Early Awakening

It's about 6:45 am and the house is quiet. It's usually pretty loud and crazy with three kids running around the house. But they are still sleeping so I can get some work done before they get up and get ready for school. One of the perks of working for the federal government is their big push towards teleworking in case there is a national disaster and we need to keep a legitimate government up and running.... Karly is attending a spelling bee today. She is the best speller in her class so she was chosen to represent her school in the 3rd grade category. She is nervous but I think she'll do fine. I'd like to attend but it is an all day event and I just don't have enough time off right now to attend with all the vacations planned for this year. Speaking of vacations, Kathleen and I are still undecided where we are going to this year during the kids spring break. For the first time since in 13 years (and before we had kids) we are going to get away alone with each other for a romantic getaway. The kids will be staying with their grandparents in Wisconsin during spring break and we'll be heading somewhere! We want to go to the Carribbean but it's pretty expensive (at least compared to staying in the midwest). It all depends on how much we can save between now and spring break. We need this trip so we can spend time focusing on one another again - a big challenge when you don't get the kids to bed until 9:30 every night and you have maybe 30 minutes alone with each other! We try to go out on dates on a regular basis and this helps us to have an "us" but it never seems long enough. One thing we focus on is making sure we have a passionate, loving and romantic relationship because "we" are the foundation of our family. Stay tuned for more thoughts on how to have a happy, successful marriage and family....