sigh of relief. i finally have a minute to sit down. it has been the absolute craziest week. my sister has been staying with us since last friday as our parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in paris. they've e-mailed to say they've had a great time, done tons of walking, experienced several amazing art museums, etc. it sounds lovely and i'm only a little jealous. ....okay a lot, but i did get to go photograph the Miss Atwood pageant last weekend and how many people can say that?

in any case, we've all had an incredibly busy week and in playing surrogate "mom to pre-teen girl" this week i have driven hundreds of miles to activities, events, classes, and playdates, while julie boldly changed the radio every five seconds complaining about the lack of good music (hello?? what about that great Talking Heads song you just passed???) aaahhhh, to be twelve going on twenty. she's awesome though, so sweet and the kids love her to pieces.

i'm in the process of hiring a babysitter for a couple afternoons a week so i can get some work done, just last week the babysitter i was about to hire e-mailed at the last minute to back out. so back to the drawing board. i have someone else i've corresponded with and we'll hopefully meet her in a few days-keep your fingers crossed! it's hard not to spend too long on the computer while the kids play, i really need to have quality work time and quality family time and right now it's just all mixed up and i'm not giving enough to either one. and that's not fair.

soooooo, i need a vacation. actually, our family could really use one. aaron's just swamped himself right now, we take turns complaining about how busy we both are. in watching julie recently when my parents visited our brother jacob in virginia and then now, they will watch our kids so that aaron and i can go somewhere. i have absolutely no idea where we might go, i am definitely open to suggestions (hint, hint!) nothing too expensive-it's hard being self-employed, it's not like there's vacation time, we'll spend money going on a trip, but then it's like spending it twice, as aaron misses out on that time when he would be working and earning. but i tell ya, we're getting out of town as soon as possible!

i hope to post something more fun next time, tomorrow i drive julie to o'hare to meet up with our parents and they're all flying out to North Carolina for a wedding. the fun just never stops around here :)