Raining on my parade

Now, not only am I having packing problems, I also just realized we are arriving home Wednesday, not Tuesday. One more day away from my boys....I'm not super excited. I think I was thinking, since we're leaving Addis on Tuesday--we are 8 hours behind--so we'll arrive home on Tuesday. But we leave there late Tuesday night and it's only 8 hours difference, which puts us back here Wednesday afternoon. It makes sense after I looked at our tickets a little closer.

I just can't wait for the moment that our bags are checked and we're sitting on the plane. At that point, there's nothing else I'll be able to do with the suitcases till we arrive in Addis. That will be a great feeling.

I suppose....back to a little more packing.

Gotta take a break!

WOW! I'm glad I read the Albertson's blog today, which then took me to Ethiopian Airlines' website. Becca commented on carry-on baggage being 15 pounds. I'm thinking ONLY 15 pounds!! The carry-on with only my snacks has got to be over 15 pounds. Yep, I was right! So I'm staring at my 4 things we'll be using for carry-on's and I'm just stumped. I just keep staring and staring....nope, not getting any better. They are losing any pounds. So, I'm stuck.

I'm thinking we're gonna end up with a 2nd backpack. I don't think Mark is going to be greatly happy, but I don't think we'll have a choice. The carry-on I wanted to take, it's maybe half full when it hits 15 pounds. So I'm not going to take that with wasted space. Just not necessary.

Well, I smell yummy cookies almost done in the oven. And I suppose I better get back to staring at the carry-ons and figure out what I need to do!

Less than 1 week to go

We have less than a week to get everything together, as well as ourselves, before traveling. I think, packing-wise, I'm pretty much ready to go. I have one more shirt to pack for Mark, otherwise it's my couple last minute things after my Friday morning MOPS meeting. I packed the boys today, and again, we're down to the last minute things to pack for them too.

So, what's left? Well, while the boys and I went to watch my nephew's soccer game yesterday, Mark stayed home to get a little cleaning done. He got most of the kitchen, I just have to go thru a little mail yet on the table. And we gotta finish getting Caleb's things out of Addison's room. I have to say, considering everything that WAS on my list to do in 2 weeks time, I'm impressed with what we've accomplished!

And speaking of which, I suppose I better get back to work. I would like to get Addison's room cleaned up today if possible. That gives me a guilt-free week of playing with the boys and going to my MOPS meeting on Friday! :)

6 days to go....and counting!

Hallmark (Product) RED

We are down in the single digits!! YAY!!!

I'm just taking a quick break between the packing we have left and cleaning up a little bit. Got an email from Hallmark....LOVE the store anyway, but I'm a fanatic for their (Product) RED line! Not only is it awesome, but they also donate 8% of the sales to AIDS in Africa. How awesome is that?!?!

So, they had some Christmas cards clearanced out...of course I got a few of those. How perfect for this Christmas with Addison's first Christmas with us! I've also got a few other things from them. The little journal I bought to take with us on the trip is also a Hallmark RED item. Just love it!!! Check it out online or in stores!

One more smile!

 

Thank you Rooneys!!

Thanks so much to the Rooney's for the wonderful pics and video of our baby Addison while they were there picking up their baby boy!!! And I have to say, thumbs up to them!! They got the first pics of her smiling!!! YAY!!!!!

Check, 3/4 check, Little bit of a check?!

We have finished our paperwork today and it has been faxed to Belay. It's a nice feeling to have that finished!

3 of our 4 suitcases are packed and ready to go. The 4th is packed, but I have a few more things we'll be checking, so I gotta finish that once Mark has a chance to bring it inside for me. So, that's almost a check off my list. (Still gotta get the carry-ons situated though)

And I started in 1 of the 3 rooms I/we want cleaned up before we leave. Our living room is where we always are.....so that means we have toys, movies, mail, etc to get sorted thru and picked up. It's always nice coming home to a clean home, no matter the situation. Just don't want to clean the second you get in the door. But I got a start on our living room today. A huge pile of mail and paperwork has been finished, gone thru, thrown, or whatever needed to be done with it! GREAT feeling! Now if I can just get my boys to cooperate with putting their toys away!! :)