For those interested, the big Disney trip went well. The skids took excellent care of the homestead while we were away and several friends checked in on them for good measure. They seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet away from all of their noisy younger siblings (both our bios and their half sister from their BM). We enjoyed some quality time with our littles (even if they did spend a lot of time fighting with each other and complaining about being tired). They enjoyed the experience and both of them (the littles, that is) personally thanked us for taking them - saying they enjoyed the rides, the characters, the food, and swimming. Not bad for 4 and 6yo.

SD17 received an acceptance letter from one of her top-of-the-wish-list colleges and I am delighted to say that she is not rushing to accept. She was also accepted at a slightly smaller, local college that may promise better scholarships. She is going to wait an see who offers her more money before making her final decision. After her inital attitude of only wanting to go to her first choice regardless of how much it cost, it is nice to see that she is seeing reason. It may or may not have something to do with realizing that she will have MUCH more financial skin in the game once she is 18 and legally responsible for herself.

DH is burning the candle at both ends to finish a big side job now that we are back from vacation. You know, the side job that he promised to use the profits from to pay off all that money he put on the CC? I know he will be true to his word but it still makes me anxious seeing the balance hanging out there until it is paid off. It also sucks that he works from 730am-330pm at his day job then until 8pm or later at the side job every night. Kind of hard to work on a relationship when he's only home long enough to eat, shower, and sleep and maybe watch a little TV before bed. Times like these happen in waves in our marriage. He'll have side work that keeps him away from home for long hours for weeks at a time then he won't have any side jobs and we'll be struggling to make ends meet. I will be so glad to pay down our debt so we have more wiggle room and he can stop having to do side jobs unless he really wants to.