it was just pretend and that we were just imagining that we had shrunk. She eventually found a touch screen computer and she was good to go. The girl LOVES computers. After the computer she was more agreeable and was even willing to touch a few things.

Our next stop was the Evolving Planet Exhibit which both kids loved. it was full of Dinosaur facts and fossil and loads and loads of dino skeletons. Hannah knew most of the dinosaurs' names, which I was surprised at and Alexander just liked looking at the pictures and pushing the buttons to hear the dinosaurs' latin names. I swear he must have hit the Triceratops button about a dozen times!

The kids sitting on a dinosaur bone

Alexander in a dinosaur footprint

Hannah in the same footprint

After lunch we headed over to the Crown Family Playlab. We had been there earlier in the afternoon and Hannah had made a painting of a frog in the art room that she wanted to pick up before we left. I think that this was their favorite place in the whole museum. They got to run around and play in the different areas and mom and dad got to sit and rest! Hannah dressed up as different animals and jumped around the pretend forest and Alexander found some buttons to push - again! Then we headed into the music room and they banged on the drums like there was no tomorrow. There were buttons to push on the walls to hear samples of different types of music from different countries and they really enjoyed those. I think their favorite one was from Chile. Finally the kids moved over to play in the pueblo where they got to harvest corn and "make" pottery.

Hannah the turtle

My corn pickin' boy


Jammin' on the drum


Drum solo

We were a little bummed because the Scientists' lab was closed but we had such a good time we figured that the kids could see it the next time we visit.

Free Fun and Learning!!

Hey Everyone! I just found out that Chicago's Field Museum is offering FREE general admission for the entire month of February!! Normally general admission is $12 for adults and $7 for kids (ages 4-11) so I think that this is a great deal. Of course, this doesn't include parking or admission to the temporary exhibits (those are still extra) but it does give you access to the new Crown Family Playlab which sounds like lots of fun. I hope that you all take advantage of this - I know that we will!