Kandi's Confessions

I haven't done a whole lot this week.  Here goes anyway:

• Ren has pneumonia.  He is never my 'sick child'.  For him to feel this terribly is scary for both Chuck and I.  Thankfully his pediatrician rocks and has him on the correct medication to get him healthy.  He hasn't been at school all week and it's been running to the pediatrician and hospital for various tests.


• CS is in love with preschool.  She adores it.  I knew she was excited to *finally* start school, but I didn't realize how well she would be doing.  I'm so happy that all 3 of my kiddos love school!


• My Cincinnati Reds could win the NL Central title tonight.  I haven't been this excited about the Reds in a while.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm no bandwagon fan.  However, I've cheered through good and bad times.  This is definitely a good time!


• We are trying to figure out how to get to one more Reds game before their last game next week.  Chuck and I want to take CS to her first Reds game.  Earlier this season we took the other two, but this time it's going to be just her.


• Chuck is getting more and more settled in his job.  As he does he is realizing how lucky he is to love his career.  He is reminded every day what it looks like to dislike your job.


• This weekend A and Ren have soccer games.  It's also our weekend to provide snacks to Ren's team.  Sadly, with pneumonia, he can't even play.  So I am going to take the snacks to the game and wish his team well.  While some would shirk this duty, I won't.  Those little guys play too hard to do without.


• Since being home with Ren all week, the house is really clean.


• However my errands and volunteering are slacking.


• This is one of those moments when you put your priorities in check and realize your kids are the most important.


• I really really really want a new vehicle.  My Sienna is 14 years old and is missing some of the more modern minivan touches.  I just don't know if I want a crossover or a new minivan.  I see the benefits and downfalls of both.


• It got chilly this week and I pulled the kids pants from this past spring out of the closet.  Here's the run down; Ren has gotten a LOT taller.  While his pants fit around the waist, they look like capris.  A needs a larger size for both waist and length.  CS, well, she just wears hand me downs.  She is still at the age where that doesn't bother her, thankfully.


• We are planning on doing family pictures in the next two weeks.  Our clothing choices have to be changed though.  I assumed it would still be on the hotter side, but it's gotten fall-like faster than I anticipated.  Whoops.


• A lost her homework today.  She seems to be doing that a lot.  It's worrisome.  She will do her homework, put it in her bag and then lose it before she gets to school.  I wish I was kidding.

Well, I think that's it for me.  I have oodles of errands to run today.  Plus, a lunch date with Chuck at work.  Yay!

Have a great weekend everyone!  Go Reds!!

Wordless Wednesday (I can't actually do it without words)

I know our trip to downtown Cincinnati happened last month,

but I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took from that weekend.

Enjoy the scenery.

Transformation Tuesday

I wish I got this post up earlier, but let's face it, life happens.  If you read between the lines that actually says 'I was on the phone with Andrea for over and hour and while I'm terrific at most multitasking, talking on the phone and blogging isn't one.'

Anyway, Transformation Tuesday is about everything from weight loss to relaxation to changing the scenery in your house.  It's a pretty all encompassing title.  Today's post is about relaxation.

Over the weekend, Chuck and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary.  It was heavenly.  Truly.  It was amazing.  We have been long overdue for a weekend with just us.  Like 10 years overdue.

What we did wasn't exotic or anything like that.  First off, he surprised me with it, so I really had no say in the entire trip.  What we did was head down the road to Cincinnati.  We live in a northern suburb of the city and are down there often.  This time, it was different.  He had booked a weekend at the Westin in downtown.  Not only did he book a room there, but it overlooked Fountain Square.  I'm not above admitting that I did a flying leap onto the bed and sank right in.  I wanted to nap, but there were things to do.

The big event of the weekend was the Cincinnati Reds game.  Now, if you want to know one thing about me, it's that I'm a tried and true Reds fan.  Did you know that your 10 year anniversary is called your diamond anniversary?  I didn't.  Chuck did though.  According to him, he bought me the biggest diamond in the entire city.  The Reds ball diamond.  Cute huh?

I'm not trying to make this a recap of my great weekend.  It's all about relaxation.  Something that parents really don't get a whole lot of.  That's my experience at least.  Rarely do we get time to just hang out with our spouses or significant other.  That's what this weekend was about for Chuck and I.

Here's a couple of things I've thought about and helped make our relaxation weekend great.

• We laughed.  A lot.


• We took time to listen to each other.  No rushed conversations.  No interrupted conversations.


• We took naps.  Several of them.  It was the best rest!


• Do you remember what it's like to sleep in on a Saturday?  Until this weekend I had forgotten.  Having lunch at 11A.M. isn't so bad.


• Neither is dinner after midnight.


• It is possible to have a wonderfully affordable getaway close to home.


• Um, the Reds won.  Enough said.


• Spending time with the person you love in an environment that didn't require deadlines, schedules or anything like that can be the best thing to remind you how far you've come and what you have accomplished as a couple/family.  10 years ago we couldn't have done anything like this.  We spent half a day just remembering and laughing about how little we had when we first got married.  10 years ago if someone had told us we'd have 3 kids, a chaotically wonderful home and rarely get time together we'd have laughed at you and said "No way that's happening".  Today, we wouldn't change anything.  Well, maybe more time together just us, but nothing else.

How do you relax with your spouse or s/o?  Do you have getaway weekends or make time for one another every day?

Oh and PS.  I did get some real diamonds for our anniversary too.  In ring form.  :)

[caption id="attachment_6140" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="What a terrific weekend!"][/caption]