Hello world, have you missed me?

Alas, im sure the answer is no but i will tell you where i have been regardless.

This weekend I went down home to Springfield, Mo to visit my family. Saturday was my oldest nieces birthday, she turned 6!!!  She is the oldest of my six nieces and nephews. The thing with family is that if you arent around them on a consistent basis when you are thrown into the mix and get a heavy dose of them all at once, you will become burned out on "family time" really fast.

I left Kansas City around 9 am on Thursday morning and despite the snow that dropped the night before and the threat of terrible roads i made record time down there with no mishaps. My mother rode down with me, and we managed to keep it peaceful on the way down also. Once we got to Springfield, we headed to my sisters to pick up one of my nieces. It was her birthday in December and since i could not make it down for her birthday i told her she could come spend some one on one time with me. While she is no longer the middle child, the second of four, she still has the typical middle child syndrome and was THRILLED that it was just her going and not the other kids. We then took her to my cousins house where we painted nails and had typical girly fun. Then.... my baby sister came over with her two kids. This ended up having 4 kids in a small two bedroom house; it was at that time i remembered how quiet and peaceful my apartment was sounding

The next day i went to my baby sisters house to hang out with her and her kids, and much to my surprise my middle sister had brought her four over while she went to work. I was so not prepared for 6 kids all at once but i stuck it out for a few hours till i tucked my tail and ran back to my cousins house for some nice quiet time.

Saturday was of course my nieces birthday and her party. I picked her up before the party, of course her mother didnt have her ready so we were 20 mins late for her party. Things like this stress me out, i hate being late but i got her ready and took her to the bowling alley. She had a great time, and got some awesome presents. As typical with my family, there was a little drama which i will not go into. So many kids at the bowling alley, not just with my group but apparently it was the day for bowling birthday parties.
As soon as the party was over, i ran out of there to safety!!! I went over to a girlfriends house, read a book and gossiped. I couldnt wait to get back to my life.

This weekend taught me a few things: 1-if i saw my family in smaller doses, more frequently i probably would not be as overwhelmed; 2-i miss having some of my old friends close by to visit with; 3-where i used to want two-three kids i think 1 is going to be enough; 4-i need to do something more with my life or i will never have the family life i want so bad.