Happy Birthday Madison!

 Our tiny terror is two!!! Happy Birthday to her! She is the youngest grandchild at this point. Probably will be for quite some time. Had to wish this kiddo a Happy Birthday by text as her parents did not answer the phones. That's okay I stopped by to see her tonight and I told her Happy Birthday then. It is Friday and the end of another week! I actually escaped for the whole day today. It was truly by mistake, but it happened. I headed in to take the kiddos to school since my appointment was at 0920 and it didn't make sense to have two of us make two separate trips in when one could do it all. Of course, that was before I realized that the youngest left her book bag at home. After dropping the young ones, I drove as fast as reasonable to get home and return in time for my appointment.

That did not work quite as well as I had hoped, and it turns out that people are not very willing to share the road when heading south to Fort Carson. It forced me to call and let them know I would be delayed due to traffic. I was quickly informed that my appointment wasn't until 1230. Yikes! It was only 0855. Oh, dear what fun! I quickly headed a different direction and went to PAFB first and took care of business there. I then headed to check on my son as I sent him to the ER two nights before. He was much better.

I then headed into a thrift store just to take a peek and see if there might be a dog crate.

It must have been the bonus day as there were 3 crates! Two extra large ones and a medium sized one. I took all three. This way if the kids want to have friends over and it is cold outside, I can cage the rascals and not feel guilty.

Not to mention that tomorrow we have Miss Maddie's party to go to and the plan is that everyone will go so the dogs can remain caged for the duration and I can relax for a change. The three cages came to a total cost of one-third what I had paid for a cage recently that I ended up returning because the quality for the price was very poor. These being older cages seem to be made of thicker wire than that cage was also. I am happy. I then went to my appointment and hung out to pick up the kiddos from school. I arrived home at about 5, fixed dinner and then cleaned up and headed back to town to pick up the youngest from another attempted sleepover.

Dinner was homemade egg noodles, sausage, sauerkraut and veggies. Requested by the older yesterday but I forgot and made beef lo mien by mistake. The pantry challenge is getting well, challenging. I have discouraged meals that include items that we do not have... like egg noodles. But alas, they know that I can make them. 

Technically, I cheat. My kitchen aid does the work

 It is a blessing and a curse, if I didn't have it then SIL could help a bit. Having it means I can do other things while that is mixing, and dinner is ready quite quickly. Having SIL help does just the opposite and I am not very patient when I am trying to get things done. 

All in all, the day was a nice break. DH was through the roof with caregiving by the time I arrived home. I simply reminded him that when he is gone so many days of the week, she isn't alone. Neither am I! He quieted and retreated to his room until dinner was ready. When I returned from picking up the youngest, SIL was wandering the house and the dogs were locked outside. DH was asleep in his chair. Life goes on. They are both now asleep and I enjoy the quiet of the night. I will close for now and cheer that there are only 49 weeks to go!