Conscious Decisions

I know it's been a while but I guess no news is good news.

We have decided to scratch the idea of selling our house for the time being. We are going to make the conscious decision to be happy where we are. We always keep our eyes open to new opportunities no matter if that is a new car, house or whatever, but for now we will be happy where we are. Luckily, there isn't anything wrong at all with where we are and the itch to move has come and gone.

We have started to make decisions on improvements and re-decorating for our house. It is already pretty satisfying and I'm glad we didn't jump too fast. We have purchased new coach lights for the front of our house and I've ordered a new duvet for our bed. I'm most excited for my new canvases to arrive! I finally ordered some great canvases of the family portraits that we took a few months ago and will start to re-do our living room once those arrive. The new pictures will be displayed above our fireplace and the painting that is currently there will find a new permanent place in our home. The only part of this process that I really don't like is that everything I want to do is expensive and that I can't do it all at once, I'm not a patient person. Doing things piece by piece is another thing that I am going to have to tell myself to be happy with, and remind myself that I really am lucky to be able to do almost everything I want in our home even if it is a slow process.

(This is our current mantle, stay tuned for the update!)

I'm looking forward to getting to so many projects in our home! I'll keep you all posted on the progress as I get to each project! There are so many parts that I'm excited about but there are also plenty that I'm excited to get over with, like organizing our garage. The garage is a top priority for Chad and while I want it done, I don't want to waste my weekends getting it completed. Same with our garden, I'll be very happy once clearing it out and the plating is over. Wish us luck!

Abby will be starting her second season of volleyball this evening, she is very excited! She is a natural athlete and loves being active, I hope she keeps that passion her entire life!

Grace has her UIL competition for band next week, she is looking forward to it! Chad is taking the day off and we will be watching her competition, we're confident she will do great!

Orin had a nasty fall about two weeks ago at school, where he scraped his face pretty badly and broke his glasses on his face. I was able to replace his glasses the same day and he is almost completely healed.

Chad is doing great things, kicking butt and taking names. I'm so proud of him!

I've been keeping busy with our kids, spending time with friends while the kids are at school and occasionally teaching. I'm teaching two full days this week and I'm really looking forward to it!

I hope everyone reading this has a great leap day and a fantastic week ahead! xoxo

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Best Days

Last night Chad and I went to the "I Love The 90's!" concert, it was SO much fun!! We got to see Young MC, Rob Base, All 4 One, Kid N Play, Coolio, Salt N Peppa with Spinderella and Vanilla Ice. It was a blast! Dinner was great and our company was even better, we met up with our friends Janine, Ken, Sommer and John for dinner and had fun talking and getting amped up for the concert.

Our friends that we ate with had purchased their tickets together a while back so we were in different sections but after the first intermission we snuck to their area and were able to finish the concert with them. The show was pretty much everything we hoped it would be! Some of our favorite songs of our youth with Salt N Peppa stealing the show! Words can't do justice to describe the great time we had! I danced my booty off (I do NOT dance, I have zero rhythm) and had the best time! 

After the show we were thinking of going out to a local karaoke bar but decided to go home instead. When we woke up we were so thankful we made that decision! We were already sore and still tired so we were happy to not wake up hung over too.

When we woke up we realized that we had nothing planned for the day. Not a bad thing by any means but pretty rare for us. We stay very busy most of the time. The thought of having nothing down in the planner and all chores done was kind of exciting! Before we got out of bed Orin crawled in with us and we snuggled him and decided that we would go downtown today. We live in a suburb of Austin so it isn't far but we don't venture downtown very often, especially with all of our kids in tow. As long as we've lived here (24 years total, moving away for college and to Florida for a few years-other than that I've been here pretty much all of my life) I've never driven to see some of the murals and art work that is part of what makes Austin so unique and the incredible city that it is and today sounded like a great day to do it. The weather was beautiful and there was no way we wanted to spend the day inside. Everyone got ready for the day and we were on our way. 

We left the house at about 10:45am and started driving south toward Austin knowing that we needed to stop for lunch first. We decided to eat at Chuy's, which fit the theme for the day because Chuy's is an Austin staple. It was a perfect way to start what would turn out to be such an amazing family day!

