A Sweet "All Better" Card

That's what this picture is according to Abby. You see, I have swimmer's ear--which has turned out to be very painful and annoying. In the midst of our busy day of cleaning, running errands, and going to swimming lessons, I sat down in our recliner for a few minutes. When asked if they could go outside, I told the girls that I needed a few minutes to rest because my ear just really hurt. (Time for some more Advil.) In a matter of ten minutes, both girls presented me with "All Better Cards," and I just had to share this one with you.

Abby made this. To you, it might just look like a coloring page with a very red, scribbly Cinderella, but there is a lot of thought behind this for a three year old. Abby chose Cinderella because she is my favorite princess and she chose to color it red because it's my favorite color. If you know Abby, you know that she is obssessed with the color purple, and for her to color an entire page red, is a big deal!

Thank you to my sweet, thoughtful little Abby!

Sickos

I have more vacation pictures coming, but I just have to vent about one vacation annoyance: getting sick. Someone always gets sick when we are on vacation. It's to the point where I scope out urgent care facilities or emergency rooms on our way into a new town so that I know where to go. Usually, ear infections are the culprit, but this time was different.

Nate: viral pink eye
Laura: fluid in the ear that won't go away and is very, very painful
Abby: stomach flu

I swear, our health insurance carrier must love us because 1. we always have out of network charges when we go on vacation and 2. they've seen a lot of the Hartke family already this week.

Is going on vacation worth it when someone or many of us get sick? Yes, but very, very annoying.

I Don't Get It

Really . . . Jenna is on her bed right now crying her eyes out over a box. I have no sympathy or patience for this situation and I really just don't get it.

Jenna got a jewelry box for Christmas and the box that it came in has been sitting in the garage since December. I save those kinds of boxes to mail stuff in, and today I was wrapping a gift for my friend, Tamara, and that box was perfect for what I had to mail. As I was putting the gift in the box, Jenna said that she wanted the box (most likely because it was pretty and pink and girly). Of course, I said no that I needed that box for the gift and I didn't have another box to use.

Jenna proceeded to throw a fit about how she's been looking for that box and just didn't want to tell me about it. (Yeah right, for six months she's been keeping this all inside!) She sat at the table, staring at the box and is now saying "bye bye" to the box. She told me that she needs the box so that if anyone tries to steal her jewelry box then she'd have the box to put it in to hide from them. (Did I mention that we call her The Negotiator?) Seriously . . . . she just wants what she wants and is using every tactic she can think of to get it. I am not falling for it, and I will not unwrap the gift so that Jenna can have this box.

Am I a terrible mother for not giving her the box? Should I have bought another box to mail this gift in? I think no.

I am trying to divert her attention to something else, but all she keeps doing is complaining about this box. A great start to the day! I can't wait to take the package to the post office. I'm sure we're in for more fits over this box. Oh how I love parenthood sometimes.

Good Times--Part 1

We've been on vacation for a little over a week now, and here's what we've been doing . . .

First stop: Pittsburgh, PA to visit with my parents. One of my favorite places is Kennywood, a local amusement park. Jenna and Abby LOVED this ride and we spent a good deal of

time there. For those of you Pittsburgh folk, this is the Kiddie Land version of

the Whip (which is sadly gone now).

Second stop: Sandusky, OH to spend time with the Hartke uncles and aunts at the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel with an indoor water park. Lots of fun! This picture is of the Hartke grandchildren: Timmy, Allie holding Jeremy, Jenna hugging Abby, and Joey.

Third stop: Toledo, OH to visit with Nate's parents and attend Nate's youngest brother's wedding. Every time all the Hartke's are together, we play wiffleball. One might think that this is an innocent game played among siblings. But no . . . the boys are serious about their wiffleball. Unfortunately, my team didn't win this year:(


Jenna and Allie were flower girls for Jon and Emily's wedding. Congratulations Jon and Emily!

Classic. Nate trying to kiss Jon. Jon wanting none of that:)

The whole Hartke clan. All 22 of us. Soon to be 23 in October. Beth is having a baby girl!

The Joy of Flying With Kids

A busy day stresses me out. Meeting a deadline stresses me out. Having to clean my house in a short period of time stresses me out, but nothing makes me crazy like a six hour flight on the airplane by myself with the two redheads. Make that 9 or 10 hours of craziness--I didn't include the getting to or from the airport, sitting at the gate, and keeping Abby from cutting her fingers off at the baggage claim carousel. A l o n g day of traveling seriously stresses me out.

In three days, I'll get on a plane with my girls to go to Pittsburgh to begin the Midwest Extravaganza. As I've been thinking about getting ready (notice I did not actually say that I am getting ready) for our trip, I decided to write down all the helpful things I've learned as a seasoned traveler with children.

1. When I travel by myself, Nate can get a pass from the ticketing agent to come through security with me and sit at the gate with us. An extra set of hands to help get shoes off and on, strollers unloaded and up on the belt, jackets off, and everything back on is awesome! Going through security and hanging out at the gate exhausts me before we even step foot on the plane. A helper is nice:)

2. I don't know what did before we bought our own carseat bags! For several years, our carseats were checked in just a clear plastic bag, but then we found the carseat bag. It is AWESOME! We bought an Eddie Bauer bag at Target for $25. When I looked them up, they are up to $76 on Amazon. Target has other kinds that are just as good, but not as expensive. Click here to find out more. These bags not only better protect your carseat, but they give you more space to pack stuff! We packed diapers, wipes, jackets, and all the bulky stuff that was a pain to pack in the suitcase. The bags even have a shoulder strap for easy transport. I am a huge fan of these:)

3. DO NOT sit in close proximity to other families with children. When we fly, we often make friends with the other families at the gate while we are waiting to board the plane. Some parents think that it's a good idea to keep all the kids together and sit close together on the airplane. I strongly disagree. If there's a little kid in front of or behind us, guess what Jenna and Abby are doing the whole time? Playing, being loud, and distracting everyone around them. I have been known to get up and move seats (on Southwest's open seating) if there are other kids directly around us. Mean? Maybe, but it makes for a much more enjoyable trip.

