365 - No Way. 24 - Possible.

My sis-in-law is a kooky one. I mean that in the most loving way. She's a big photo-taker, and she came up with this idea to chronicle her family's year in pictures. Specifically, she will take a photo every day and post it on her blog with a little caption - or maybe a story - telling what it's about. Hence her "Project 365" and the first part of this post's title.

I take a pictures a lot...of things most people probably wouldn't...but I don't think I can come up with an idea every day. Sis-in-law takes pix of her kids, and her car, and the grass, and toothpaste. (Not yet - but she might now that I've given her the idea!). She takes pix of dishes and people watching TV. And she weaves a family story out of it. It's pretty cool. But I don't have it in me.

So I've decided to do my own project. I chose 24 because there are 24 hours in a day, and I figured if it came down to December 31 and I hadn't done anything, I could just take 1 picture every hour for a day and still meet my goal. The real goal, however, is to take 1 photo per week at least every other week.

So far I'm on track. We'll see how long it lasts.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's official. We've had our last Valentine's Day class party. They tend to not be quite so much fun when you move to middle school. (Why is it things go from awesome to stupid in the course of 3 months? Why do we think our kids are so grown up after those same 3 months?)

Yesterday was FrogBoy's class party. And just like every other elementary school student in America, we were instructed to bring in a decorated shoebox to collect Valentine's. Do these people not realize how stressful something like this can be for the FrogMan?

We started a week ago. Seriously. And we weren't having much luck. Then SuperHubby hit on a fantastic idea. (There's a reason he's called SUPERHubby). What if Froggie made the box out of Legos?

I cleared it with the teachers, who were all for it. Good thing, since we already mentioned it to Froggie. He proceeded to make a really cool box, the exact size of a shoebox. I thought he'd make a flat top, SH thought he'd making a slanted top (like a mailbox), but no, he surprised us and made 2 towers with a slot in the middle. He likes to keep us on our toes.

When I picked him up at school yesterday, I thought he was going to explode. Apparently there was a contest (who knew?) and he won. His Valentine's box was 1st Place for being Most Decorative and Most Creative. The prize? A coke and a free homework pass.

You would have thought he won a million dollars.

The Difference Between Men and Women (Vacation Version)

The Fitzes are thinking of taking a vacation this summer. It's been 4 years since our trek to PA, and my memories of the flight are starting to fade somewhat, so I have convinced myself it wouldn't be too terrible to venture out yet again and see SuperHubby's BFF in Ohio. Sadly, SH isn't too keen on driving to Cleveland, so while I'd LOVE to park my butt in the Sebring and cruise on up to Ohio, it would appear I am not going to win that particular argument and we will be airborne at some point in the next 6 months.

I do these things to myself. The whole trip was actually my idea. It's only fair; my BFF lives in Greenville, so I can technically see her whenever I want. SH's BFF is in OHIO, and they haven't seen each other since the BFF came to see Spanky when he was 6 months old (13 years ago for those keeping track at home). That's a long time! (Sidebar: Spanky is named after this particular BFF).

So yeah. I figured I could probably handle the plane trip. After all, I'm older, wiser, more mature. And I plan on taking drugs, which I didn't do last time. So it's all good. And we're all excited. Except we have a little issue...

See I actually want my children to join us on our vacation. To me, "vacation" means "family." SH is more inclined to think "vacation" means "drop the boys at Aunt Linda's and don't come back until the last possible moment she'll watch them." Forget that we probably won't get to do this again. Forget that hubbies never actually DO a whole lot with kids while on vacation, forget that he's never packed a suitcase for anyone but himself, forget it all...all SH knows is that this sounds like a great trip for THE 2 OF US.

We've had some fellowship over it. I have a free flight that I can use, which would mean only paying for 3 of us to get there. The bad news is tickets are $328 each. To Ohio! I mean, who actually goes to Ohio? When I told the BFF we were coming, he asked why. (He was thrilled when I said it was just to see him; we don't care a thing about Cleveland). Seriously, the airline should pay us to fly us there.

My big problem is this: If we all fly togther and the plane goes down, well then I've just killed my kids. But if SH and I go alone and the plane crashes, guess what? I just orphaned my boys. And it will ruin their lives forever and they'll need massive amounts of therapy and it'll all be because we didn't let them go on vacation with us. These are the things that keep me up at night.

I guess SH doesn't want to have to take care of 2 kids AND a doped up wife while travelling. I already informed the BFF that I probably won't recognize him when I get off the plane, and he shouldn't take offense at that in the least. We'll get there early enough so I can sleep it off and be great by dinner.

So I'm hoping the boys can go with us, SH's hoping the cost of airline tickets remains steadily unaffordable until after this summer, and the boys just want to go anywhere outside of the state of South Carolina. We all have dreams.