hullabaloo

When one is about to embark on a trans-Atlantic adventure with one's hubby (and an unhealthy supply of curiously flavored Pop-Tarts for one's uber-cute, American-food-missing niece) but without the two little beings one has spent virtually every second of their lives with, there's bound to be a little clamoring, a bit of fracas, and some serious hubub in preparation of said adventure. Right?


Plus, 'one' is me so that automatically ups the frenzied-factor. 


And, in the midst of all this uh, excitement, I may or may not have been listening to this:

(IF SO, sweet timing and thanks for the lunar fidelity, body)


And, uh, also, I may or may not have contemplated taking down a half dozen of these.


[IF SO, I (probably) spared myself 4,000+ calories and added frozen strawberries to this instead - score! Super delish.]


But I was definitely moved to tears watching both Modern Family (so funny and so poignant) and Jim and Pam go through labor, have their baby, and go thru lactation on The Office last week. 


Emotions are definitely at an all-time-high!


[I'd apologize for the excessive hyperlinks here but I'm on a rant, keep up!]


At family night last night (this is when all four of us go to Costco to stock-up and then eat dinner for $5 total:), I stood holding the 'no added sugar' and the 'original' hot chocolate mix, trying to decide which one was worse (they're both bad but OM turned up their noses in disgust to the organic, fair trade hot cocoa I bought from TJ's). 


'No added sugar' added sucralose (Splenda) for sweetness (not quite as bad as aspartame and saccharin, but still) and the 'original' added sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids and the dreaded HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) for sweetness. Hmmm.


I hadn't even gotten to the price difference when Woody had to intervene. For pete's sake Swiss Miss, just add agave nectar and make my life easier! I just want OM to have enough hot chocolate while I'm away...sheesh!


So, T minus 1-week 'til departure and now I'm trying to be a calm, mindful mama for my sweet cherubs to displace my worrying ways. 


[I finally watched last week's LOST episode last night and in it Sawyer/James was watching part of Little House on the Prairie and, in a nutshell, Pa tells Laura not to worry so much (in his very reassuring Pa-way). Thanks God and universe for that. You sent the right messenger. :)]


Alright, so I'll try and zip my pie-hole regarding further travel issues.


And I'll leave you with some killer footage of Owen getting his karate on (I'm sure his Uncle Jason aka, Sensei, will be proud:) and Maya drawing her hopscotch court as she goes...