seriously, J?

I'll admit it. I've been busy lately. Between all of the packing and unpacking and packing again, I haven't really been on top of the chores around the house. And while I don't feel that all of the chores around the house should be my responsibility, I am usually the person who makes sure it all gets done. Which might make me slightly at fault for what I am about to tell you. Maybe. But not really.

You see, last night I remembered that I had used the last of the girls' 27 (that's right, we have 27) sippy cups when I gave them milk at dinner. And I meant to wash some before I went to bed. But I went out and never got around to it. No biggie, right?

So, when I woke up this morning and saw that Doodle was drinking a cup of milk, in a cup that I remembered putting in the dishwasher, I didn't think much of it. Instead, I simply asked J if he had run the dishwasher last night. Because obviously he did. Right? ... Right?

Wrong.

No, J just figured that since the sink was full of dirty dishes and the dishwasher didn't smell when he opened it, that everything in it must be clean. Except it wasn't. It was so far from it. And now, Doodle had just polished off eight ounces of milk from a very dirty cup.

Seriously, J? How do you miss something like that?

love ...

Do you remember the moment that you felt the most loved in your life? I do, because it happened tonight.

Right before dinner, Dizzle said she wanted to tell me something. When I asked her what, this is what she said.

"I want to say thank you for your love."

And with that one statement, every struggle of the past four years was washed away ... and I was instantly choked up ...

are we there yet?

I have a new, least favorite phrase ... now, everyone, say it in your whiniest voice possible, "Are we there yet?" I have dreaded that phrase every time we have embarked on a road trip for the past four years. Up until now, I only feared it. But now, I have lived it. OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

I swear that we were twenty minutes into our trip (our 12 hour trip) when Dizzle first asked. And then she asked every 28.7 seconds after that. At one point, I told her if she asked me that again, I was going to turn the car around and go back to Virginia. She told me that would not be fun. Obviously, Dizzle. Obviously.

All joking aside, the first 12 days of our month long adventure have gone pretty smoothly (other than the constant nagging, of course). We have driven A LOT. (J far more than the rest of us - thanks to a quick trip back to VA for two days.) We've caught up with a bunch of people that we haven't seen in years. (Like, so long ago, that we didn't have any kids. And I'm pretty sure longer than that for a few of them.) Plus, J and I were fortunate enough to go on a few dates in RI and I even spent the entire day with just Dilly, while J and his parents took Dizzle and Doodle to a friend's pool. And somehow, I have managed to get every single one of my runs in. Things have been good. Hopefully, they stay that way. Because ...

Today was our last day with J until we return to VA, just in time to leave for NC. We spent the morning at my Alma Mater, trying to convince the girls to bleed red and blue (J would probably prefer if they just bled red, but let's be honest, Penn beats out Cornell any day). Sure, they are a little young to be thinking about college, but you can never plant those Ivy League dreams too soon.

Anyway, once we decked out the girls in some new Penn gear, we dropped J off at the train station and headed back to my mom's. At which point, I realized that I was left to deal with them ALONE for the next 10 days. 10 days, which I am sure will be filled with fun, but will likely be filled with Dizzle's drama-filled yells and Doodle's two new favorite sayings, "One minute, Mom," and with fingers in her ears, "I can't hear you, Mommy."

God, if they are this great now, I really can't wait till they are teenagers. Here's to more happy travels!