A friend of mine, on several occasions, has commented on how we always have something going on here at the Dudley household. And she's not talking about events to attend or places to be - she is talking about the other weird random 'stuff' we always have going on in our lives. And you know what? She's RIGHT!

Aside from the many odd happenings that are out of our control - like the beaver dam mess, our misadventures in grass planting, our slumber party blunders, our 2 year old tyrant (well, he's sort of in my control - but whatever)... you get the idea - I do have to admit that we bring SOME of the mayhem upon ourselves. Yeah there, I said it.

Yet another example:





YUP. That's right. We have chicks. And we're not talking 1 or 2... we're talking TWENTY FIVE! A. I thought some would die (nope) and B. I thought it would take a while for them to get big (nope). Our original goal was to get a group of hens established for eggs, I'm thinking 6-8 would be perfect. However, when you buy chicks at the local farm store - guess what? - they're not sexed! So you just get a random bunch of who knows what. (We probably got 25 dudes with my luck). So anyway, with the salesman telling us to get 50 (right), 25 seemed pretty manageable.

And while 25 teeny tiny twerps in a tub was A-OK last week - believe it or not - they're already starting to get crowded. They're growing like weeds!

Tune in next week for another episode of craziness when we attempt to build our own CHICKEN COOP.

Till then...

Luck. What is it?

Luck.

I was thinking about it this morning. With it being March and all, and with me needing a little LUCK today, it's on my mind.

I wish I was Irish.

Other than randomly finding 20 bucks on the street, winning the lottery or not getting pulled over for speeding, I think luck is often overrated. That's right I said it. I know plenty of people who think of others as lucky of unlucky, attributing life's successes and failures to luck - but what is that really saying? People don't get jobs, catch fly balls, receive promotions, school acceptances, roles in plays, good grades, and opportunities in general because they're lucky.

And outside of the random favorable (or not) occurrence, luck boils down to this:

Choices.

When I think about most of my good or bad fortune , I can trace it back to a series of choices I had to make to get the end result. Working hard vs. wasting time. Taking chances vs. playing it safe. Going above and beyond vs. doing only what's required. Being responsible vs. being spontaneous. Doing what's right vs. doing what's easy.

And while I firmly believe a person mostly controls their own destiny , there's still the small percentage of times when the unexpected THING happens - good or bad. And because of that small percentage, I find myself sitting here, crossing my fingers, wishing on stars and eating Lucky Charms.

I'm hoping for a semi-random positive occurrence today.

Chi-ca-go... Chi-ca-go

Yesterday marked the last day of our Spring Break. We didn't really have anything planned, but we all had the itch to do something, so we made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Chicago for a few days. While the drive is just about at the maximum length I can tolerate with kids (about 5 hours), it wasn't too bad - and the whole trip turned out to be a lot of fun.

First, we hit a waterpark hotel for our first day & night. Since our break was so early, the waterpark was basically deserted, so we had no lines and all the space we wanted - super!


On Day 2, we stopped at the Fire Zone where the boys explored a real fire truck, ambulance, hydrants, hoses, etc. They loved it!

Next stop: LEGOLAND! The kids had a blast constructing and reconstructing lego vehicles, and racing them on the lego track.

Can you tell which vehicle I built?

We caught a 4-D movie


We hailed a cab
(and the entire time Jacob kept shouting, "WHO IS DRIVING THIS?!?!")


Next Stop: Sears Tower!


We finished the 2nd day with an authentic Chicago-Style Pizza down the street from our hotel. The kids thought it was really fun to walk in the city. The only down side was the pizza took about 45 minutes to bake. Ugh. The kids were a little wild while waiting!

After a little more walking around in the city the next morning, we wrapped up our stay with a visit to the Shedd Aquarium. Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the car, so I have no pictures of it! The kids really liked watching the sharks and searching for all the little creatures in each tank. We even saw a scuba diver in one of the tanks for feeding time - that was pretty cool. There were SO many exhibits to see, Will claimed he felt sea sick by the end - I kind of did too!

The boys are excited to head back for another trip to see and do more of what Chi-town has to offer. First on their list: PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!! Yup - they were BEGGING to ride on a bus or train. Oh Joy! Till then...

And now.... the REST of the story

Well, I'm sure as you probably guessed..... everything turned out just fine. Will may have been escorting a few foreign dog hairs on his trip home, but other than that he was unscathed - and happy! I have to admit, I was incredibly anxious on my way there to pick him up - I just wanted him back already! And this time, before approaching the property, I took a minute to put on my rose colored glasses.

While I still saw this on the outside,

I tried really hard to see something different on the inside. I kept my head down as I burrowed through the porch to the door, making an effort not to notice anything more than I already had. Inside, I tried to focus on the people living there, NOT the conditions of which they were living. Birthday Boy's mother happily greeted me and answered all of my questions about bedtime, etc with a smile. Two sisters were busy in the kitchen trying to make a 'special surprise' birthday cake for their brother while mom stood guard to block his view - that was pretty sweet. And as I peered in the other room looking for Will, (really trying to ignore the wire pen surrounding the wood stove which was heaped to the top with junk) I was happy to see the Birthday Boy enthusiastically playing with the present we'd brought for him. Will was grinning ear to ear as he repacked his bag to go home. We all exchanged our thank-you's, bid each other good day, and out the door we went. I quizzed Will a bit more after he got in the car, and other than the part where he told me they dined on bacon from a pig that Birthday Boy's dad had shot, it all sounded like a typical slumber party. I slowly backed out of the driveway with my kid and a heavy conscience in tow.

*ugh*