The "A" Team Update: We are so excited!

Granny and Gramps (my absolutely wonderful in laws) get here today. Well technically, they land an hour up the coast very late tonight. We won't see them until tomorrow morning, but at least it will be very soon. As long as I can remember I have always been unable to contain myself with enthusiasm for upcoming trips, visits, vacations, holidays, parties, meals (had to sneak that one in to see if you were paying attention), you name it. If it is something to look forward to, I will nearly exhaust myself with anticipation. Christmas has always been so exciting for me that literally I have often made myself physically ill by the time the day arrives. My Mom and Dad will vouch for the number of years I spent Dec 25 on the couch, even into adulthood. My kids have definitely fallen into my pattern of uncontainable enthusiasm for the good things to come... M can ask me "hundreds" of times a day, "now, how long until they get here?" They are so thrilled that there beloved Grandparents are coming to see us. One small glitch, L totally does not get that the two sets of grandparents are not one entity. She is totally convinced that they all go together and that Grandma and Papa are on their way too. Lucky for us we get them for a week at Thanksgiving, something else to anticipate with glee...

Some other things we are really excited about right now.

My dear SIL and BIL, B and A, are expecting a new addition to their family in May. We are all very excited to welcome a new cousin/niece (I hope) or nephew.

My BFF Jen and her Mom will be here in a couple more weeks to spend an entire week with us! Woo Hoo!

This next tidbit should fall under the "truth is stranger than fiction" heading. Now, those of you who know me well, know that I love a challenge and am no stranger to hard work. However, an overly clean house has just never really been my thing. That's so an understatement that I laugh out loud as I type it. By the way, you all should know that my typing skills fall even lower on my skill set list than house cleaning... So, this little blog venture REALLY is a labor of love to keep you all so actively posted on our foibles and follies. Now, don't get me wrong, we do not live in filth, and I must have organization. Beyond that though, I can overlook dust with the best of them. I do not collect things, largely because I don't want to take care of them. I like minimal, it soothes me. If there is too much furniture or too many decorations in a room, I get restless. I like to see some open space and yes, even bare walls. Oh the horror... Anyway, sometime ago I did have a point. I think it was that I would not expect my girls to grow up to be neat freaks, unless it skips a generation. I can honestly say I never made my bed until C and I bought our first home.

Here's why I rambled into all of this...

Each week M's class compiles a "Kinder Cronicle" (no, I do not know why it is spelled that way, and honestly I am afraid to ask...) This is a great little newsletter of tidbits from the week. This week their reading stories were about families. Mrs. S always includes a couple of quotes from the kids. They feel like rock stars to be in print and we get one more thing to shove in a box for that baby book I am going to compile one day....

Here is M's exact quote about our family...

"Sometimes my family works. We clean up and put things where they go."

Now doesn't that just warm your heart. I am SO not sure how to take this. I am torn between wondering if people think she mentioned it because it's a total novelty for us, or whether they think, now that's a family who really knows how to live it up!

It did make me laugh. I guess I am a little crazy about the picking up part. The smaller our homes get, the harder it is to keep that little bit of open space I mentioned needing. So, we do have an ongoing family pitch in time to keep Mama sane, but really is that so bad? And seriously folks, my obsession is only surface deep. If it can be shoved in a box, basket or bin, I am all good... If you choose to open my closet doors or inspect said bins, do so at your own risk, because definitely for me, out of sight is out of mind.

Some other odd news from this week, Karma is out to get me. I mentioned to C that my Mom liked the pic of L "digging for gold" that I posted the other day. He thought maybe it was over the top and a mom should not ridicule her children... what else are they for if we can't use a few random things to pay them back occasionally. Anyway, he said, funny you should mention that because she came to me saying Dad I have something in my mouth (spitting at him, of course). Needless to say, what he fished out could have come from the aforementioned pic. We are so proud.

I thought I should leave you with a better visual, so here are the girls playing with their new friends this week....