I am so happy that it is Friday, and I can’t wait to get out of here for the day. We have a lot of stuff planned for the weekend, which means that it will fly by. Chrissy is going out with her friends tonight and tomorrow night. Tonight, I am babysitting the boys, which isn’t really like babysitting, when they live there, lol. Tomorrow though, she is paying the girls to watch them. That should be interesting. Of course, we will be there too, so it is a pretty easy assignment for them.

Tomorrow, Stephen and I are going up to Racine, for Jonathon’s graduation party. Lot’s of graduations parties this year, but that is what happens when you have tons of nieces/nephews, right? It will be nice to see everyone, I don’t think we have since Mother’s Day.

Sunday is Stephen’s birthday, and the Sox are playing the Brewers. Since Stephen’s sister lives in WI and her kids and hubby are brewers fans, I got tickets for us and them to go to the game together. Stephen is really excited about it, and so am I. We were talking about it last night and I don’t think that he and Delores have spent their actual birthday together since their 30th, so it’s been a while. Plus, we have not been to a sox game since we moved. Big change, since we used to go several times a year, but we spend so much time commuting for work, that the last thing we want to do is get in a car and drive somewhere, lol.

This week has been going sooooooooooo slow. I had a huge FS meeting yesterday. I was so nervous because I had to give an update on this project that I’ve been working on. I have seriously been working on this project for a couple of years now, and it is close to being done!!! It is a database that will be used to store committee minutes and it’s a huge undertaking. But we are ready to go live with it now. I just have to input all the Chairs of the committees for the coming year (they were not approved until yesterday), and then we will be able to roll it out and use it come July 1, which is when the new committee year begins anyway. I am so proud of what I have done… it’s been a neat experience. Remember when I first started with the senate… I was always so damn nervous. Now I only get that way when I have to talk, but that has been happening more and more, so I guess I better start getting use to it. Yesterday though, I was scatterbrained and preoccupied thinking about something else, and almost forgot what I wanted to say, hehe.

I was that way most of the day yesterday. In fact, I had a funny moment when Jake came into my office and asked me a question about a table for a manuscript that he is working on. I didn’t really *listen* to the question, but answered yep. Then he asked another question, to which I responded, yep… and so on for several questions. Finally, he walks into the hallway turns and looks at me and says… do you think I should take my clothes off out here.. I said yep.. and then it hit me what he said, and I was like.. WAIT, WHAT??? LOL. Now they are calling me *yep*. Preoccupied, I tell ya.

I am SO sick of all this rain… OMG, I can’t even tell you enough how badly I want it to stop raining. We have been missing our walk at lunch… we had been going over 3 miles each day now over this really hilly road, and I miss doing it. So today I gave up and walked in the rain. What was I thinking? Now I am miserable sitting here soaking wet… but oh well, at least I walked, right? Yep!

So lately, I have been caught up in things other than here. Okay, so quit saying, oh really? and rolling your eyes, I can feel the sarcasm. I do not know why I have not written about it here, but it just seemed seperate from here, and that is kinda silly because here is about my life, and if something is important in my life, it should be here. I kinda felt like I was cheating on this place though, hehe.

So, as you know, we got addicted to animal crossing… and still are, of course. Well when we first started playing, and I realized you could wifi with friends, I found a forum for the game and I made some friends. Along the way I met some really awesome people and have made some great new friends. The forum we were on though was riddled with kids, and was stifling in their rules. So this small group of friends I had made decided that we should have our own forum, and so we started one. I was, surprisingly, asked to be in on the whole thing… and I am one of the owners/administrators of this forum. There was 3 of us, but one has since left, so it is just one other and myself. That other, Shelly, has quickly become such a great friend and I just love her! We work so well together, and it’s awesome. We have gone from this smallish forum to almost 300 members, and it runs so smoothly. We have now added 2 moderators too, one of which I just adore. He too has become such a great friend. I feel lucky to have these people in my life.

So Shelly, she lives in VA but on the opposite end of the state from where Chrissy is moving, but she has decided to come and meet us when we are there later this month. I am so excited about it and it is cute how nervous she is. Reminds me of when I first met Jen, Cory and Tonya. Look at the 3 of us and all we’ve shared…. hard to believe we became friends over the internet. LOL.

So that is what has been keeping me busy… and I love it. I feel like this has been such an accomplishment. It has been hard work, but as we watch it grow and see how much people enjoy it, I feel so accomplished. And I made some great friends in the process so what could be better. Oh yah, and Chrissy is so involved with this site too… which makes it all that much better. It has been fun sharing it with her, and when she leaves it will be yet another way to stay in touch.

