Why?

Why, oh why do I let so much time go by between posts? I hate it when I do that -- so let me do a quick catch up. Brad was in Ireland for two weeks working on a project for work (Glanbia is an Irish company, so headquarters are in Kilkenny, north of Dublin). While he was gone I just got extremely lazy and didn't post much. Then I was so glad he was back that I did a million things and didn't have the time. I need to work on MODERATION! Anyhoo, it has been incredible having him back on the continent. We missed him like crazy. They are 7 hours ahead there, so timing phone calls was a bit tricky since the kids are in school here during the evening hours there. We survived and are even more grateful than ever for our wonderful husband and father.

He had a great time, saw some beautiful and exciting places, ate some good food and brought home lots of fun souvenirs. I'm so proud of him for the good work he's doing in his company. The trip was a good experience for him. He'll be traveling a bit more in the coming months doing some inhouse trainings, but the furthest he'll be going is Chicago this time, and that will only be for a few days. I have gained a new respect for military families. What an incredible challenge and sacrifice they face without their mom or dad for such prolonged periods of time. It's an amazing sacrifice and I'm so thankful to them.

Brad returned home late February 13, just in time for Valentine's Day! We had such a great day together as a family. We decided to take the kids out for dinner (at Wendy's :)) and to see a movie (Mall Cop). Do we just scream high class or what?! We had a great time, and the kids were ecstatic to be going to the movie with "POPCORN AND EVERYTHING", as Kate said. Apparently we don't do that very often because it was a BIG DEAL!

The key to impressing your kids is to be incredibly boring, predictable, and repetitive, then every once in a while just spring something little and unexpected on them and ... VOILA ... you are a super hero!

When I get another minute I'll try to upload a few Ireland pictures. I'm not sure how they turned out since he took our old camera. We'll just have to see.