After lunch we ventured into downtown Austin and found a place to park off of Congress, which was a small victory. Parking was a little nuts! After we unloaded our clan we found the "I Love You So Much" mural and took some pictures. Orin didn't want to cooperate at first but eventually got on board. After our first photo op we walked around for a while and eventually found the "Austin" mural. We again took some pictures that Orin again didn't want to participate in. We still were able to sneak him in some of the pictures thanks to the generosity of some strangers willing to take the shot for us. One of the things I love about Austin are the locals who are almost always willing to lend a hand for a quick favor and expect nothing in return. We of course offered to take pics for those who helped us out and were more than happy to help if they took us up on the offer.

After we took pictures the house/business next to the "Austin" mural caught Chad's eye. It was a Patisserie and something sweet sounded good to all of us! We went inside where each of us ordered one small treat. Chad bought an eclair while each of the kids and I ordered a different macaroon. They were delectable! Seriously, the best macaroon I've ever had! I had an almond one, Grace strawberry, Abby lavender and Orin had a chocolate one. They were perfect! 

After our sweet treats we started to walk back to our car stopping in some classically Austin stores and farmer's markets along the way. We were in no rush and spent over an hour walking half of a mile and enjoying our time together. When we made it back to the car we decided to seek out the Austin Graffiti Park. We drove the less than three miles to our destination and spent a good ten minutes finding somewhere to park. We finally did and made our way over to the park. I've seen pictures of it before and the pictures have never done it justice. It was so cool! There was some scary climbing involved with no stairs but we all made it. When we got to the highest level I was a total nervous wreck because Orin wanted to get too close to the drop off and Abby was wearing boots that I didn't trust her not to fall in. Chad kept his hands on them both and we were able to sit back and enjoy the view of the Austin skyline. It was an experience that we will all treasure. We all sat down on the ground (another kind stranger offered to take a few pictures of us) and we all actually enjoyed sitting quietly together just admiring the view. It was really special. 

After a while we made our way down the hills and back to our car. We decided to pay the capitol of Texas a visit. When we got to the capitol I was so happy to see how excited my kids were to read plaques and listen to what we had to say about Texas history and our personal connections to people who have served our great state. We all enjoyed taking our time and walking around the building and looking at all of the pictures of our Governors and elected officials. Again I was pretty nervous about Orin wanting to run around, I was scared that somehow he would lean too far and fall over the ledge down into the rotunda. He had to hold mine or Chad's hand the entire time, he wasn't too happy about that but had to get over it. We all had a great time exploring the capitol! When we left the inside we walked around the grounds for a little while, the kids were happy to be able to run around for a while and we discussed how old some of the trees on the grounds are, they were interested and we were happy to teach. 

We made our way back to the car with 13 minutes to spare on our car meter, score! We headed home and started talking about our favorite parts of our adventures for the day. We all agreed that we were so happy with how our day went and are eager to do it again. I love that our kids enjoyed the day all together and are more excited about our family days together than anything else, even Grace, our teenager. 

Days like today make me even more appreciative of the life we have worked so hard to have and they make me appreciate my husband and our kids individually, even more than I already do. I'm thrilled to have these experiences and that our kids tell us that "today was the best day ever!" every single time that we get to spend time together like this. We are so blessed to have so many Best Days!

I Love The 90's Concert!     February 5, 2016

Family Day <3     February 6, 2016

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Family Trip, Feb 2015

The To me there are two types of trips, a family trip which is where we bring our kids and a vacation, which doesn't include any children. We love both! As our children get older we are enjoying family trips more and more. We no longer have a baby which makes these trips so much less stressful and we all have an opportunity to do a lot of fun things together and strengthen our bond as a family. We are able to create incredible memories that are so precious to us all.

In our school district there is a "February break" where the kids have a long weekend (no school on Monday or Tuesday) and this year we decided to take advantage of it! We spent the weekend in the Dallas, TX area and took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge. This was our second adventure at GWL and this trip was even better than our first. Within reason we stopped caring about the expense and bought our kids each a Wolf Pass and stayed in a fun suite. A Wolf Pass lets the kids do a ton of extra activities that without the pass would cost almost double. Along with having a great time at the indoor water park we all did the awesome ropes course, the 3D movie, had extra sweets, played in the Arcade, played the super cool Magic Quest game (we also had the Compass game loaded on their magic wands that are needed for the games), the kids got to create a stuffed animal (similar to Build A Bear), play laser tag and so much more! We had a blast together and each of us walked away happier than we went in and so thankful for the fun time we had together.

