Back in the U.S. of A.

Justin landed in San Fran a little while ago... He was able to secure a seat in business class this time, so I am sure his flight was that much more enjoyable.

The girls and I have been SUPER busy. I feel like I barely have time to sleep at night... Last night I took them to a high school's Trick or Treat Street...they totally made out with a bunch of candy...
I bought a queen costume for myself the other day and am excited to dress up with the girls. Ava was over the moon ecstatic that I was wearing a costume too. LOL

Talked to Justin this morning. He was about to go to bed and I was telling him the weather forecast for Wednesday and he was all confused because he had just finished his Wednesday. He is in Nanking right now.
He was telling me bathroom and food stories. They were in an office building and the place where you go #2 is a hole in the ground...much like the Turkish toilets (as they were called) I used in Kazakhstan. Poor Justin. And then there wasn't any toilet paper. Apparently the companies who rent offices there supply their own t.p. but he couldn't find any...had to grab some kleenex and luckily he brought hand sanitizer with him as there wasn't any soap.
Then the food- for the most part they've eaten "normal" food- like Mexican, pizza, Brazilian and even went to an Irish restaurant for a Guinness... They had one traditional Chinese meal...with a bunch of different things on a Lazy Susan in the middle of the table. Shrimp with the tails and heads still on. Boiled chicken feet that resembled human fingers. Ducks Blood that wasn't liquid and resembled liver- he thought it was liver... Of course the hosts wanted them to try everything, but they stuck to what they knew...or thought they knew...I hope!

Ava has today-Friday off from school for the mini-break. Mallory has Thurs/Fri off... Today we went to the mall and Ava rode on the carousel in the food court. We need to go to Petsmart today... Tomorrow we don't have plans, but Friday we are going to go check out this huge tree on the Regis campus and hopefully Sunday go to this special Wizard of Oz event at the Butterfly Pavillion.

Justin is on a flight to China right this minute. There are only 6 out of 14.5 hours left of the flight...and he got stuck in economy. Poor guy!

I took the girls next door to a double combo birthday/Halloween party yesterday and they had a lot of fun. Justin was supposed to come over when he was done running errands...but he never showed up. I got tired of the small talk and Ava didn't want to leave...but I finally got them to come with me.

Back to the Grind

Justin survived Moab and made it back home safely, albeit SORE. He said that every part of his body hurts. Couldn't lift his arm to get it out of his t-shirt last night without pain. He and his teammates discussed going back next year and I think it was an unanimous No. Maybe in a couple years, but a day race would be cool to compete in. Apparently there were some HARDcore bikers out there. Guys who would continually do lap after lap without a teammate...how did they have the energy and when did they eat?? Six Million Dollar Men (and women)? We are glad Justin is home- in one piece!

I had a migraine on Saturday and felt nauseous and out of sorts until this morning. Now I have mega mountains of laundry- clean and dirty- to deal with. Is it sad that I am looking forward to it? My alarm went off at 7 this morning and each time I hit snooze it's 9 minutes. But those 9 minutes always seemed like 1 minute. We finally drug ourselves out of bed at 5 til 8 and I managed to get Ava to school on time. We are usually the first ones there in the morning. That right there is a miracle as I am sure many of you will attest to since I am usually Late... SEE- I really CAN be on time when it matters most!

Well, I better get going on that laundry.

Rainy and Relaxing Saturday...I hope...

Good Morning!

The girls slept in until 9 this morning because we didn't get home until 11 last night. They had a good time with my parents and were VERY well behaved at the pizza party. I was sitting in their basement chatting for a bit and I looked over at Ava stretched out lying on my mom and I thought, "When in the world did she get so big??" They each picked out a little pumpkin at this neighborhood thing my mom took them to before the pizza party. They got candy and of course I heard them get up this morning and get their baggies of candy, go back in their room and shut the door. I went in about 15 minutes later and sure enough...M&Ms for breakfast...oh well! They are content.