Our house has been a whirlwind of activity lately. Work the same, isn’t that the way it always goes? It is either busy at both places, or nothing is going on either place. I like it busy though, for the most part. Let’s see. The girlies are here for their summer visit. June came over for the weekend too, but she still has a couple more days of school, then she will be here for the summer. Amazing how quickly we get back into routine when they get there. It is just so nice having them.

Chrissy is starting to pack now, and while I am happy for her, it’s hard not to be sad. I am going to miss her and the boys so much, it is going to be so hard. The boys are getting so big and doing so many more things these days. I laugh at them constantly, they are such a joy to me. I can’t believe that I am going to miss all these wonderful small moments. I told Chrissy that she better call me anytime they do anything!!

Chrissy and I both got laptops back in March, both with webcams, so we will be web-camming it a lot. Rei LOVES LOVES LOVES playing on the webcam, and we will sometimes webcam from different rooms so that he can do it. We crack up at him. I love that he loves it though, so that he will spend lots of time talking to me that way when they are gone.

Speaking of him talking. Oh my. He adds new words to his vocabulary daily now. Overnight, it seems like he is such a big boy. He is even saying sentences now, and he adds our names in to most sentences. I just love it. He has his first favorite movie too! Wall-E. He came running last night with the box.. Walllllwalllll mimi. I love how he says wall-e and I start saying eeeeevvvvva to him last night and I just crack up when he does it. It’s adorable. A lot of the things he says remind me of when Chrissy and June were both that age, especially June. He says ea ea when he wants to eat, just like June did. A lot of his mannerisms are reminiscent of June too. Chrissy and I crack up about that.

Then we have our little Aiden (or AA has he is now known). Rei says Aiden as AA and it has stuck. It’s cute actually. Aiden is such a great baby. He is 6 months old now, almost 7 months. He is starting to try to crawl. He would much rather be held though, he is such a snuggler. He loves to cuddle more than anything. He eats so many things now too, he is such a little piggy and he loves to eat. And he LOVES his brother. Rei loves him too, he is such a good big brother and he looks out for him all the time, and kisses him constantly, it is sweet.

So Chrissy moves back to Virginia at the end of the month, and we are going to go with and spend a week down there. We are all looking forward to our little vacation. It will be tons of fun. Well, until the end… leaving them is going to be oh so hard! I am still in denial though, and I prefer to stay there for the moment.

Ian came in for a visit last weekend for a few days and while he was here, he went and bought Chrissy and I each a copy of Mario Kart and some wheels for the wii. We have been playing it for hours tonight, and I can’t believe it is almost 1 am. I am soooooooooooo tired, and better get to bed, but we are having so much fun. We are not so great at it, but it’s fun anyway. Good thing I have tomorrow off of work, or I would really be sorry.

Can’t believe it’s been so long since I updated, yet again, but it’s just so hard when all I want to do is spend my extra time with Chrissy and the boys. They leave for VA at the end of June, and I am going to miss them so much. I dread it!!!

Rei is really sick this week, double ear infection, so that has been pretty insane. Plus he has hit the terrible twos and everything is NO NO NO NO NO. Good thing he is so cute. When you get mad at him and try to yell at him, he stops you by kissing you. How can you stay mad at that?

Can you believe it’s almost June already? I am not sure where this year went so far.

It has been so quiet around our house without Chrissy and the boys. I have really been missing Rei and Aiden too. Last night I called Chrissy to check on them, and Rei was off playing with his little cousin. He loves playing with other kids, so I know that he was enjoying it. I figured he would not want to talk on the phone but I wanted to hear his little voice anyway so I asked to talk to him. He got on and said yah? I said, hi pumpkin, it’s mimi, and he went nuts. He was all exciting, yelling yay over and over, and saying hi and I love you, and it was soooooooooo sweet. It totally made my whole day. I was just in heaven for the rest of the night. It was so precious. I can’t wait to see them later in the week. He is going to be so cute when he see’s Stephen. I knew that he would be exciting when they come home, especially to see Papa, but to hear him get so excited on the phone really was a wonderful moment.

It’s hard to believe, in so many ways, that Krystal has been gone from our lives for 3 years now. Sometimes I still expect to open my eyes and have her standing right there. I miss her a lot. On Easter, my niece Megan, who is 6 now, made a pose for a picture and I swear I saw Krystal. Maybe it is in those ways that she lives on with us.

I have been having such a hard time with this all week, I’ve been so down about it all. I had nightmares all night last night too. I wonder if it will ever truly get any easier.

