Most of you know my politics. I don't mention too much about it on here, because I talk about it so much in my every day life. In fact, my first conversation with Alex this morning was an effort to explain the purpose of a primary election.

Politics aside, I whole-heartidly support what our armed forces are doing around the world to protect us. My Grandpa Rogers was a WWII vet and I was raised with a huge amount of respect for what soldiers and their families do. My father in law was a Marine. I get choked up when I hear the Star Spangled banner or I see soldiers waiting in line at McDonald's. I can't help it. I'm a sap.

I'm not sure whether or not going to Iraq was the right decision, but I can't imagine having to make that decision, so who am I to second guess? I do wish our soldiers didn't have to be in harm's way and I think about their sacrifice every day. I am so proud of all the men and women fighting to keep us safe, comfortable, and free. One man in particular gets most of our prayers.

Jennifer's cousin Tim is back in Iraq for another tour of duty. I've known Tim longer than I've known Geeg. He moved away when we were small, but he was such a part of my early years that I've always considered him a good friend. The war got a lot scarier for me when I knew Tim was over there and could be hurt. I think about him a great deal and our kids and I pray for his safe return every day.

Alex wanted to do something to help Tim during his deployment. I thought a care package might be a great way to help Alex help Tim. Jennifer helped us get a list of things Tim might like to have and she gave us his incredibly long mailing address. I would be the worst mailman ever if I had to deliver to those kinds of addresses! I thought it would be a great lesson in patriotism and appreciation for the kids, but it quickly became so much more.

Alex asks about "our friend the solider" and whether or not he's okay. I try to be careful about having the news turned too loud in the van or on while I'm fixing dinner because I don't want to burden his little heart with worry. At the same time, it's important he know the sacrifice so many willingly make to keep our country free and safe. While I'm scared for Tim and his family, I'm also so incredibly proud of his service!

It's official, I've lost my mind.

Last night as I was flipping through channels trying to find something to watch, I briefly landed on HSN. Cringe. The Home Shopping Network. If you know me, you know I don't have any fashion sense to speak of, but I do know hip clothes are most likely not offered on a home shopping channel. I couldn't help stopping because they were showing a really cute skirt. I had to look for a number of reasons.

• It was black.
• It was A-line.
• They said it was "swirly."

If I could, I would base my entire wardrobe around those three requirements. In fact, I have. When we did the great closet make-over, I realized I was prepared for a funeral at a moment's notice. All but three of my dresses are black. One is brown, one is seersucker, and one is only appropriate for a lual or a Jimmy Buffet concert.

Now, I wasn't about to pick up the phone and order a skirt. I'm not there yet, but I was willing to trapse downstairs and order it on-line. I found the skirt right away and had second thoughts. Upon closer inspection, it had some weird gauzy layer over it. Then, I started to add in shipping cost and tax and realized I was about to pay a hefty sum for a skirt I saw on TV. Had it really come to this?

I didn't order the skirt. However, I did order another black dress. It was on sale, it has sleeves, and Lord knows my arms need to be hidden. I'll let you know whether or not my first HSN purchase results in my first HSN return.

In complete fairness, I can't help myself. This is a genetic issue. My Grandma Berger is an avid reader and watches very little, if any TV. The one thing she apparently does watch occassionally is QVC. Grandma has given the kids some great gifts that came from QVC, so maybe she's on to something. My own mother has been known to order things from infomercials. Remember Caruso Culers?! We had them. So, I take no responsibility for my latest purchase.

Good News for Babies!

I was so touched that several of you were moved by the story of my friends Robyn and Keith and their sweet girls, and chose to contribute to their walk team for the March of Dimes. For those of you whom don't know the family, or might not yet have heard the great news from Robyn, I wanted to give you an update. The A-Team raised the most money of any team at their March for Babies. The team raised over $7,000! Once upon a time I worked for a non-profit organizing similar walks, and let me tell you that's an incredible amount!

