Communal germs, lots of snow and a FAT welcome home...

I am back! I survived! I am on my OWN couch, on my OWN laptop! and I am smiling from ear-to-ear! Although, I love my in-laws dearly, their house was a Petri dish of gargantuan germs this week. After the first day of our visit, my sister-in-law took her family home so they could hack up a lung on their own turf. My poor niece and nephew were heart-broken that they had to leave their cousins at Grandma's but I heard my nephew say to my s-i-l, "Wait, if we go home then I can play Webkinz, right?" See, even a 4-year old misses high speed when he's at Grandma's! Last night, my mother-in-law came down with the nasties. Fever, snot-filled sinuses, he whole she-bang! But, she was quite the trooper and played scrabble with my daughter until the ball dropped! This morning, one look into my daughter's big hazel eyes told me she was next in line for the IFEELLIKECRAP train! And she had a morning of crazed packing up and a 3 1/2 hour drive home with two loud brothers and a big black dog riding home next to her to look forward to. She slept some of the way and as my favorite girl always does, she kept her sweet smile the whole way. Precious! To expand on Dina's comment from my "help" post... Yes, I do live in PO-DUNK central (a.k.a. Amish Country) (Dina can call my town PO-DUNK because I could walk to her house from mine! haha!) but my in-laws live in PO-DUNKIER upstate New York. It is quite beautiful. They own/live on a tree farm, have a huge pond, an organic garden and lots of wildlife; and this holiday weekend, apparently ALL of the snow in the free world. Sheesh! My three kidlets were thrilled when they woke up yesterday morning to almost a foot of snow! For those of you who have more than one child, you know how ridiculous it is to get multiple children into snow clothes. Boots filled with crumpled socks, pant legs uncomfortably folded inside thick snow pants, untucked shirts twisted around sweaty torsos and gloves that don't quite reach the too-short sleeves of last year's winter coat. Then the mad search for a hat that actually covers their ears...by then kid 1 and kid 2 have disrobed and are on their way to the bathroom. Have you ever seen those queer hats that have the beer cans on them and the long straws that reach the drinker's mouth? Yeah, I would like one of those with a tall Mojito on either side JUST for getting them out the door and into the snow. Call it my Mama-Cap! This time, though, my hubby was tag-teaming and we got the three of them and the dog out the door in record time. That's when I realized I had not packed my boots, gloves, scarf, coat OR snow pants! Some of these items I refuse to even own because I pretty much HATE HATE HATE cold weather. I only pretend to like snow for my kids. We make snowmen, forts, and the like and I do it all with a smile (except for the getting dressed part). But I hate it! Really. So, I went sledding in 12+ inches of snow with a pair of too-small, ripped gloves that I found in the mudroom, the only pair of boots that came close to fitting...probably too low for the depth of Binghamton snow, some kind of fuzzy hulahoop for your ears, my mother-in-law's coat and NO FRIPPIN' SNOW PANTS! Somebody give me that dang Mama-Cap! We walked and sledded and walked and climbed and sledded and threw our share of fat snowballs... and my snowpantsless BEHIND was FROZEN!! Freezing to the point of causing me severe pain. I had visions of having to have my butt cheeks amputated due to frost bite...although that thought made me pause and contemplate that beauty...I needed to get inside. Quick. My Mama-Cap was no where to be found and I was grumpy! So, as I sit on my warm leather couch in my clean house (hubby helped get everything back in order after my minivan PUKED its contents upon our arrival home) in my snowless town, I realize... EVERYONE had a good trip. So, thanks for asking. Thanks for reading. Thanks for validating my pain. :) (of course I have at least 3 other posts in my head but fear I will lose you if I ramble too long...need to space 'em out)