Sorry for the long drought. It was unintentional. I (well, we, really...the whole family) left last week Wednesday for a conference in Chicago and had fully intended to post prior to leaving, but the insanity of trying to get everything ready and packed and prepped and washed and diapered and out the door on time was a bit overwhelming. And then the conference and all the travel associated (KS to Pella, IA to Chicago (suburbs) then back to Pella and finally, today, back to KS) took most of my time. The rest of it was consumed with the busy activity of trying to keep kids fed and clothed and sleeping on a somewhat normal schedule while staying in a hotel. Fortunately, we had Jeff's parents and one of his brothers and sisters-in-law there to help, which was immensely helpful indeed. That meant I got to go off to my conference events without worrying about Jeff and the two kids sitting sadly forlorn in the hotel room. And on our way out and our way back, we stayed with my parents, so the kids had a grandparent hat-trick weekend. If only the CA uncle and aunt could have been there, and it would have been all the uncles/aunts, too.

My conference was a really great experience, one I'll write about more when I don't have several loads of laundry to do.