Robyn and Keith also served as the Ambassador Family for the walk and bravely took the microphone to share their story. I know it wasn't easy and I prayed for their strength all week. From what I hear, they did an amazing job and I am so proud of them! I know their girls are too.

So, thank you to those of you who prayed for their family and contributed to their walk team. You didn't just help save babies, you helped Robyn and Keith feel supported and loved and that means so much to so many.

Weekend Update, Like SNL only not as funny!

Soccer season is here. Our entire weekend was devoted to the game. Truly, I don’t mind and I even enjoy it.
Wait. Actually, that’s not true. The enjoyment part is; the part about our entire weekend isn’t. Friday night we had pizza at Monical’s. Yep. As in thin, crispy crust, Sweet & Tangy dressing, Monical’s. Evidently, they plan to take over the Midwestern pizza market. Jill C., are you paying attention?! They just added half a dozen locations around here, and I was thrilled. It isn’t Joe’s, but it was yummy! We ordered “The Family Pleaser,” which I remember being fed a number of times in my formative years. The salad was HUGE, and Brandon was surprised by it’s size. I explained to him the Family Pleaser had to feed families like the Kochers, Ochs, or Zubers and they weren’t small families.

So, back to soccer. Saturday, we had team pictures before our game. They take them at our enormous high school and kids and parents are wall to wall. It’s pretty well organized, but still it’s a crowd. After pictures, we had an afternoon game. Alex paid attention, somewhat. Still an improvement over last year. We had another game Sunday afternoon, which is a rarity. The day was so pretty. I was just thankful to have a credible excuse to be outside, rather than in my house trying to put it back into order. I’m losing the battle.

Right before the game on Sunday, I did a maternity shoot for Amy H.. I met Amy years ago when we both worked at Delta Faucet. We were pregnant with our first borns at the same time. This is baby number three for the Hommell’s and since she assures me it’s her last, we decided to snap a few belly shots. Amy’s an artist and is incredibly visual, so I was a little nervous.

Hmmmm...Have you seen this pose before? Hey, if it ain't broke...

Part of our weekend was devoted to our van. Here’s a little history on my vehicle. I didn’t want it. Before we had “Vanado,” as I call it--largely to annoy Brandon; we had an Expedition. I loved the Expedition, when it worked. It was brand new when we got it, but it ran like it had 200,000 miles on it. Among it’s tricks: starting itself…without keys…in our garage…on Halloween. It had to go. It made the most financial sense to buy a minivan. My brain knew it was the right thing to do, but I had to convince the rest of me. I could have bigger problems. So, I’ve driven it for six years and only grumbled about it once or twice a week. I will admit the automatic doors are wonderful. The only other feature I like is that it’s paid for.

My plan was to keep Vanado around for two more years. We have around 80,000 miles on it, which with in my mother’s book, is nothing. However, lately I’ve started to spend more time than I care to with our service advisor. On top of that, our friends who have virtually the same van lost their transmission at 100,000. From everything I’ve read, if your vehicle is paid for, you’re still better off spending money on occasional (in our case, every-other-month) repairs. Again, my head agrees, but my rear really wants to sit in the driver’s seat of a slightly used Yukon Denali, or something similar…I’m not that picky.

All the discussion sparked a cleaning frenzy in Brandon. He spent hours cleaning our van. I’m not sure if it was by order of the health department, an effort to help me tolerate the van, or in preparation to sell it. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter. It’s clean. I would be hard pressed to find a goldfish or a straw wrapper. God bless him!

The Phone is Ringing

Alex has started getting phone calls. It’s always interesting to hear Alex on the phone because he’d rather get a flu shot than have a phone conversation. He has never like to talk on the phone, and I usually have to bribe him. When he does finally get on the horn, it’s a lot of one word answers; which he gets honestly. A phone conversation with Brandon goes like this: Me: “How was your day?” Brandon: “Busy.” Me: “Tell me about what you did.” Brandon: “Meetings.” A phone conversation with Alex is very similar.