Because we were in the area that Chad's sister, our BIL and nephew live we were able to visit with them twice. We really enjoy getting to spend time with them and loving on our perfect baby nephew! They came to visit us when we arrived at GWL and then we spent part of the late afternoon at their house on Monday.

Chad and I have decided to invest more in memories and experiences rather than things for our children, we have not regretted that decision once. I'm so thrilled with the experience we all just had together and it makes me eager to plan another family trip soon!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Confrontation

Today I had a confrontation with someone that I really, really don't like. I have spent most of my life being a non-confrontational person and letting more go than I should, but there have been a small handful of times that I have to let someone (deserving) have it.
Let me tell you a little story about my relationship with this person that I find so despicable, lets call her K.
We move back from Florida in June 2013 and we are introduced. She had been dating Chad's little brother for several months (not sure exactly how many, less than a year I'm sure). I was polite and so was she but there was something off. She came off as very fake and it was obvious to me. I still did my best to get along with her, she hadn't done anything to me or my family so if she is fake, whatever.
Several weeks after we met Chad had asked me if K was planning on taking our daughter Grace out to play volleyball and practice like she had told Grace she would do. I said that I wasn't sure so Chad asked me to text her and find out.
I sent her a text that she came back sounding pretty rude saying something along the lines of that she hadn't told Grace that. She had, we were all there. (There was another incident that she said she didn't say something that she had said to me, which she did, to me with a friend standing right next to me who heard the conversation too) I said something to the tune of, no worries but going forward please don't promise my kids something if you don't intend on following through. If you're free to play volleyball with Grace please let me know.
She went OFF. This was about two years ago and I deleted the texts that we sent back and forth a long time ago. She was so nasty and rude. When K texts you she comes off as talking down to you, like she is better than everyone. Other family members have told me she texts them the same way, she must have some complex, not too sure.
I ended up blocking her from my phone and deleting her and her boyfriend from our Facebook account. I don't see a reason for them to be able to "check in on us" when she can't be tactful and civil.
Several months pass by, maybe even a year I'm not sure and I sent K a message apologizing for my part of the argument and asking if we could meet to talk things out. We did just that about a week later. She started off being pretty nasty and I was sitting with a smile on my face letting her know that I let it all go a long time ago and deleted the texts. She told me she hadn't and re-read them several times. I guess she likes to fester on arguments, who knows. Either way the 2+ hour "meeting" ended on a good note and I thought things were happy again.
At this time in our lives we had a pretty rocky relationship with Chad's parents and his sister. (Things have since been worked out and we all get along great, thank God!) Chad's brother and K decided to make our relationships with Chad's other family their business and got in the middle of it all despite how well our individual relationships were going up to that point. We had them over for dinner and to spend time together several times, but they started getting nasty with us over things that were none of their business. Again, things are sour. Again, several months later we reach out to fix things. Again, we apologize for whatever it was they were annoyed with and things started to be okay again.
I don't even remember why they were mad at us the last time, they are very sensitive people and seem to like to be mad at us.
Anyway, things were worked out which was important to us because they were engaged and Chad was hoping to be part of his brother's upcoming wedding. His brother was a groomsman in our wedding when he was 14.
At some point in-between I'm not sure which argument and soon after Orin's Autism diagnosis she agreed to meet up with me for a dinner to discuss Orin. She works in the Autism field (even though her degree has nothing to do with it...) and I was hopeful for some opinions and help on how to handle my son's new diagnosis and where I should look to to get him the help he needs. She had been around Orin some but not much. During the dinner she never once smiled at me and treated this as a business meeting. She was sweet and smiled at our waiter but then went back to being serious with me. She diagnosed him (she used that phrase to Chad in a text "Her diagnosis") as needing 40 hours per week of ABA therapy and probably PT and OT. I was terrified. Our insurance wouldn't cover that and she made it sound like Orin was destitute. She also asked me why I waited so long to have Orin diagnosed...he was three, I fought for a diagnosis for a year before I finally got it, what do you mean why did I wait so long? I have since discussed her diagnosis with Orin's teachers, therapists and pediatric neurologist (people that are actually around my son and work with him and a doctor) who have all said she is WAY off base and that would be the complete opposite of helpful for Orin's situation. It would be a shame if anyone she works with found out that she is diagnosing, even worse, mis-diagnosing patients. Yes, she called my son her patient. She also refused to associate herself with Orin for Autism Awareness, she sent me another gem of a text letting me know that.
A couple of weeks after we "made up" the last time I had talked to Chad about hoping that I was going to be invited to K's bridal shower, seeing that we are about to be related and our relationship was much better. Chad had mentioned it to his brother during a golf game. His brother told K about the inquiry, as a result she sent me another nasty series of texts. It was clear that she was trying to draw me into an argument, but I just wouldn't do it. It ended as it began with a message to me of basically "who do you think you are, you can't attend, we aren't there yet". I was clearly NOT invited. Whatever, it was her shower, if she didn't want me there then fine.
A little after the bridal shower incident I was set to host my sister-in-law's (SIL-Chad's sister) baby shower. I was so excited! It was important to my SIL that K be involved in the shower. I swallowed my pride, again, and reached out to K. We hosted a great shower along with my mother-in-law. I reached out to them both for input and agreed that I would do all of the work (my MIL lives out of country) and that because K is so busy with work she would just bring the flowers.
The morning of the baby shower K sent me a text telling me she was confused on what time the shower started (what? we planned this together!) and that she would be there and hour later than anticipated, about 20 minutes before the beginning of the shower.