Tonya bought me two of the most beautiful lilac bushes today. We are going to plant them tomorrow. Krystal loved lilac bushes, she loved the way they smell and when we were kids we used to take the flowers off and suck on them. I am not sure why, we were goofy I guess. Tonya planted a lilac bush for me at our old house right after Krystal died, and I hated leaving it when we moved. I am touched that she got me two new ones and I look forward to watching them grow.

The house is so quiet. Chrissy and the boys left for a few days. Ian is back home today and Sherry is watching the boys today and Ian’s mom is tomorrow. Then they are going to spend a few days at Ian’s mom’s house. I will miss them a lot. It is so strange not hearing Rei running around.

So this past Wednesday, Chrissy and I had a “practically perfect” date. Practically perfect as in we went to see Mary Poppins, hehe. It is one of her favorite movies, one that we often watched together when she was a little girl. It’s cute actually, when the girls were young, Chrissy would always pick either Beauty and the Beast or Mary Poppins when we were going to watch a movie togehter. June would always pick The Little Rascals, The Little Mermaid or The Wizard of Oz. Well, a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to take June to see Wicked, and it was a wonderful experience to share with June. So when I saw that Mary Poppins was coming to the theatre in Chicago, I knew it was the perfect experience to share with Chrissy.

My mom and gram watched the boys until Stephen and Tonya got home from work and Chrissy met me at work. We headed downtown and got there in plenty of time to walk around and have a really nice dinner together. It was so much fun walking around downtown with her. She was so excited, and like a little kid again, holding my hand and everything. It was sweet. We went to Harry Caray’s for dinner, which was very yummy. I hadn’t been there since the day that Stephen and I got married and I think Chrissy enjoyed getting to go there. We talked a lot, and really enjoyed the one on one time. Sometimes that is hard to get, so it was special.

The play was awesome!!! Chrissy was so cute, tapping her feet to her favorite songs, and just in awe of most of it. I almost had as much fun watching her as I did the play. It really was great though, just enough of the familiar mixed in with the new. I recommend it if you get the chance. We were sad to see it end. The whole night was just perfect, from start to finish. Even getting home… Tonya was up with Aiden who had gotten up to eat, and Chrissy was so cute showing her the dances to her favorite songs. She still is doing the dance from supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It was an evening we will both remember for a long time to come.

Things continue to be busy at work, but I guess that is not always a bad thing, makes for shorter days at any rate. I’ve been pretty busy at home too, working on stuff for a baby shower and spending as much time as I can with Chrissy and the boys. The time is going much too quickly and I am already starting to dread them leaving. They will still be with us a couple more months, but it’s coming, and while I am excited for them, I am sad about it a little too. I think it would be much different if they were just moving across town, rather than across the country. I can’t imagine not seeing Rei and Aiden for months on end, the thought is really hard.

They are getting so big, both the boys. Aiden is starting to try to sit up when you hold him, and he has been rolling around for a couple of weeks now. He is so cute, and he smiles everytime he sees us. Rei is growing by leaps and bounds, learning new things every day. He went poop on the toilet for the first time last night, and we were all so excited. He was so cute, waving to it and saying bye bye after he flushed (he loves to flush the toilet, lol). We were all cracking up, and cheering. He is still so young, only 19 months, but he has gotten so bad about taking his clothes, including his pull up off… he likes to run around butt naked all the time, and knows how to get his clothes off, so it’s time to potty train him, like it or not.

Our basement flooded on Sunday, with all this rain we’ve been getting. Our sump pump blew a fuse, and we got a few inches of water. That was quite fun, but it seems to be working find again, thank goodness. Talk about a mess, yuck. When I came into work on Monday though, at least 5-6 people had similar stories, so I guess it’s going around. Now we are back to cold days, brrr, I am so looking forward to Spring.

I am swamped… seriously swamped.. both at work and at home. I am feeling so stressed out over it too. I SO need a day off. At work, we have a grant application that is due on Thursday, and I just don’t know how we are going to get it done. We also are having a baby shower on Thursday so at home I’ve been working on favors, gifts, etc. Plus I have a ton of other crafty projects that I need to complete…. deep breath, I can do it all, hehe. Mostly it’s just work stressing me though, truly.

I am very proud of myself for one thing however. Even with all this stress and craziness, I’ve not given up on working out. That has been a priority, and it feels good! In the not so distant past, that would have been the first thing to go, with everything else going on, so the fact that it hasn’t is a good one.

Well my few moments of break time are over, back to the grindstone. I so need a day off, oh I already said that. I should just tell my boss that I am taking Friday off and be done with it. Maybe that little bit to look forward to will make the rest of it easier… hmmmmm…