So, when his friends call it’s much of the same, but it usually involves the two of them making arrangements for a playdate. Alex’s little friend Brenton called Monday to remind me he would really like to come over. The poor kid asks me every week at school and I always give some vague answer because I’m busy with the other 20 kids. Naturally, I couldn’t turn him down, so we decided Wednesday would be the day.

Meredith and I picked up Alex and our bonus boy for the day. I told them I thought it would be fun to pick up McDonald’s and have a picnic at the park. Oh no. They were “way too hot for that!” We compromised. We ate inside McDonald’s and went to the park afterwards. We lasted 20 minutes because of an early litter of wasps and the heat. It’s only April.

I took all three kids into Best Buy in search of a Wii for the Alexanders. No such luck, but Brenton said, “Wow! You’re buying a Wii for your friend?! I don’t have a Wii.” Nice try. I explained I was only the mule, they would pay me back, and his hopes were dashed. We also went to PetsMart to look at fish. Alex is desperate for a fish tank, and I’m desperate to avoid cleaning one, so I try to ignore the subject all together.

When we got home, I showed the boys how to make green slime. (Recipe courtesy of my friend JoEllen; the world’s most patient mother!) Alex and I make it occasionally, but Brenton was shocked, horrified, and then thrilled with his creation. He took a huge chunk home along with a note explaining what on earth it was.

We had soccer practice and then a scrimmage and didn’t get home until almost 7:30 p.m. It would have been earlier, but Alex was rewarded for his best game ever—even if it was a scrimmage—with a milk shake. For the first time ever, Alex looked like he was in the game for more than the jersey, the snack, and the trophy! We have pictures and two games this weekend, so we’ll see how long our enthusiasm lasts.

Happy Birthday Beaks!

At one point in time, Sara lobbied for today’s date to be a national holiday, but that was before she turned 21. (That was a birthday to remember!) Today is Sara Beckman Alexander’s birthday, so she gets a post of her own.

The first time I met Sara I knew I was going to like her immediately. I met her during the chaos of move-in during our freshman year at Bradley University. She lived two doors down from me on the top floor of the crappiest dorm on campus. Our RA lived between us and let me tell you we were in trouble for being too loud five days out of seven. Anyway, as we were all cramming our stuff into our incredibly small, non-air conditioned, cinder block rooms, I noticed Sara had a set of golf clubs.

Not only was Sara a golfer, she was on the BU golf team. I was--and still--am impressed! After a couple of days living in Heitz Hall, I quickly figured out Sara and I had more in common. She had as many hair ribbons as me and her love of plaid equaled mine. It wasn’t long after that that I found we had the same sense of humor and could laugh with-and at-each other for hours.

I joined Sigma Kappa freshman year and Sara joined as a sophomore. After that, it was hard to separate us, and sometimes tell us apart. We often joked we shared a brain, and to this day often finish each other’s sentences. We’ve always believed we should have our own talk show, but few other people think we’re as funny as we do! Look for us on YouTube one of these days.

Sara or “Beckman” or “Beaker,” and I lived together the majority of our time at BU and loved every minute of it. We were the proud recipients of the “Cleanest Room Award,” while we lived in the sorority house! Ha! We were incredibly anal, and everyone knew it and made idle threats to destroy our room. Our senior year we moved to an off campus with Steph, and another girl. It was so much fun and I can still hear feet clomping up the steps and our creaky screen door swinging open. The place was a dump, but we couldn’t have been happier.

I got to know Sara’s fun parents pretty well too, and her mom became my go to gal for gourmet recipes. You cannot beat Janelle Beckman’s French onion soup! Sara’s dad is hilarious and is such a proud father of his only child. They are wonderful people who raised a great daughter.

