Ok. My day…simply an out of body experience!

7:15 am - Wake up to the sounds of the boys arguing

7:30 am - Start the “get dressed…get dressed….get dressed” campaign

7:35 am - Contractors show up to complete the upstairs construction - today the are installing the oak treads on the stairs - exciting!

7:40 am - Start the “eat your breakfast….eat your breakfast” campaign

7:41 am - Sit down and eat mini wheats with the boys.

7:45 am  - Put Andrew in time out for continuing to bully Adam (I do NOT like starting the day off with time outs!)

7:50 am - Restart the “eat your breakfast” campaign with Andrew

7:55 am - Shower and get dressed

8:15 am - Check email and start the “get on your boots” campaign

8:25 am - Leave to drop off kids a the school

8:30 am - Come back to get my ID

8:37 am - Arrive at the school late with the boys

8:40 am - 8:50 am - Claire and I talk with our friend Casey at the school. New friend, seems like a old friend….love that.

8:50 am - 9:10 am - Sit in Duncan Donuts parking lot waiting for Claire to get coffee and then Claire tries to get out of the parking lot….the WRONG way….interesting…..

9:10 am - Start driving to Pepperell, Massachusetts

9:20 am - Claire decided she wants me to spend the day with her, so we ask Holly to pick up Adam from Kindergarten and Andrew from school.

9: 30 am - 9:45am Arrive at the city clerk’s office in Pepperell, Mass and get MARRIED

9:45 am - 10:00 am - Wait in town clerk’s office for Massachusetts Marriage Certificate!

10:10 am - 10:20am - Program new GPS to navigate to Claire’s work

10:30 - 11:00 am - Drive to Claire’s work in Billerica, Massachusetts

11: 00 am - Go into Claire’s office at Bruker….meet her co-worker….in the middle of meeting her, we get a phone call from the US State Department Adoption Unit.

11:10 - 11:45 am - Have a HORRIFFIC phone call with the most unknowledgable, ignorant, unworthy person on the face of the earth! This person told us that we needed to HIRE attorneys IN UKRAINE and  IN the REPUBLIC OF GEORIGIA to prove to the judge in New HAMPSHIRE that the polymatronic name on our children’s Russian decent birth certificates are due to country, SHE REFUSED TO TELL OUR JUDGE THAT THIS WAS THE COUNTRY’S LAW!! HER JOB IS THE INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION UNIT COORDINATOR FOR THE US STATE DEPARMENT!! Simply put, I LOST MY MIND!!!!!! Claire basically kicked me out of her office with a debit card and 200 bucks cash and told me to go and shop! Not a bad ending I guess.

12:00 am - I leave Bruker alone and head for Burlington Mall

12:10 pm - I call Claire to apologize for yelling

12:15 pm - I call the court house to find out what the judge is asking for now. I found out that she is not in Hillsborough county for the day and unreachable…lovely

12:20 - 1:35 pm - Go shopping for clothing for MYSELF at Catherines….and find out that I DROPPED DOWN A SIZE!! The realization of this is SO HUGE for me! It has been at least 10 years since I was back down to a 4x. 4x is really really huge for most people, well, everyone…except me. 4x was a goal for me that I attained…and I am SO PROUD OF. It means that I can wear a brand that I LOVE “Liz & Me” which is Liz Claiborne for plus sizes. I bought BRIGHT colors and coordinated sets. I am THRILLED and ELATED that I am NOW a 4x!! 

1:45 Go back to Claire’s office and sit in the parking lot and talk with my friend Leslie on the cell phone while waiting for Claire

2:00 -3:00 Eat lunch with Claire at the yummiest Italian place on earth

3:00 pm Realize that I do not have the name of the place we are supposed to go to for Claire’s valentine day surprise…..and have no way of getting it because I do not have a computer with me

3:15 pm Have to tell Claire what her surprise is, so she can help me brainstorm a solution of finding out this place’s name

3:30 Drive back to Claire’s office to use her computer…I figured out how to contact the place, and we let them know we are on our way.

3:45  - 4:05 pm. Drive to Nashua, NH

4:15 - 6:00 pm Have a COUPLES MASSAGE!!! Side by side, Claire and I go massages by two different massage therapists! It was amazing and so relaxing!

6:20 - 6:35 Drive back t Manchester, NH. Decide to go out to dinner, but head to Walmart first to get the boys a Valentine’s day treat

6:40 - 7:50 pm - Stand in Walmart talking to friends that we have not seen in a long time. We laughed, cried, and simply enjoyed each other’s company…I love when this happens

7:50 pm - RUN out of walmart with valentine hearts in bags…and head to the Munt’s to get the boys.

8:00 pm - Arrive at the Munt’s to find out that they were happy and both playing sweetly with Abby and Maddie.

8:30 pm - Come home - both boys have melt downs because they are exhausted and have not seen us all day long

9:00 pm Claire heads out to put out the 14 bags of garbage for the trash men tomorrow morning.  Her arm hurts from her massage, so now she is icing it.

10:00 pm: Play Brain Age on the boys’ Nintendo DS, my brain is the age of a 55 year old….great……my brain is dying too!! NOT what I wanted to hear!!

OK………so, now I am here, it is 10:30pm. That was a HUGE HUGE HUGE day. My desk is a mess, I have a bunch of video I want to upload and photos I want to upload. Today was a day for the memory books….life….it is a joy, challenge, and a gift all at once.

Anne