I had fun at my Pajama Party: had pizza, junk food and a bunch of laughs. For reasons I no longer remember I ended up telling everyone about the time I stubbed my toe and broke it and then scratched my cornea with my fingernail when high on vicodin... I do like to make people laugh, so even though my ear turned bright red and I said I was embarrassed, really I was just nervous... One woman made a delicious Chocolate Cream Pie!! Yum! Now I want to make one...

Both girls are enjoying dance tremendously. The teacher tells me after every class how GREAT Ava is doing. I stayed and watched half of Mallory's class yesterday and they are just sooo cute! They all run at the teacher and give her group hugs about 10 times in the hour long class. Precious!

At Mops this Thursday we had Spa Day. 3 people going to massage school came and gave us massages! Then we had paraffin wax for our hands and did foot soaks. A woman was painting toenails all fancy with polka dots, but I ran out of time... We had a yogurt bar, oatmeal bar and coffee bar! Next week I have to provide an egg dish, so I better figure out what I am going to bring.

This Wednesday was McTeacher's night at our McD's. The teachers worked to raise money for our school. So, we went and had dinner and it was cool to see Ava's teacher taking our order...and to see a bunch of classmates! It was LOUD in there though...I think everyone walked out of there with a little ear damage!

So I was going to tell you about Ava's Book Buddies. The 6th graders pair up with Kindergarteners and they read books to them. Ava's 2 buddies, Olivia and Carl, also happened to be Students of the Month when Ava was...so at the breakfast they said hi to her and Olivia gave her a hug. Ever since then, when Carl sees Ava after school outside he says hi to her. The 6th graders made cards for the K's and I am now going to describe Ava's:

Olivia's card to Ava says "Thank you!! :) :)" on the front. She drew a red flower on the inside and wrote, "Thank you, Ava!! You're the best!! From: your Bookbuddie Olivia"

Carl's card to Ava says "Good job Ava" on the front with a drawing of a heart butterfly and some kind of fish/eel/snake looking thing with hearts on the antennae. Inside it says, "Your the star of this card! Have a good year! From Carl" On the back he drew a red heart.

There were identical twin brothers in the other K class and they came to school every day with the SAME outfits, so the teachers decided to split them up. Ava was telling me all about it and I asked her if they were twins like our friends Ellery & Oliver and she said, "Yes, but their FACES look EXACTLY the SAME." She thinks it's the most amazing thing...

I have the Sex and the City movie to watch tonight...I am looking forward to it. Justin told me he would NOT watch it, but then when it arrived in the mail this week he said, "I suppose I have to watch this with you..." and it almost sounded like he wasn't too broken up about it. LOL I told him I got it for when he was in Moab, so he was off the hook.

Friday night

The girls are with my parents, I am going to a Pajama Party with some gals from MOPS and Justin made it to Moab. He sent me an e-mail saying he has good cell coverage at their campsite and that they were going for a ride. I think that is Adam in the picture.

A Big Blur

Things lately have been a big blur. BIG-O Blur. Essentially, I spent 2 full weekends hiding out in our bedroom while Justin tried to give the girls some kind of normalcy. Last weekend I sat on the couch most of Saturday and FINALLY on Sunday I was able to do stuff with mini-breaks every 15 minutes. I quit using the inhaler of Albuterol the dr gave me because it was making me vomit. Lovely. Out of the past 8 days, my left ear has been completely plugged for 7 of them. I feel like I haven't really been there for my kids in my constant coughing and nose blowing condition and I also haven't finished buying, let alone mailed their cousin Keira's birthday present. Talk about WAY late. I apologize. During the week- just getting the girls to and from school and activities took all of my energy. There was none leftover for a quick trip to the store for food. Justin was my gopher. He's also getting ready for Moab- check out his team's page El Chupacabras. I shouldn't have clicked on the Skull Session page...now I am going to be worried! Oy! I can't find anything on the site about the live stats...perhaps just go to that page on that weekend?

Off to the Doctor

For a follow-up AND to have her check out Mallory's head wound. She fell at school and they called me... It was bleeding a little, but stopped by the time I got there, however I think a pebble might be in there and I want the doctor to look at it just in case.

I need to tell you about Ava's BookBuddies and how fascinated she is by identical twins.

Will do that later...