8/16/13 -- Is this a blog or a diary?  Maybe a little of both.  Either way, I am sure it will be cathartic.  The kids and I just got back from a cruise to the Bahamas!  A little crazy and relaxing, all at the same time.  No meals to cook, no beds to make, no bathrooms to clean!  Just trying to keep track of a 10 and 11 year old.  Sloan, the 10 year old, asked at least daily if he could go into the casino.  Of course, if you are under 18, you aren't allowed, but he was fixated on gambling.  I have worried in the past that his future holds either a professional football, Army, or exotic dancing career.  Now I am concerned that he will be a regular at Gamblers Anonymous.  Emma is taller than me and so grown up for her age!  She has always been so shy about singing, even around me and her brother here at home.  She mustered all the bravery she could find and decided to sing at one of the karaoke nights and was WONDERFUL.  I was so proud of her.  The crowd went crazy.  So maybe I have a singer and a gambler on my hands.....

The night before we were to leave the boat, we had to pack up our suitcases and leave them out in the hall.  We were to keep out anything we needed for the following day.  In true Sloan fashion, Sloan wakes up and asks me to throw him his shorts that were in the blue bag.  There were no shorts in the blue bag and no shorts anywhere for that matter.  So Sloan decides he will wear his "blankie" around his waste to leave the ship and Emma and I can go get breakfast and bring him back something to the room, specifically a plateful of pastries.  Emma then got out of bed, heard the commotion and realized Sloan could wear the shorts she had worn to bed.  They had an elastic wasteband but were a little short on him.  He just pulled them down, gangsta style, under his long t-shirt so nobody knew otherwise.  Further craziness averted, at least for the moment.

So now we are back at home -- they are with their dad and I am trying to catch up on washing and drying clothes, getting the yard pulled back together and getting fleas out of the house!  Looks like a bombing will need to take place this weekend.  Big week ahead.  Kids start school!