The day we all left Bradley was one of the hardest days of my life. I knew we were off to lead separate lives and there would be no more eating Rice-A-Roni on the couch in our family room, no more light night chats, silly pranks, or lazy Sundays spent in plaid flannel pants and oversized SK sweatshirts. It was awful and Sara and I stood on the sidewalk sobbing until we forced ourselves to head out on life’s path.

When it came time to choose a maid of honor, I couldn’t choose between Sara and Jennifer, so I had two. Sara took two days off work and came to Indy and did things like vacuum my stairs and organize everyone on my wedding day. She was a peach, and never complained.

I can’t tell you how much I treasure Sara’s friendship. I would give this woman my kidney and only remind her of my sacrifice for a few days. God knew what he was doing when he put us in the dorm that horrified our parents. With that, a very Happy Birthday Beaker!

The above picture is to prove to all that Steph did in fact wear a dress to her wedding.

Sara with her husband, Matt. Matt and Brandon are so much alike it's scary! I guess it takes a special kind of man to put up with girls like us. :)

A breath of Fresh Air

Ask any mom what the best thing is for a kid and she’ll likely tell you fresh air. It makes all the difference in the world for our whole family when we’re able to get outside and run around for a bit. The kids don’t feel the need to run from one end of our house to the other while I yell, “STOP RUNNING!!!!,” once they’ve done a few laps around our yard. They also sleep better, which leads to better behavior (them), and fewer moments spent in the bathroom hiding (me).

Today was a great day because we were able to play outside. After lunch we attempted to go for a short bike ride. Alex and Meredith were both riding their bikes. I wasn’t naïve enough to think I’d be able to ride mine. I knew I’d wind up carrying at least one bike home. Our ride lasted 15 minutes and went the short length of our path. Naturally, Meredith got tired of pedaling and I dragged her tiny pink Schwinn home.

We played on the swing set until the meltdowns increased in number, length, and frequency. There’s a reason they teach you to time contractions during labor; you’ll need that skill set later. Meredith went down for her nap and slept two and a half hours. Was I cleaning my kitchen or working on the mound of weekend laundry? No. I edited photos. I can’t help myself. I think I understand what it must be like to be an addict. If I wind up in photo rehab, I hope you’ll visit me and bring a People.

After nap, when my eyes were crossed from looking at pictures of the bride, I ditched our dinner plans and we went to the park. The park closest to our house is nice, but a little on the weird side. Nearly every piece of equipment spins. It’s enough to make me nauseous just driving by. Alex was on this little spinning chair and I couldn’t spin him fast enough. He was laughing so hard and I was trying to commit his almost-six-year-old laugh to memory. When Alex finally got out of the chair, his eyes were moving back and forth involuntarily. You know those Felix the Cat clocks (What? You don’t long to decorate like it’s 1954?!)? Well, that’s what Alex’s eyes looked like. It creeped me out completely which only encouraged him to spin around more in an effort to repeat the look.

After that we walked to the skate park to watch all the boys do amazing things on tiny wheels. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a skate park, but it wasn’t what I expected. It looked like Cell Block 9 was out for recreation. We won’t be doing that again.

We came home later than I’d planned and since the chicken wasn’t thawed I fixed the kids green beans and sandwiches I billed as “Bistro hot ham and cheese.” The kids ate them and didn’t complain. As I was putting Alex to bed he asked me what we were having for dinner tomorrow. I told him we’d have the chicken I planned to make tonight. He said, “Oh good. I’m tired of ham and cheese.” I realized then, I’d basically served them the same thing for lunch!

Wedding Weekend

I’m finding it hard to get my act together today. We are all exhausted from our weekend trip to Nashville. After being rumbled out of bed on Friday, we never seemed to get caught up on our sleep. The kids woke up at 6:00 a.m. raring to go at GramPam’s Saturday morning. (The funny thing about our kids: If we put them to bed at 8:00 p.m., they get up around 6:00 a.m. If we put them to bed at 11:00 p.m., which is what happened after our long drive; they still get up at 6:00 a.m.)

