Moms' Night out

This morning I am headed to the Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania's annual convention at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg along with more than 7,000 other parents. I am spending the night at my friend Joyce's house. We worked together from 1996-2000. She was the 2nd grade teacher where I was the principal until she got married and moved to Harrisburg in 2000. I have many fond memories with her from those years - trips to Long Island, buying our wedding dresses together, etc. The last time I saw her was April 2012 when Ian was doing the 4 week feeding program at Hershey. We used to celebrate our birthdays together because she is exactly two days older than me. We are planning to have dinner at Cracker Barrel tonight, and then we are either going to go shopping (haven't done that with a friend since 2008) or see a movie (I haven't entered a theater since 2004). I am very excited, but I know I'll miss my kids! It will be the first time I've spent a night away from Oliver since he came home from the NICU in September 2012, and it will be the first time I've spent a night away from Nadia or Ian when I wasn't in a hospital. It will be the first time Paul has had exclusive responsibility for all three kids for an extended period of time. To be honest, I am not sure if he ever took care of all three of them when they were all awake before (when I wasn't also at home). He'll be on his own for 33 hours. I gave him a list of what to do for homeschooling today.

I'll be at the convention again tomorrow, and then I'm headed to Paul's cousin's graduation party at his aunt's house at 4pm tomorrow. Elizabeth recently graduated from law school. I'll be meeting Paul and the kids there. I'm attending another homeschooling convention next week in DC along with another 6,000 parents. I doubt I'll make it a habit to attend two conventions a year, but I thought I'd give them both a whirl this year. I'm looking forward to hearing some women in person whom I have known through their blogs for years such as Crystal Paine (Money Saving Mom), Jolanthe Erb (Homeschool Creations/ Motherhood on a Dime), and Heidi St. John (Busy Mom). I'm also looking forward to shopping for textbooks and such at both conventions.

Ronald McDonald reading a "Fly Guy" book!