Preparation

Tomorrow is Jeremiah's birthday, and Monday we're heading down to Tybee Island for a few days.  Today, we are packing, baking, and cleaning.  We have ambitious plans for tomorrow.  We're going to have everything ready to get our happy selves to the coast, prepare for a celebratory dinner with friends and hit the Decatur Arts Festival. 

I provided the girls with a list of things they should pack.  It included a column for each of them to check off every item as they packed it, because I'm one of those people.  It went...passably well.  Their items are gathered and it only took about 4 hours to make it happen.  Though the instruction "clean your bedroom" resulted in a great deal of sister-on-sister violence, some screaming, a bit of tattling (mostly from our little nark, Sarah), no shortage of whining and ultimately, a reasonably tidy bedroom.  After the bedroom drama, Sarah came downstairs and helped me clean the kitchen while Jeremiah's birthday caked baked.  She wanted to help with the baking bit, but because it took her so long to don just the right attire for the occasion, she arrived only in time for cleaning.  She looks fantastic, though, no?  She did a great job washing dishes too. 

We are ready to relax.  It's been a busy few months.   The girls have wrapped up a very active school year.  While we will only have a few days, I'm pretty thrilled to have each one of them.  I cannot wait to get to hang out with my family without having any simultaneous obligations.  Our goal for the trip is to use the soft landing of the packed wet sand at the shore to finally get both girls confidently riding bicycles sans training wheels.  They're so close.  I'll keep you posted on their progress.  Enjoy the long weekend!