I knew I had a long day of shooting ahead of me, but who was I kidding, I couldn’t sleep anyway. Brandon and I left the kids in GramPam and Trophy’s care and headed out the door at 8:00 a.m.

The wedding was lovely and it was nice to spend some girl time with Stephanie (the bride) and Sara (a.k.a. Beckman or Beaker). The three of us spent four virtually inseparable years together and now that we’re so spread out and have busy lives it’s hard to get together as often as we’d like. Everything always falls back into place quickly, and it’s so funny to see how nothing truly ever changes.

Brandon and Sara’s husband, Matt had a fun day of their own. We had no idea they were going and there where a few heated phone conversations when it looked as though they might be late to the wedding. In the end, they had fun and did a great job of entertaining themselves. Who knew?!

After the wedding and the dinner reception, Brandon and I followed Sara and Matt downtown for some fun. I remembered a little Irish Pub we went to during our Olney Girls’ weekend and we decided we’d go there. Two issues: 1.) I’m 95% sure we wound up in the wrong Irish Pub. How many can a place known for country music possibly have?! 2.) We were the oldest in the place by a decade. You know you’re too old to be somewhere when you start complaining the music is too loud. We decided to make the best of the situation and played three rousing rounds of darts. It was fun and we got home way too late! Of course, my body clock rang at 6:00 a.m. and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t go back to sleep.

Brandon has the ability to sleep until dinner. When he woke up, we decided we’d go to The Aquarium for lunch with GramPam. If you’ve never been to one, and don’t feel like following the link, it’s an underwater themed restaurant with an enormous salt water take in the middle. My mom and Brandon both got seafood. I have a hard time eating fish while I’m watching them swim by.

After lunch we hit the road for the five hour trip home. Either we’re starting to accept long car trips, or the kids’ long naps helped, but Alex commented, “It seemed like a two second drive.”

I have literally thousands of images to sort through from the wedding. The majority will require little editing, but once I get started making adjustments here and there, I become engrossed! I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures from Stephanie’s big day. Congratulations, Mrs. Tate!

Wish me luck; I'm going to need it!

If Brandon ever makes it home from getting new brakes put on his car, we are hitting the road once again. Why oh why can't there be a flight from Indy to Nashville?! (Probably because from a practicality standpoint, it would take just as long to drive the airport, park, ride the shuttle, wrestle four people and two car seats through security, and board the plane than it would to just drive there already. )

We are headed back to Nashville so I can shoot my friend Stephanie's wedding. Steph is a good friend and a sorority sister, which means we're contractually bound to be lifelong friends. This joyful celebration has been a long time coming and I'm humbled and honored to document her day.

With any luck, I'll have beautiful pictures from my first wedding shoot to share early next week. What's more likely to happen? My batteries will die. I'll forget a lens on which I'm completely dependant. I'll be a sweaty mess instead of an elegant wedding guest...

Maybe I should read The Secret.

The creature in his closet

I can’t begin to tell you how much the kids enjoyed combing the beach for shells. Their daily bounty had to be sorted, (read “discarded”) otherwise we would have been forced to rent a U-Haul for the drive home. Towards the end of the week, I got lazy. I didn’t so much as take a look-see through Alex’s collection. It fit into a smallish sand castle mold, and that seemed reasonable. He even outfitted the top with a net, creating a breathable lid. When Brandon packed the van to leave, he put the shell collection near Alex’s feet. We weren’t two miles down the road before Alex announced the shells “smelled TERRIBLE,” and he couldn’t possibly be expected to ride near them. Fine. I moved them to our center console.

The night we got home, I was getting Alex ready for bed and noticed his dirty clothes were on the floor. I gave him some static for not putting them in his hamper, which is in his closet. He explained to me he couldn’t because his closet smelled like sea shells and then he gagged; seemingly for effect. I say seemingly, because when I opened his closet my reaction was the same. I explained it was just salt water and I would clean them for him. While I took the shells to the laundry room, Alex doused his closet with Lysol. I’m not sure which smell was worse.

