Lists from a Vacation

The boys and I just spent the better part of a week in NJ visiting my family. On the long drive home, this is what I was thinking about:

Stuff Brought to NJ:

• Too many clothes for the boys, not enough for me.
• Too much food in the cooler
• Apparently not enough books

Stuff That Should Have Been Brought to NJ:

• The main vitamins for P. (I bought all the secondary vitamins but left home the one that they all get mixed into)
• Some meds (non-necessary ones)
• The medicine eye dropper for the necessary one (but P. learned to swallow pills, yay!)
• my swimsuit cover-up

Stuff Left in NJ:

• Lots of hugs and kisses
• 2 boy socks (not matching, naturally)**
• 1 Buzz Lightyear*
• 2 oil portraits of M & P (they needed to dry first)
  
• 1 book the nephew was in the middle of
  

Stuff That Has to Go Back to NJ:

• 1 portable DVD player and some movies, most particularly Beauty & the Beast
  

Stuff Acquired in NJ:

• Lots of memories! cousins reading to each other in bed, Wii dragon battles, Friendly's ice cream, swimming, reading the paper, one little cousin dragging one big cousin *everywhere* (c'mon!), yummy food, book club, seeing friends, riding in each other's cars, going to the movies, taking uninterrupted showers, and many more...
• As many snacks and drinks for the ride home as I could "steal" :-D
• Some great photos that my friend K. took
  
• Toy Story 3 toys/games (thanks Aunt D!)
• 2 Koosh balls that also become spiky hats (thanks Aunt R!)
• Clean laundry! Yay!
  

* updated: Buzz has been found under the seat of the car. Call off the search party!

** update to the update: I think I found the socks too, mixed in with mine.

Doesn't Smell New, But Looks Pretty Good

Today I decided to clean out the car. Here's what I found:

• 1.5 plastic easter eggs (1 purple, 1/2 green)
• a metal monkey bookmark
• a broken pirate eyepatch
• 1 red wool headband
• a baggie of crushed Lucky Charms cereal (no marshmallows)
• 1 plastic thingamajig
• 4 rocks
• 10 books (2 Halloween theme)
• 4 coloring books (2 Christmas theme)
• 31 crayons (26 whole, 5 broken)
• 1 colored pencil (yellow)
• 1 cardboard tag that says "Rush" (what or to where I have no idea)
• 6 bank envelopes (empty)
• 4 raisin boxes (also empty)
• at least half a box of petrified raisins scattered all over
• 3 torn paper chef's hats from Ted's Hot Dogs
• 3 donut bags (empty; 2 Tim Hortons, 1 Dunkin Donuts)
• many many sprinkles from said donuts
• 2 ATM receipts
• 3 errand lists
• 2 shopping lists
• lots of used tissues
• a bottle of eyeglass cleaner
• 3 petrified french fries (we haven't eaten these in the car in I don't remember when. Other than the dust they looked a lot like they do when you buy them. That right there is probably reason enough to stop eating them)
• 2 blankets
• a box of emergency stuff (jumper cables, flares, etc.)
• a box containing wipes, the harnesses & cup holders from the booster seats, portable potty liners, and a first aid kit)
• the diaper bag (doesn't get daily use anymore but still good to have in case of emergencies)
• 2 kid winter gloves (not matching)
• 1 pair kid mittens (matching)
• 3 baseball hats (1 adult, 2 child - too small now)
• 1 winter coat (adult)
• 1 windbreaker (adult)
• 1 tobaggan
• 1 tote bag of swim gear
• a bag of gummy worms (empty)
• 4 toy cars
• 2 kaleidoscopes
• 1 bendy plastic cat
• 1 plastic princess ring (pink)
• 2 plastic knights and thier matching horses
• 1 transformer
• 2 toy phones
• 2 toy alphabet games
• 2 drawing boards
• 1 tic-tac-toe game
• 1 broken happy meal toy
• 1 winter scarf (child)
• 1/2 box of tissues (clean)
• my sunglasses
• my wireless headset
• 3 pens (2 blue, 1 red)
• the snowbrush
• 1 flashlight (still in package)
• $2 in change ($1.45 that I spent later, .30 that I sucked up in the vacuum and .25 that I can see but can't get out)

What's in your car?

Happy Happy

All is good in the kindergarten world. The boys got off the buses the same way they got on, all smiles. M. actually ate his lunch and spent the evening chattering about his new friends. P. didn't eat much but answered "Yes!" (with arms raised) to all questions of "did you like school?" "did you have fun?" "do you want to go back tomorrow?" The teacher's note says he settled in just fine. It sounds like they had an equally good day today. Whew.

I didn't get much accomplished the past 2 days, it feels too strange to be in a quiet house. I'm sure I'll get used to it though :-D We're going down to NJ tomorrow evening to a family wedding (I can't wait to see everyone!) so tomorrow is dedicated to cleaning out the car, laundry & packing, filling the cooler with snacks and all the other stuff you have to do to prepare to sit in a car for 6 hours with two little kids. Hmmm. Better run to the dollar store for a few new entertainment items.

Then in the coming weeks there will be some serious home decor projects, organization and cleanup going on! I'm excited just thinking about it...