Schmitz Bitz: One Week!

I really can't believe it. It's a week away. Time to go back for our third and final trip.

Time to pick up our little cuties and bring them home forever. Wow, when I type it out, it sounds so easy.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, back to St. Pete we go!

A neighbor asked me last night if I was "nesting" at all. Nesting? Oh you mean that 6 page long to-do list I'm obsessing over? Is that nesting? Um, yes, I'd say so. For every thing we cross off the list, I add three more items. By the end of this week, Jay will probably sprint to the airport seeking sweet relief from the relentless list of tasks.

"I'd rather be at my favorite Russian art museum than doing your to-do list"

Example: The 10 day forecast in St. Petersburg is 65 and rainy. This Mama didn't take into consideration that it would be that much cooler than it is here. Panic! Panic! My kids need sweatshirts. Fun fact: a toddler sized sweatshirt is impossible to find in Iowa in the middle of June. Shocker, I know. Halleluiah for online shopping after a day's worth of visiting every children's clothing carrier I know.

Cold? Windy? Russia? No!

Example: The laundry room is suddenly way too dirty to be used as it has previously functioned. Must...clean...every...corner. I must re-organize everything. I find a painting extension rod with the brooms - What is THIS doing in here? I javelin launch it into the garage where Jay is busily cleaning. Jay threatens divorce and forces me to "hug out" my frustration. Oh how I love my husband. 5 minutes later I come to the realization that BOTH my washer and dryer are not working. Almost in tears, I bring in Jay from the garage again, who has already lovingly forgiven me for the javelin incident. I explain to him that the washer and dryer have suddenly stopped working. Kels, the cycles are just finished, he says. Good God, I've lost my mind and I've admitted it in a public forum.

Laundry is important so we don't have to see Jay wear this shirt every day next trip.

Example: We have been so fortunate to be showered with love and gifts from family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. Like ridiculously fortunate. If it's possible for children who live in an orphanage to be spoiled, ours are. I decide at 11:00 last night that I need-to-right-this-instant put together the sand/water table we've been gifted and haul it from the basement upstairs and into the backyard. That would have been all well and good had I not made the executive decision to NOT screw in the legs with screws as advised. Turns out those screws actually keep the legs in place. I learned that as I bumped the table into the wall and all the legs went crashing down the stairs.


Jay has visions that due to their Russian heritage, our children will turn their water table into a fountainous masterpiece

There you have it, three brutally honest examples of the hot mess I actually am right now. It'll all get finished, and in the end, it will make me feel better. In the end, it will also probably not help us to be any more prepared than we were are the beginning of this week. Oh well.