I soaked the shells with a combination of bleach and laundry detergent. I told Alex we’d give them a day to soak. His response? “Let’s make it two.” I did, and this morning I decided to put the shells in a colander and rinse them. As I took them out to dry, I sorted through them once again. I tossed broken pieces that really didn’t resemble shells and prayed Alex and Meredith wouldn’t notice. I was nearly done when I came across the reason for the horrendous smell.

One of the shells was still occupied by some sort of sea creature. After two days of soaking in bleach, I wasn’t able to determine what type of animal made the trip home with us, but suffice it to say, it had a hygiene issue. I told Alex what I’d found and he asked what I did with it. I told him I tossed the shell and it’s tenant into the lot next door. He said, “O.K, but was it a good shell?!”

And I was worried about the sand!

While on vacation, I made a few discoveries. 1.) I want a 1,200 square foot condo with tile throughout. (On the beach wouldn’t hurt.) It took me less than 45 minutes to clean the place top to bottom. Of course we’d have to eliminate 90% of what we currently own, and that sounds even more appealing. 2.) No matter how much laundry you do on vacation, you still wind up doing eight loads when you get home.

I spent all day yesterday unpacking and doing load after load of laundry. I’m notoriously slow at unpacking. Brandon is always unpacked within an hour of coming home. I’ve been known to fish socks out of the suitcase two weeks after a vacation. So, I made a vow to Brandon and myself that I would unpack three suitcases and put everything in its place before the day was over. I did, and while I was occupied, the kids reacquainted themselves with their toys by getting them all out at once. Another day, another pile.

Alex had a dentist appointment today, where they reaffirmed the horror that he will likely have two sets of teeth for awhile. Apparently, his mouth is really crowded, and for whatever reason this prevents his baby teeth from falling out to make room for his permanent teeth. The big teeth and the little teeth will coexist one behind the other until the baby teeth fall out. Great. I suppose this is what we get for giving him “The Gator” as a nickname.

By the way, the above photo seems to be immensly popular with everyone who has thumbed through our vacation album. I'm including it for those of you whom haven't seen it. I hope I don't wind up under federal investigation.

Come Monday

As we left the coast of Alabama Friday afternoon, I mentioned to anyone listening how green everything was. The trees were in full bloom, the azaleas rivaled Augusta, and it just felt like early summer. When we crossed the state line into Indiana, I was quick to point out how bland everything was. Flat land, barren trees, and silver and white silos. Not exactly eye candy. Brandon loves when I complain about living in the Midwest, so you can imagine his enthusiasm.

We were all ready to sleep in our own beds and if we stayed another week, my capris could no longer have accommodated my thighs, but still, it was hard to leave the beach behind. I’m shocked how much we enjoyed our time in the sand. Literally.

As I’ve shared we aren’t really beach people. The thought of trying to keep sand outside the condo kept me up at night prior to leaving for the trip. I just knew we would drive home with sand embedded in the carpeting of our van. This may come as a surprise, but my fears were somewhat irrational.

The sands of the Gulf coast are fine and sugary and the temperature didn’t cause every grain to stick to me. We were able to sit on the beach without sweating. Some may have wished for warmer weather, but for our heat-stroke-prone family, it was ideal. I was happy as a clam under my huge umbrella while the kids dug holes like they were preparing for life underground.

Aside from GramPam nearly losing a toe to Alex’s machine like digging; the kids had so much fun playing with my parents and scaring my grandma with their daring ventures into the ocean. Our friends the Staperts were in Orange Beach too and our kids played together in the surf. I know it sounds corny, but I just kept thinking how great it was to share a day at the beach with good friends. It made the time that much sweeter.

