happy friday....!

This week has been a strange one, a week of being between vacations. I came home last Friday, and am leaving again today. We are heading to Georgia for one night, then on to Florida to spend the week with Grandma, Paul's mom. A few of the kids will stay with her, Paul and I will stay in town in a hotel with the younger two or three. (Just the five youngest are going with us).

The bags are mostly packed. The kids have tablets and a dvd player, and movies, times have changed...do we even need to bring markers and crayons? The van seats swivel around to face backwards, and there is a little table that can be put in, Jon wants to play cards...since the day we looked at that van to buy it, he has been planning the trip to Florida, and how they can play cards. Yesterday I sent them out to clean the van for the trip, not that it was messy, they have been pretty good about keeping it nice. But I figured if they cleaned it themselves, they would be more likely to keep it that way...so Jon hooked up the extension cord and carried out the vacuum cleaner, while Char had the paper towels and the window spray, Cam with the garbage bag. They cleaned and dusted and shined it, and are very proud of themselves.

Anyway. Sonja needed a new bathing suit. And I get it, I really do. She'll be fourteen in May, and her last year's suit doesn't fit right, and none of her sisters are her same size, ect. I remember the awkward feeling of that age. So when she got home from school yesterday, we went on a little adventure...we dropped off overdue library books, then went to the bank, then to Target. She found something she liked, not on sale, but I didn't want her to feel bad, so I just encouraged her to pick one out. She's such a good girl, she chose just a top because she has bottoms at home to match. I also got Jon some new swim trunks because that boy is growing like a weed, he's almost as tall as his mama.

We stopped to fill up the gas tank using the grocery store gas points and saved ten bucks, always nice, then the grocery store really quickly to get some things for the ride (those little oranges, some grapes, sandwich stuff, a few drinks).

Then home...ah home.

Suzanne has been stressing about missing another week of school. She's in 9th grade. She homeschooled last year for one year, and went back to public school. Her grades are excellent, all high nineties. But missing the entire week to go to Norway made it hard to catch up, and now she's leaving again. We let her choose if she wanted to stay home, because if she feels pressure, it has to be her decision. She's at school now, there's a half day. I'm 99% sure she's choosing Florida:)

Just an FYI, we can't always take vacations when there's school vacation, because of Paul's travel/work schedule. When we get back, he'll be leaving soon after for two weeks in France....

Anyway. The little details of life.

This is how Jonathan spent the entire day yesterday: Watching the kitty have her kittens. He had cleaned out his closet, and put down a towel, and for the last few weeks, he would put her in there and give her some food. So yesterday morning, she went in there meowing, and purring, and settled down in the closet. She had four kittens during the course of the day, and Jon kept a close eye on it all. (He has been reading up on it all the last few weeks). He was very concerned that the first born kitten couldn't find a nipple to latch on to, but I assured him it wouldn't starve. I sat with Jon a few different times, it is pretty awesome. Then when I was busy doing other things, he would text me to let me know what was going on. He is not thrilled to be leaving them, although he is of course thrilled about the trip.

Joseph will be here to take care of them, but it is hard to leave them:)

Ah well....time to get moving...I don't know if I'll be blogging on vacation, but I hope so...:)