Good gracious! A month?!?

Sheesh, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last blogged. It's not as if I didn't have anything to write. We've been blowing and going the whole time, which is why I haven't blogged. I've been *doing* and haven't had time to sit down and write about it.

Since we last talked, I spent time packing and getting ready, then the girls and I took off to spend spring break in Texas. We spent a couple of days at my parents' house, visiting with my family and celebrating Easter and my great-aunt's birthday. Easter evening, when everyone had left, my parents, my sister, my brother and his wife, my girls, and I left to take my sister back home to Houston. We then spent a few days driving around the Texas hill country admiring the sprawling green pastures of the many ranches and the beauty of the wildflowers that were spreading their color everywhere. We got back to my parents' to rest for a couple of days, then it was back to NC.

While we were gone, Mr. at Home packed his own suitcase and boarded a flight for India. He'd been mentioning to his boss that he'd like the chance to go, and the opportunity and request specifically for *him* came up. So the girls and I came home to an empty house and a full calendar.

While he was gone, the days were crowded with getting each girl and the puppy to various locations around the city, sometimes at the same time. It was a logistical challenge. Most of it...well...sucked. We went places and saw people, but it was still incredibly lonely. I didn't have a chance to really talk to people or focus my attention on anything except the kids/dog. There was no one else to make decisions or answer questions. No one else to be responsible for even just a few minutes. No one else to "Look at this!" or "Watch this!" or explain "How do mommy and daddy dogs have puppies?"

I do like my kids, don't get me wrong. I am grateful to have them, yada-yada, blah-blah, and all that. I just needed a little downtime. Adult conversation. Someone else to help and hang out with. I do not get how families do it when one parent travels frequently. I guess you figure it out and get used to it, but I'd hate to be there. I would hate to come to the conclusion that my life works better when my husband isn't there to "mess up" my routine.

Last Thursday, Mr. at Home came Home and the whole family was again gathered under one roof. Until that afternoon when I took one kid to dance and he took the other kid to softball. Welcome back to the craziness, dear!

After another full weekend, we're heading full steam into my last big homeschool responsibility of the year.

Testing.

I'm administrating the standardized testing for our homeschool group. I handled registration, ordering, and job assignments. For the past 2 days, I've been filling in bubbles, setting test schedules, creating documents, marking administration booklets, gathering supplies, and organizing it all into bags for each proctor. While running a fever. Thankfully, the fever is gone and I'm feeling better just in time, because we start testing tomorrow.

Spring is always a nutso time of year as everyone is trying to cram in all those things that must be done by the end of the school year. K has 3 more softball games then 2 weeks of tournament. She'll be taking her End-of-Grade tests soon, too. L has less than 4 weeks left until her dance recital and she's really learned everything she needs for kindergarten. We'll continue to do practice worksheets for awhile, but I'm not stressing about her stuff. Mr. at Home's teaching job is almost done for the semester.

So we're rushing in a mad dash to the finish line (summer), but I'm going to try to get back in the blogging groove. I think I'll need the outlet for the sake of my sanity.