God bless my parents and Grandma, who bravely volunteered to keep all four kids while Brandon and I went to dinner with Curt and Dawn. We had a great dinner out and went for a drink afterwards. We thought this place would increase our street cred, but it turned out to be a bunch of guys in khakis and Lacoste® shirts, save a few characters.

While shopping at our favorite store, Al’s 5 & 10, we noticed the Blue Angels practice schedule posted on the door. On a whim, Brandon, the kids and I hurried out the door to the National Aviation Museum, to catch the 8:00 a.m. practice. It was incredible! I can’t begin to put into words the feeling I got watching those gorgeous planes fly feet from each other in complete precision. The museum was worth the trip in and of itself.

Some other highlights aside from the beach: The kids went miniature golfing with GramPam and Trophy, and on a wild go-kart ride. We did our fair share of shopping at the outlets. (Brandon was really excited to find a Tommy Bahama outlet.) We ate at some really fun places. LuLu’s was by far my favorite. It’s owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister, and at one point during our meal I was 100% convinced Jimmy pulled in on his boat. I swear I’d had nothing stronger than iced tea.

Oh, and I read two books! One Jill C. HAS to read right way. Full of Grace, by Dorthea Benton Frank. The other, Dawn lent me after she finished it. Into the Wild. That just convinced me I could never cut the mustard living in the wilderness even if I could hack a week in the sand.

With any luck, I'll post a slideshow at some point because it was too hard to narrow down the pictures I wanted to share.

Next update 4/14

Not that this is required reading for anyone in particular, but I wanted to save you the trouble of checking the blog for the next week or so. We're on vacation and I'll have lots of pictures to share, so check back on the 14th. Happy Spring Break!

Leslie

This little piggy

One of the conveniences of Alex being nearly six, is he's old enough to shower somewhat independently. I bathe Meredith while he showers. It doesn't take him long to shower, so he's always done first and often serves as Meredith's entertainment while I rinse her hair. A few weeks ago, he disappeared for a minute after his shower. When Alex returned we were treated to this...I have no idea where the snout came from.

My name is Meredith, and I'm a chocaholic.

As most of you know, Brandon travels for his job. He’s normally gone Monday through Thursday. There was a period of three years when Brandon was staffed locally. Not coincidently, that period coincides with the birth of both of our children.

What you may not know, is it’s really not all that bad. In fact, there are some perks. Sometimes the kids and I eat things for dinner Brandon would never approve of, like waffles. We also have the opportunity to travel to great places because of all those airline miles and hotel points. There is one perk that stands out among the rest for Meredith; hotel chocolate.

I sometimes question in my head what kind of damage we’re doing to our kids by not having their father present four evenings out of seven. I’ve often told Brandon, “I wish you could be home more, and somehow still earn travel points.” If you thought I was shallow before, welcome to the deep end. Not long ago, we were putting Meredith to bed and she said, “I wish Daddy could stay home forever, except still bring home chocolate!” The apple doesn’t fall from the tree.

Each week Brandon comes home with a box or two of chocolate truffles the hotel fairies leave him. Truly, it isn’t great chocolate. Sometimes, it’s even emblazoned with the Marriott logo, which seldom makes for great taste. Meredith doesn’t care. Second only to her love for princesses, is her love for chocolate.

Brandon tucks the chocolate into a drawer in his closet. Meredith is known to scarf down an entire box in the course of two days. On occasion, we’ve discovered she’s eaten two boxes and we gasp in horror-- while laughing at the same time. Well, this weekend we hit rock bottom. Brandon was reorganizing his closet, it’s an epidemic, and pulled out a dresser. Behind the dresser, he found the little secret Meredith has been keeping from us.

Yep. Those are truffle wrappers. These in no way equal the wrappers we find in the trash on a weekly basis. So, all this time Meredith has been eating three times what we thought in the first place!!! That was an obscene amount, and it’s much worse than we thought. I’ll be spending our vacation researching chocolate rehabs for M. The damage is done.