Where Have I Been?

I know you three faithful readers who hang on my every word have been positively tortured by my monthlong absence from blogland. Never fear. I have returned. What have I been up to? Here's a quick run-down. I may at some future date expound further upon these topics, but I may not.

Three weeks ago I made an impromptu decision to "take a quick jaunt" to Boise, Idaho with my two little men. My grandfather had been sick in the hospital for over two months at that point so I wanted to visit. I also had an impression that my parents could use a little TLC. And really, that's one of the beauties of this home-schoolin' life. We can pack up our little red schoolhouse and take it along. Man, my boys are great travellers. We drove to our halfway house in Saratoga Springs, where my brother and his wife are endlessly gracious to let us crash in their bonus room. Then we finished out the trip the next day. We had a fabulous time. A mom never really has a vacation when she flies solo with her chillins, but it was nice to visit home. A few things we did:

• Visited Grandpa in the hospital every day. Good news--he had a surgery the day before I left Boise and he's going home tomorrow. I guess Todd was right. He kept saying, "Maybe Grandpa won't die and it will just be a really nice trip to see our family." Way to be, Todd.
• Played host to cousin Kyle, Todd's "twin" who is four months younger. FOUR months, Todd is clear to point out. They are not the same age.
• Went bowling. My first four frames: spare, strike, strike, strike. Do I rock or what? Note that I'm not telling you what I got in the next six frames. Bowling is fun!
• Saw Planet 51 at the $2 theater. Not anything exquisite, but good clean fun.
• Practiced my newfound quilting skills by making quilted pillowtops for my mom.
• Played Ticket to Ride only twice. Sad.
• Saw my baby brother and my sweet twinner nephews for 24 hours at the tail end of our trip. The boys are 3 now and adorable with a capital A. They have tiny southern accents that are so stinkin cute.
• Learned about bones, Ottoman Turks, multiplication, vocabulary, and clever ways of avoiding school work.
• Todd and his Grandpa (my great dad) worked on cutting out his pinewood derby car together. This is a big improvement from last year when Todd and I cut it out by hand with a pitiful saw I don't even know the name of. (Lest you think Ryan is a deadbeat dad--far from it--we just procrastinated it until the last day, literally).
• Grandma made the boys fudge.
• We learned more than we cared to about gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free diets. Sorry mom!
• We had a great time in Boise. It's always fun to go home (even though I didn't grow up there, wherever my parents are feels like home).
• Pictures? On my mom's camera in Boise. Since I owe her pictures from the last ten events we've attended together, she has every right to hold them ransom until I pay up.

I've also been reading the Book of Mormon in 30 days. Finished this morning. Awesome. More on that later.

Then, I came home and was swamped with my own life that just kept going while I was gone. Why can't mommies ever have a pause button?

Here's a shout out to the greatest husband on earth. When we got home the house was spotless. Clean bathrooms, clean sheets, vacuumed floor, clean dishes, dinner in progress. WOW! My friend casually mentioned that perhaps I should go away every other week and then I would never have to clean. There's some merit in that idea. . .

Right after we got home, Todd had CRT testing for two days (the only time we have to go do testing for school outside our house) so we were hanging out in Henderson.

Now I think we're back in the swing of things. For now.