The plan was for Chad, my SIL's husband and Chad's brother to play a round of golf while the shower was going on.
Chad's brother and K showed up late with the flowers. Chad's brother realized that a mis-communication resulted in Chad and my other BIL already being at the golf course, he would have to meet them there. Nobody thought this was an issue because Chad's brother had done this to Chad before, not a big deal. Just drive the 7.2 minutes to the course. Chad's brother lost it. He started yelling at all of us ladies getting ready for the party. He was yelling and cussing at us and in front of my daughters (Orin was with Chad). I told him to knock it off, it isn't our faults, just go to the golf course. Meanwhile K starts dealing with the flowers acting like his behavior was totally fine. As he was leaving I sent Chad a text that said "You brother is throwing a tantrum because y'all are already at the course. What a prick." I hit send...and then realized that I had accidentally sent the text to K. Great. I tried to figure any way out to delete it before she saw it. I was mortified. As soon as the reality set in that there was no way for me to undo the damage (remember that she is still being short with me because of the bridal shower stuff) I discreetly pulled her into my laundry room and told her what happened. I told her that I was so sorry and very embarrassed. She was of course nasty to me and was awful to me the entire rest of the shower, but that was totally my fault so I dealt with it.
I was certain that we would lose our invitation to their wedding, but we didn't.
Less than two weeks before the wedding my SIL had her son. I was so happy to be in the room while she delivered him, it was such an amazing experience and I'm eternally grateful for her wanting me to be there. A day or so after she delivered K came to visit her and my nephew. Again, she was nasty to me. When she left she said goodbye very lovingly and nice to my SIL and then turned to me, who was in the same room, rolled her eyes and mumbled "bye" to me.
I also think it is important to let you all know that while she is treating me (and sometimes Chad) like this she then goes to our children and tries to be the sweetest, fakest person I've ever seen. That will not be happening ever again.
As their wedding got closer it was apparent that Chad's brother wasn't going to invite him to be part of his wedding party. Chad was so hurt. There were 8 groomsmen and 3 ushers and Chad wasn't asked to be in even the smallest part of the wedding. We're confident it is because of her. Chad and his brother had such an amazing relationship until K came along. It's pretty sad.
At the rehearsal and wedding we just sat and went along with the motions. We were not happy to be there and left both events early so that what we were thinking didn't come out of our mouths and ruin their event. It was a depressing event for us. They avoided us the entire time and that was fine.
About two months after the wedding I got a letter in the mail with no return address. I opened it, it was a Thank You card. I opened it and read the nastiest grouping of words that someone of her mental capacity can write. Chad wasn't home so I took a picture of it and sent it to him. He and his brother ended up getting in a screaming match for almost two hours on the phone that evening. His brother apologized for not including Chad in the wedding, but of course it was too late and the damage from that can not be undone. I went to send K a text thanking her for her letter and putting on paper who she really is, but by then she had deleted and blocked us from Facebook (an act that she told us we were trash and childish for doing when the first argument happened) and blocked my cell number. So I then typed out my response to her letter and easily found her address to send it to. However, I again took the high road and never printed or sent the letter. No need, we all know who she really is.
That brings us to today. I had just ordered my coffee at Starbucks and sat with my friends. I was talking with them when I saw her walk in. I was shocked, she doesn't live in our area. I looked at my friend Amanda who instantly knew why that look was on my face. I was shaking. As I'm deciding not to say anything and just let her leave and leave me in peace one of my friends I was there with said that she took my picture on her phone and was giggling. I had hoped up until that point that she hadn't seen me and there would be no need for a confrontation. At that point (after the giggling and picture) my name was called for my coffee. I stood up to grab it and there she was looking right at me with a snide grin. That was it. I said "Hi K!" She responded and I said "I got your letter, that was great!" and proceeded to tell her how I feel about her. At that point her eyes got pretty wide and she said that this wasn't the time and that I should have some class about myself. I told her that this was the perfect time and continued letting her know in very very clear terms how much of a trashy, hypocritical coward I think she is. As her name was being called for her coffee I noticed that she was looking me straight in the eyes and I ended the conversation reiterating exactly what kind of person I think she is. She then turned around and left with her drink.
I was very quiet and discreet this entire time and I had a smile on my face. I'm not sure why I did but I'm sure it was because I was so happy to be getting everything off of my chest that she never gave me the opportunity to before.
K is a control freak, I'm sure that it "wasn't the time" because it was out of her control. She comes off as pretentious, arrogant and fake. I don't want another opportunity to be around her so this was going to be the right time.
I'm actually really surprised that she didn't have anything to say back. I know she was caught off guard, as was I, but she has always seemed to come off so tough in her texts and letter.
I'm sure her version of how things happened will be very different and exaggerated, but it is a good thing there were SO many people there that saw the truth. I had three friends with me that had no idea of what I was saying because I was so quiet (they were literally less than three feet from me) and thought I was being pleasant with her because of my smile, along with a woman that we don't know that was right there too and stated she thought everything was ok. There was no scene and it was over in less than a minute.
I'm not proud of how things went today and I wish they never happened but I'm not sorry that it did.
She told me to have some "class", I'm sure I handled myself tactfully in a situation that could have gone much worse very fast.
I'm not saying I've been perfect in this relationship. I got nasty back during the first series of texts and didn't use any kind of nice language today. It is all a reaction to how I feel she is treating me, which isn't ok.
To me having class means handling yourself in a tactful way and being a lady. It also means sticking up for yourself when it is necessary. I have let everything go over and over with her for the sake of family, I felt that today with how she has treated me and taking a picture for no good reason that it was time to behave exactly like I did, classy.