4. Do not attempt to give your children Benadryl on the airplane if you haven't tried it at home first. I do not drug my kids on the airplane. I don't give them Benadryl or anything else in hopes that they will sleep. However, we did have a Benadryl incident that made one particular trip a nightmare. I flew to Detroit with Jenna by myself when she was just over one. I had the bright idea of booking an overnight flight, thinking that she would sleep. And she probably would have, if I hadn't given her Benadryl for her cold that she had. You see, I had never tried Benadryl before with Jenna and assumed that the medicine would help with her cold as well as make her a little drowsy. A bonus, right? NO! There is this tiny statement at the bottom of the label that reads, (I have this memorized and will never forget it) "may cause excitability in some children." Yep, Jenna partied all night on the plane while the rest of the adults tried to sleep. I was exhausted by the time we got to Detroit:)

5. Some airports have family bathrooms. I am in love with these particular airports. Chicago-Midway is one of these airports and I always choose a connecting flight there simply because I can take my kids, stuff, and all our craziness into one room without disturbing anyone else.

6. I always bring my own plastic trash bags for the airplane. The flight attendants don't come around enough to pick up all the trash that we accumulate. This way, I can keep our little area clean:)

That's all I can think of right now. If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Abby's Garden

These pictures are of our flower bed in front of our house. Notice the green leaves awkwardly sticking up out of the ground? They are Abby's creation:)

Yesterday at TBall, she made me carry around two small bushes of what I think is a magnolia plant. She told me that they were going to go in her garden. And they did:) She took the leaves and VERY CAREFULLY placed them in the flower bed.

So cute!

The Royal Highnesses Season Comes to a Close

Yesterday was our last day of TBall. It was technically the "championship" game, but all four of the mini teams won their championship game:) In mini's everyone wins . . . all the time! We just try to keep that bit of information from the girls.

So yesterday was our last game and closing ceremonies. The girls got tropies and their yearbooks, and Jenna has not let them leave her side since she got them! The trophy and yearbook went to bed with her and I had to talk her out of taking them to church this morning.

Here's to the end of a great first season of TBall! Looking forward to next year!

The Brink of Summer

I have been in a blogging slump, and I'm sorry about that. We have been incredibly busy over the past month or so and I just haven't found the time or energy to write. Our craziness started with our trip to San Antonio for PLI. Then I took the girls to Illinois to visit my grandma, and I don't think I ever put any pictures up from that trip. I'll have to do that soon. Then we made a trip back to the east coast and on Friday we are heading out for our annual Midwest Extravaganza trip.

I call this the Midwest Extrvaganza trip because we do this sort of thing every summer. Since we live so far away from our family, we have to make one big trip out in the summer to see everyone. There's usually a wedding on the Hartke side of the family or a big trip somewhere with my parents. This time, Nate's youngest brother, Jon, is getting married and Jenna's a flower girl. But the trip begins before that! On Friday, we fly into Pittsburgh and spend a few days with my parents. (I go first with the girls and Nate comes after church on Sunday. I am SO excited about flying by myself with the girls, can you tell?) Then we head to Sandusky, OH for a few days at the Great Wolf Lodge, and indoor water park. We will spend time with Nate's siblings there. It'll be a first for our family--getting together somewhere other than Nate's parents' house. This trip has been full of drama already and I wasn't sure if anyone but us and Tim & Beth's family would show up, but it;s looking like it'll be a great time full of Hartkes! Then off to Toledo for the wedding weekend. And THEN we drive 900 miles to Oklahoma to spend five days with my parents and our dear friends, the Woltemaths.

See why I can't call this trip a vacation? It's not. It's a trip. It will be a fun trip and it will be so good to see everyone, but it is absolutely not a vacation:)

Jenna graduates from preschool on Wednesday and I am done with school on Friday. And after our Midwest Extravaganza, we are ready for summer! I don't exactly know what this summer holds for us, but I do know that I will be spending lots of time with the girls and yet again, battling Jenna's fear of swimming with more lessons. But this time, Abby gets to join too. We don't have anything major planned, but I look forward to lots of good time with the girls. Stay tuned for updates on how all that good time goes:)

Not Happy At All

I haven't worn glasses regularly since I was in 7th grade. I hate wearing my glasses, mostly because I hate having them sitting on my face. I hate when they slide down and I hate that everyone has to comment on the fact that I am wearing glasses or that I look different or whatever . . . .

But I went to the eye doctor today, and I am going to have start limiting my time in my contacts. I am not happy at all about this. Apparently, I have an astigmatism in both eyes, which is what has been driving me nuts over the past few months. I have blurry vision and at night, my eyes get so, so tired. My doctor told me that I have dry eyes and that over time, my contacts have shifted the shape of my eyeballs to cause the astigmatism. I have no idea if this is true or not, but she said that I have to reduce my contacts wearing by 50%. That's a lot and I hate wearing my glasses.

So I posted a picture--I apologize for the cheesy self-portraits and awful lighting. And please excuse the eyebrows that are so badly in need of a waxing. So if you see me in my glasses, you now know why:)