*Sigh* sigh.

Here I am. Back in the saddle of wife and mother, minus my live- in help. I can't even begin to tell you how nice it was to have my parents stay for the week to watch our kids, help around the house and spend our so-called free time with. No, this week I'm back to being responsible for having dinner made each night, completing the whole process of laundry from start to finish because the clothes refuse to fold themselves and sacrificing time with my husband because he is back to being his usual solo work crew to complete things in and around the house. Last week was something of pure luxury. Busy luxury, but wonderful.

This week leaves me with trying to figure out how to recap everything we did last week and how I can manage to squeeze just one more hour out of each day so I can blog. And if one hour isn't possible, how about some kind of recording chip implanted into my brain so that as my day progresses and I think out all of these great stories I want to freeze in time, my recorder will already have my blog half written for me. Just thinking of the beauty of that gives me goosebumps. Just think of all of the pointless ramblings I could share with you then!

Since none of the aforementioned have yet come into fruition, it's just me here and my shot to highlight some breaking news of last week. Here's something: we celebrated Elaina's pseudo 3rd birthday last week. Yes, June 19 isn't particularly the same as her actual July 2 real birthday, but we had enough valid excuses to convince ourselves that it was the right thing to do. Topping our list, most importantly was that Grandma and Grandpa were here to share her special day and celebrate with us. When July 2 rolls around, it will just be the 4 of us. We've decided to end the traveling-of-the-birthdays to relatives houses. Also, another great motivation of our early birthday was that we had struck a deal with Elaina that when she turned 3 she would begin to eat what she called people food. Contrary, of course, to the non-people sort of food we had been feeding her? I digress. Anyhow, age 3 was to begin the new magic age of her beginning to try new foods with the ultimate incentive of her being allowed to get her ears pierced like her friend at the baby sitter's house. How's that going, you may ask? It Sucks. Elaina and her issues with food and eating is a long overdue post that will bore your socks off but must be written for posterity and to let Elaina know when she becomes a distinguished professional one day, these are the early days of her strong-willed persistence. That's what we'll call it anyhow. Stinker.

In other randomness of last week, my Dad and Eric installed 7 new windows in our house and completed installation of tons and tons of cabinets out in the garage. Suffice to say, the storage space he has in the garage cabinets put most newly built kitchens to shame. My current kitchen storage now seems the equivalent of cardboard boxes with nails. I've been informed that a drastic remodel is in our future. Take that my old-worn- out- wooden-kitchen-compartments!

So, I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that my mom and dad have returned to their quiet, peaceful abode. Their stay was pretty much what I had looked forward to as my vacation. Not only because they offered so much help, and not because I shortened some of work week, but because they were here and it was special and out of the ordinary. It was nice to be greeted by my happy children and my parents as I walked through the door. Having my parents here to see and be a part of our day to day routine was interesting as they could get a feel for what kind of mother they helped me to become and see firsthand, parallels in our parenting styles. And let me not fail to mention the beauty of having dinner cooked for me, laundry done, my bed made, (complete with shams) and a willing shopping partner on the side.

Mom and Dad, is it too soon to plan your next visit? Anyone?