It's 10:56pm do you know why my diaper bag isn't packed?!?!

First, I promise I will post the kids' Christmas pictures on here. They are just too cute to pass up...maybe I'll even do it after I finish this post...we'll see....

It's Friday night I've been up since 4:45 this morning, I didn't get home tonight until 7:55pm and I was greeted by two very awake children who should not have been awake. I felt like today was the longest day ever at school, every single period seemed to take 4 times as long as it should have and then I had PT to round out my day. Oh no, I'm sorry, my shopping trip rounded out my day. I ended up making a few stops on my way home, after 25 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic up the mountain and then back down. My final stop? Shop-Rite hell. What crazy freaking people do their major shopping on the Friday night before Thanksgiving? HAH! ME....that's who. And then how lucky do I get?? I'll tell you how lucky...I get the checkout guy from the 9th layer of hell. He doesn't want to be here, he doesn't want to be ringing up my 5 bottles of formula, 6 lunchables, 22 containers of baby food and 19 pounds of ground beef. He wants to be out with his punk friends probably setting off the freaking fireworks that kept my kids awake on labor day. So how does he take out his frustration?? He packs my bags so damned heavy that me, the one armed wonder, can barely lift them...thanks jerky. And the best part?? He puts everything that has the ability to be crushed on the bottom of each bag so that something heavier can be put on top and actually crush said crushable item. Thanks again, jerky and I'm pretty sure you didn't check my baby bucks right because my credits are way too high to not have been able to redeem any!GRrrrr.....

So now I sit here, just having finished my 2nd glass of Pinot and 4 dozen peanut butter cookies and I am now contemplating preparing an apple crisp because tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it all needs to get done. Wait, you say, tomorrow isn't Thanksgiving. Tomorrow is Saturday. Yes, you're right tomorrow is Saturday but in my extended family tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Allow me.....
My dad comes from what could only be termed an enormous family. There are, I believe, 10 of them. 8 of the children, my dad and aunts and uncles, are still alive. IF you've done the math correctly, 2 have passed on. (They were twins, they passed about a week after birth. My grandmother went into labor after a fall down the steps. I know little else about it. It's sad to think we could have had so many more family members.) So, yes...8 children my grandparents produced and raised- in addition to a myriad of foster children. But because there are so very many children and just about each of those children has produced at least two offspring and a spouse the holidays can be "difficult". Rather than worry about seeing each other on the actual date, next Thursday or Christmas Day, etc., we all get together the weekend before the day and celebrate then. It's fun. I have always looked forward to it. I used to bring my friends home with me, or to wherever it was going be, during college. It's just so nice to be able to see everyone and spend time with them outside of websites, email and telephones. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Truly, I had considered not going. The husband has to work as does my mom so it would be me and the kids and my dad. This year the celebration is out on Long Island, roughly 2 hours from my parents which is about an hour from us- so, yup if you did the math right, 3 hours. 3 hours in a car with two children, one of which is just getting over an ear infection and cold and the other can just be a beast from beyond when he doesn't get his way- you know the typical 2 year old. But, I really would like to see my family and other than the fact that tomorrow will be somewhat stressful and I know it will be a long day and I'll probably end up telling the car accident story about 60 times and being in pain most of the day, I want to go. I want to see everyone, I want to take pictures with everyone, I want the kids to see everyone, I just want to spend time with them and take a break from here- even if it does mean a trip over the Verrazzano and along the belt parkway...joy of joys!

In planning to go I also had to plan what to bring. My staple is always a cheesecake. Not the case this time. Due to the accident everyone pretty much thought I would not be making an appearance- a very valid assumption, I had planned not to make an appearance for just about that reason. Because I wasn't coming, a cheesecake was ordered- fine by me! It's a pain in the ass sometimes to bake a cheesecake and I HATE when they crack. It really pisses me off and makes me want to chuck the whole thing. (Thank God for sour cream topping!) So instead of the staple cheesecake I was going to make my tuxedo chocolate covered strawberries. Unfortunately, no white chocolate to be found! Ok, next idea...apple crisp. PERFECT! I hate peeling apples. And final idea...peanut butter cookies with kisses in the middle- 4 dozen done and done! So what will I be doing tomorrow before we load up my mom's car and head to pick up my dad and then out to LI? I'll be prepping an apple crisp to put in my aunt's oven as soon as we walk through the door. I bought 12 apples...I've got to do something with them! I can't keep the doctors away at this point so I better make apple crisp!

What does all of this have to do with my title?? Well, my diaper bag- my savior on trips like this- is not packed. It is not ready to go. I think it still has newborn sized diapers in it and wipes that are roughly the same age as the boy- 2.5 years old. I'm fairly certain that the canned peaches in there, meant to calm the boy in times of need, are from WWII and the raisins have reconstituted and become grapes again. I never use my diaper bag. I throw a few things in my purse and I go. Hence the airbag warning for the purse! I need to pack the bag. I need the 42 extra outfits so that when my kids spill all over themselves or drool until they look like they've been swimming in their clothes I can swoop in and make them fabulously perfect again. I need the new formula mixture I'm using for the girl so that I can finally wean her off the expensive stuff and onto regular old formula and finally on to milk. I need the portable DVD player because if I have to listen to Laurie Berkner or NOW that's What I Call Shrek music all the way to LI someone will be sleeping with the fishes by the end of the trip- I can only hope it would be me. (I could use a good nap.) And of course I need the diapers that fit along with enough wipes to not only satisfy my needs by also the needs of all those around me tomorrow. Wipes are incredible! They take stains out of anything, they wipe the crustiest food off of any child or adult's face and clean up everything in their path with such magic that I almost want to be one. A wipe that is...they've so multifaceted. Although I do toss them in the garbage quite easily!

Anyway, my diaper bag is not packed. The clothes are not laid out. The apple crisp is not ready and the apples are definitely not peeled. The peanut butter cookies are done but the kisses are too soft so everywhere you look in my kitchen is a cookie with a chocolate kiss in it- or at least that was the case a little while ago. The husband got to the kitchen and I'm missing cookies now. I may not be ready now but I'll be ready tomorrow morning at 8am to get everyone in the car, diaper bag and all, and down to my parents and then off to LI for the day. I can only hope that we don't hit traffic because then the GPS takes us off roading and I'm not in the mood to experience the inner workings of Brooklyn with two kids and an apple crisp!