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

PS-K&C, I know you're reading this, I'm so flattered that you care so much about what I have to say! But, why are you so concerned with what I have to say? Why are you so concerned with what I do with my time? You said you want nothing to do with us but you keep reading my blog, that makes no sense. We don't search you out, we don't care. Please know that if you try to send any more letters or anything like that it will not be read and it will be saved to show the rest of the family, just like the first letter. We don't have time for your drama and want nothing to do with any of it. Worry about yourselves, there seems to be plenty to be concerned with there.

My Friend J

Recently I've made a new friend, lets call her "J".

My daughter Abby and her daughter are in class together and have become close friends this year. Abby kept begging me to reach out to her friend's Mom so they could hang out outside of school. After asking many times I decided to write a quick note to Abby's friend's Mom just explaining that our girls are friends and that it would probably be a good idea for us to meet so they can spend more time together. 

I'm a little bit of a "Hover Mother" and I don't allow my kids to go to a friends house if I haven't met their parents.

I gave Abby the note and told her to give it to her friend and ask her to give it to her Mom. I really didn't think about it much after that. I kind of expected one of the girls to lose track of it or forget. 

About a week later Abby handed me a note, it was a response to mine. She had sent her phone number so I text her and we set up lunch together. 

I really didn't expect much from our lunch other than to meet her and make sure she was normal enough to let my daughter potentially spend time at her home and visa versa. 

We had a pleasant lunch that didn't seem "hard" if that even makes sense. She was easy to talk to and it didn't feel like we had any awkward pauses where we were trying to figure out what to say next to someone you really know nothing about. 

After lunch I made sure to text her and let her know that I enjoyed our time together and would like to do it again soon.

