Conversations with the Devil Pup

I have the funniest conversations with Devil Pup while we are alone in the car. Awhile back, we had the following exchange:

me: I love you, DP!
*silence*
me: I said I love you!
DP: I heard you.
me: Well, what do you usually say when someone tells you that they love you?
after a pause, DP: Thank you.


And then, today, after a failed attempt at getting a milkshake (the first place we went to was out of chocolate):

me: DP, talk to me so I know you're awake! (Usually, she's Chatty Cathy and this is not an issue and I didn't want her falling asleep.)
DP: My throat is sore!
me: Why is your throat sore?
DP: Because I didn't have any milkshakes!

PCS? What PCS?

This summer will be my 10th move and 7th PCS in 12 years of marriage. So, you would think that I would have this whole moving business down to a science, or at least an art. Not so much. For one thing, my middle name might as well be Procrastination. And for another, life just manages to keep getting in the way.

3 weeks ago, my husband's parents came for a visit. Then the girls had Spring Break. Then my mother flew in for a visit. Just a week ago, I spent all day (literally) on a field trip with my 4th grader. We arrived at the school at 0530 and didn't get home until around midnight. The field trip involved a 4-hour bus ride...each way! Which wouldn't have been so bad. except the next day I drove 3 hours to see my sister and her family who were in the state to visit the Mouse for the first time. It was another 3-hour drive to get back home on Sunday night, after a full day with the cousins.

Yesterday, I suddenly realized that April was already half gone. I only have 2 more months to get ready for this move.

April is half gone! Oh, snap! I have a birthday party to plan and only have a couple of weeks to
do it! My youngest will be 6 the first week in May and has been talking about her party for months.

My only saving grace is that, somehow, everything always manages to get done. Maybe I'm just one of those people who needs a looming deadline to get myself in gear. This past week, I finally managed to take some pictures and start listing items online for sale. Even though I purge with every move, this move finds us with large items to unload. Furniture that is no longer needed, large toys that my kids have outgrown, and more all need to be purged before the movers arrive. And then there's all the organizing that needs to be done and the items we need to separate out that we'll pack ourselves or move ourselves. There are services and utilities that will need to be cancelled or shut off. Medical and dental records to be collected. School records to be copied. And a thousand and one other things to be done.

I think I need a nap....

*This is cross-posted on SpouseBuzz.

In which Stretch dislikes my choice in pens...

Stretch asked for a pen as he was getting ready to write a note to a pal. I handed him one and he started to write. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at the pen.

Stretch: "I'm not using a purple pen to write M!!!"
me: "What's wrong with purple?"
Stretch: "It's not that kind of Marine Corps yet."

And then we watched an episode of "The Pacific."

Tired

It's been a busy few days. Friday was an all-day field trip with my oldest daughter's 4th grade class (actually, ALL the 4th grade classes). We boarded 3 charter buses a little after 5:30 a.m. and hit the road by 6 a.m. We arrived at the historic city we were touring about 4 hours later! Then it was a long day of touring and walking, including climbing a lighthouse, before re-boarding the buses for the long ride home. We arrived home around midnight.

Thank goodness my mom was here visiting and could get my youngest to and from school and watch her for me!

Saturday morning found us packing quickly to get back on the road to meet my sister and her family 3 hours away. They had come down to visit the Mouse and we were going to get to visit for just the one night.

The next morning, Sunday, we made a last minute decision to enter the park with my sister's family for half a day before driving home. Mom had 3 tickets that would expire that day so only one child's ticket needed to be purchased. It was a nice time with the cousins, but it was warm and tiring, too! By the time, I finally pulled the plug, got my group out of the park and back to my car, it was around 5 p.m.! I still had to get gas and feed the troops before heading home. We managed to get home around 8 p.m. despite the torrential rains of the last hour of the drive.

Monday, the girls went back to school and Mom and I headed to our scheduled massages. How's that for good planning? As wonderful as the massage was(and it really was!), by the end of mine, my masseuse suggested that I soak in a hot bath with Epsom salts later that night as I was still "really tight." *sigh*

Oh, the things kids say...

After getting off the phone with my sister (who has 5 kids), I was explaining to Big Sis that they would be wearing the same color t-shirts as a family each day they were at Disney. I also said something about that being just another reason for us to only have 2 kids (somewhat easier to keep track of them). Big Sis informed me that she wanted 8 kids, but she wanted to adopt them. When I asked why, she said she didn't want something the size of a baby coming out her butt. I informed her that you don't "poop" babies. Instead, they come out of your "she-she." Big Sis was horrified by this: "But that's a really small hole!"

Then, this nugget from L'il Sis (aka Devil Pup) when she was throwing a tantrum, not wanting to do her homework: "Grown-ups have an easy life because they get to do whatever they want and children have a hard life!" Oh, really? Maybe I'm not making her life hard enough?