Staying on top of things

So this blog was meant for me to let everyone in our lives know the happenings in the Luka family. As you all know this past year has been an adventure with renting, buying a house ,new job, new schools, and Househunters. I'm trying to be more on top of things but it has been hard. So I'm allowing myself to just let it be. Don't try to catch up to past events, just move on. If I get to tell the whole on this blog what's happening, then do it. Otherwise move on.

So here we are in Feb. 2012. Kids recovered from the travels to Oregon for thr holidays and parents got right back into the swing of things. For me, this is my crazy time with training and selection of new staff members. I'm off here and there to conferences and long weekends and nights from the kids. What I'm trying to do is take a day off each month so I can volunteer at Carlita's school and get things done at the house.

for Jan. I got to paint Carlita's gym and make a valentine bulletin board for her school. Very cute.vin Feb. I took time off for Luke's IEP meeting ( he gets speech therapy twice a week) and spent the day with the kids on their day off on President's day. Didn't realize how many Mondays these kids have off.

Karl has been a great home daddy, taking care of the house and kids. We have been lucky with little or no snow ( thought I miss it). Our basement windows finally got replaced and it feels so much warmer down there. We were also lucky to have my sister, brother in law, and niece come up to visit this pat weekend. Haven't seen them since Nov. My brother in law and Karl worked for 20 hours to install our dream of a media room in the basement. It was amazing to actually hear things in movies and watch movies on a big screen. We got a 8' screen, projector, surround sound ,and a new receiver. We are experiencing movies to a whole new level. So far, we've seen Tangled, Cars2, and Rio. Can't wait to go through all our movies!!! My not so little but heavy 32" tube tv got moved upstairs to our bedroom. I've had that since 1996 when I bought it on clearance at Walmart in Pittsburgh, PA and had to rent a pick up truck to get it into my apartment at Chatham College. It's been around the block for a while.

With all the kids together and the boys hard at work, we worn them out going to museums, summer camp fairs, and gymnastics. I love my niece and will be missing her 4th birthday party in March due to NASPA. Really can't miss these birthday parties! So much fun and they grow up too fast.

So there you have it. The month in review and the guilt is gone for not being always on top of it. It is hard to live up to expectations as a working mom. I don't know as much as I like what's going on at school. I don't communicate with all my friends like I want to and I don't work out like I want to. But it's still a wonderful live and I have wonderful friends and family. Thanks for the support and more luka family stories will be on their way.

Thanksgiving - Henry trip 2011

Usually every year we travel out to Henry, Il which is where's Karl's dad side of the family lives. Last year with the new job and everything happening we didn't travel out there. This year we decided to drive to the mid-west. Flying was too much especially since we were going out to Oregon for Xmas. We knew it would be a bit rough, but we thought we could do it now with the kids.

The adventure started very early on the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving. We were up and out by 4:30am. Unfortunately the kids woke up and stayed awake. so we got Dunkin' Donuts and were on our way. The plan was to stop in Columbus, OH and stay overnight at a hotel and then continue on. As we drove through the day, stopping twice at McDonald's, the kids fell asleep around Columbus, OH, and so I decided to keep driving. 4 hours later we were already past Indianapolis and only 3 hours away from our arrival point of Eureka, IL, so we kept on driving. We got to Farmer City to see Aunt Cindy and Uncle John. The kids were wired and I was worn out from all the driving (I drove most of the 14 hours). Karl got us to Aunt gwen's house and we all passed out once there.

The next days were spent resting and recovering from the one day travel. Still can't believe we did it in one day! We got to spend time with Grandma Joannie and Gwen's family. We went to the Coffee cup and the local thrift stores (got great deals on tacky Xmas sweaters). Carlita was in heaven with her cousin Hannah, playing all types of games and pretend plays. And there were no injuries this trip (last time we were here Carlita broke her arm!). We played games, went swimming at the local community center, and went to the Peoria Children's Museum (which was wonderful).

Thanksgiving was spent at Grandma Joannie's house. We had all the family there and all the traditions (i.e. ping pong tournament and football game). We started a new tradition of writing down our thanks on leaves and made a leaf garland for the fireplace. What great fun we had! The young cousins beat the "older" men (which included Karl) in the football game and Karl did not win the ping pong tournament (he's getting rusty!).

The next day we went to the Peoria Community Center and out for dinner. And then Sat. we left early to head back home. This time we stopped right in WV for the evening and finished our travels the next day. We were done with the one day marathon driving! We love visiting the Kalihers of Illinois and can't wait to go back again.