A couple of weeks later it was the Christmas Break for our school district. We had decided to meet for lunch with all of our kids at Chick-Fil-A. I was excited to see J again and happy that Abby and her friend would see each other but kind of nervous about bringing all three of my kids, all of them together can be a little overwhelming all at once. Despite my anxiousness our lunch went well, our kids seemed to get along very well and Orin did his thing in the play area. I was happy that J and her three daughters left before we did because Orin had a total meltdown when it was time to leave the play area. It was one that only an Autistic kid can have and I was the Mom carrying my son out holding him sideways while he kicked and screamed. When this happens to me all I can do is smile at everyone staring. Most of them totally get it but some don't, yet. As J and her kids were leaving she invited my family over to her home that evening so that we could introduce our husbands to the friendship. J met Chad and I met her husband K. We all hit it off and got along great! I was so thankful! As I'm sure so many people can relate to, I have girlfriends and our husbands don't hit it off. I was SO happy that we all got along so well. Chad and K have so much in common its kind of scary, and so do J and I. Our kids are getting along and Orin has become J's little boy to play with, her part time "adopted" son. 

We've all hung out several times since that first initial invitation over to their home and have made plans together for the coming weeks and months.

J and I have so much in common. I lost my Mom almost 5 years ago and she lost her Dad recently. Not that it is a good thing to have in common, but we both understand that horrible loss. Our Mom's are (were) very similar. We are both just starting to experience raising a teenager with our oldest daughters, we have common interests and have just really enjoyed spending time together. 

I'm so lucky to have a big handful of ladies that I'm close with and I'm thrilled to include J in that exclusive group. Girlfriends are such a blessing and bring so much joy into my everyday life. I don't know who I would be without these incredible ladies being on this journey with me! I love each of you!

Melody, Sally, Amanda M, Amanda B, Amanda V, Kim, Brandy, Andrea, Molly, Renee, Janine, Donna, Jessica, Lauren, Beth M, My Bunco Ladies, Jennifer, Aitza, Katja, and Aimee (I have a feeling Abbey will join this list soon), I love you ladies! I have nothing but respect, love and admiration for each of you! Thank you for being so important in my life!  I also have many friends who I know a little more casually but are so important to me too, too many to list but I'm lucky to know each of them!

J, if you read this, I'm SO happy to have met you! I'm excited for our game night this Friday and everything else we're already planning! You have a place in my heart, I'm looking forward to our friendship growing even stronger! xoxo

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Plans on Hold

We have decided to wait a couple of months to put our house on the market. We still intend to sell it and buy something else but we have a few big events on the horizon that we need to get more information on and wait for before we move forward with the process. I'm not a patient person so this is pretty hard for me, but I know it is what we need to do. I'm very excited to get the process going again hopefully sooner than later! We received some positive feedback from having a "Coming Soon" sign in our yard which gives us pretty high hopes for selling in a few months.
While we wait to get every detail figured out that we need to before we list our house again I'll be throwing a lot of things out and getting everything ready to be packed up and moved again.
Thankfully we weren't in a rush to begin with so deciding to wait isn't too disappointing even though I wish now were the right time.
We're confident we are making the best decision and praying that the information we're waiting on comes sooner than later and that when it is time we find the house of our dreams!

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara

Disappointment

I have been looking forward to meeting Chad in Boston this coming Friday while he is there for work. We bought Celtics tickets and had plans to explore the city and eat some amazing food. The person that encouraged me to take this trip and gave me the go ahead on buying my plane tickets now is unable to watch our kids. We're in the process of canceling my trip and adjusting all of Chad's travel arrangements (rental car, hotel and flights). What a pain in the butt and such a massive disappointment.
At the moment I'm pretty angry and hurt by the person that I trusted to follow through. But, I'm trying to focus on the good. We've already started to make plans with some good friends and will definitely have a great weekend regardless.
I'm looking forward to our upcoming trip to Great Wolf Lodge with our kids and planning another get away with Chad where I will hire a nanny to be with our kids.
Through this experience I've learned another hard lesson about who to rely on and what not to do next time. I will not make the same mistake twice.
To all of our friends who have family near by that enjoy being with your kids and have no issue babysitting, please don't take that for granted. We would give anything to have that.

Until next time, count your blessings! :)

Sara