We spent last week down in Southern Virginia, spending time with the gramps.  The plan was to spend the week with the grandparents, then travel from there to Buggs Island, where we had plans to camp and boat with friends.   This meant we were traveling with Grandad’s boat.  And since we were in the vicinity of Smith Mountain Lake, we figured we had to check it out.

The weather and water were gorgeous and we all had a great time on the lake.

You know it’s a good day when 2/3rds of your crew is passed out on the ride home.

In addition to boating, we enjoyed Grandma’s good cooking and working in Grandpa’s garden.

Rides in the golf cart were a fun treat – even Adam enjoyed them this time.  Last time, he ran screaming in terror whenever it started up.

Too soon, it was time to hit the road again.  But thanks Grandma & Grandpa for a wonderful visit!

Today has been a low-key, kick it around the house, kind of day.  While we were in the backyard this morning, I reminded Mike that we should take a picture of his motorcycle so we could list it on Craigslist.  He agreed, and so we did.

His bike is a 1998 Honda Hawk GT 650 and Mike has had it since before we got married.  It has hardly been ridden since our oldest was born over six years ago, primarily due to a certain Mean Momma who didn’t want to be a widow raising fatherless children.   Since it’s gotten so little use, I jokingly called it our lawn ornament and wanted it gone.  Mike, on the other hand, has invested a lot of hours in it and has fond memories, so it was harder for him to let go.

Anywho, I put the ad up on Craigslist around 1 pm and within an hour we had three responses.  One of the potential buyers emailed twice and his second message said, “I live near you, I can come today and I can pay CASH.”  He got our attention!   Mike made the connection, the guy came over and the deal was done.  It was the fastest Craigslist transaction I’d ever done, and of course I was thrilled to finally have our “lawn ornament” out of the backyard.

Although Mike hasn’t ridden it in ages, he was nostalgic to see it go.  And surprisingly, so was I.  I remember going out with Mike when we were dating, riding his bike into Old Town for dinner.  We were so young, so cool! :)  Alas, the end of an era.    I was especially psyched about the transaction because it would mean more money to put towards our emergency fund, but apparently Mike has a different idea.   He wants to put it towards dirt bikes for the boys kids !?!

Quelle horreur!  I may have to call Dave Ramsey and get him to weigh in…

As I mentioned, Adam wasn’t feeling well on Sunday, so I kept him home from his MDO program on Monday.  He still seemed a little cranky, but thankfully no more fever.  Since Monday is big-time errand day, I dragged him along for the ride.  For the most part, he was quite a good little tag-a-longer.  It’s kinda nice when being sick mellows them out.

Thankfully, he today he is back to normal and was back to school.  But I did enjoy our quality time together yesterday.

It’s Cherry Blossom Time!  Everyone loves when the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom – I think it is when DC looks its best.  We, like thousands of others, came down to enjoy the blossoms around the Tidal Basin this week.  We went on Wednesday, when the weather was sunny, but still a bit cool in the morning.  Surprisingly, it was not as mobbed as I expected it to be, and we even scored a decent parking spot.

Here’s the pictures from our morning.

It’s hard to believe that we hadn’t been down to visit Grandma & Grandpa since Thanksgiving (!), but we rectified that last weekend with a trip at the beginning of our spring break.  We began our Saturday at our preschool’s Eggstravaganza, and ended the day with the Grands.

The weather wasn’t perfect, but we still got in a fair bit of our favorite activities.

We’ve enjoyed a nice weekend with Grandma & Grandpa and I’ll get around to posting the pictures soon.  I just wanted to share a little funny anecdote before I forgot.   We went to the Grands straight from an Easter Eggstravaganza, so the kids arrived with bags full of candy they were constantly clamoring to eat.

One night, after dinner, the kids requested dessert.  And Grandma pulled out a heavenly chocolately cool-whippy concoction that was delicious.  But Sam said he didn’t want it, he wanted candy.  I told him that a homemade dessert is always better than something made in a factory and that it was rude to ask for candy instead of something the cook makes.

The next night, Grandma tells me that she didn’t make any dessert because Sam asked her not to.  I asked Sam why and he replied, “Because I want candy!”

Is that a kid a stinker thinker or what?

About two weeks ago, Adam came down with a “touch” of croup.  He’d been coughing and had a bad night with the barking cough that led to time in the bathroom with the shower running and a call to the night nurse.  Thankfully, his coughing subsided and we avoided a 2am trip to the ER.  I took him to the doc the next day and asked if croup would spread to my other kids.  She said that for older kids, it presents as laryngitis.

Fast forward days, and I wake up feeling crummy.  The day of Wendy’s field trip, I had a rotten cough and could barely talk.   That hung around for about 5 days, compounded, I believe by my annual bout with seasonal allergies.   So… all this to say, I’ve been doing a lot of laying around and not much else.  Mike has been great about picking up my slack.

We did have a beautiful weekend, tho, and Mike took the kids over to the football field to fly paper airplanes.   Sam received a paper airplanes kit and they had fun making them and testing out their models.  I dragged myself along but didn’t do much besides sit in a stupor and try and contain my running phlegm factory (sorry, gross, I know).

Wendy’s green flier was the big winner.  We also enjoyed a nice dinner with friends on Saturday — our oldest two kids line up, agewise, with their youngest two, so the kids had fun running around together.

On Monday, Grandma  & Grandpa were in town, so we had them over for dinner, along with Grandad.  It was great to see them, although I neglected to take any pics.

Slowly, but surely, I am feeling better and coming out of my fog.  I hope to be better about posting as spring is finally here and it is definitely photo worthy!

I got to join Wendy’s class on a field trip today.  They have been studying money, learning about coins, their values and whose picture is on them.  So the fieldtrip involved going down to DC and seeing the monuments for various presidents.  I was so glad to be able to join the kids, thanks to some wonderful friends who were willing to watch the younger two.

We rode a school bus downtown – I think the last time I road a bus I was a teenager.  Here’s the group, getting ready to go.  I was responsible for Wendy, and her partner A.  I was a little glad to have two girls to chase after and not two wild boys :).

Round these parts, we take a low-key approach to St. Patrick’s Day.  We wear our green, but don’t do any carousing at the local pub.

We did have a green dinner – Tex-Mex Americana style:

Guacamole burgers (minus the bun, cuz I was out), french fries, and broccoli.   It all kinda cancels out, right?

If you haven’t seen it before, we love this Veggie Tales video for a history lesson on the real story of St. Patrick.  It’s worth watching!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anywho, Happy St. Patrick’s Day, from my little leprechauns to yours.

A friend forwarded me an article in MomLife Today (a magazine put out by Family Life) entitled “Three Cheers for the Meanest Mom!”

The article relates a story about a mom who sold her teenager’s car after she found alcohol in it.   The author, Barbara Rainey, encourages moms to make the tough decisions that may earn the label of “Meanest Mom” but will ultimately serve to shape children’s character.

I wear the label with pride (obviously) but it was nice to hear someone else recognize the importance of being willing to be “mean” for the greater good.

Do you have what it takes to be the “Meanest Mom”?