Freezer cleanout and other stuff

We are leaving for California in 18 days. Actually we leave our house in 16 days. We are flying from south Florida (because that's how we got the best deal), so we will go down there on that Thursday evening, and Mike will work down there on Friday. We leave that Saturday morning in what I consider the middle of the night (before 6am). We are eating everything from our garage freezer so we can unplug and defrost it while we're gone. I'm enjoying this challenge, and it is making me try to not go to the store at all. We were out of ketchup for a few days last week and anyone who knows Jake knows that was challenging in itself. We got ketchup, eggs, and milk at Target on Sunday, which to me doesn't count as going to the store, but we're out of milk again, so I'll have to do something about that. Sunday night Mike and I had frozen cheese tortellini with pumpkin sauce that we've had since the fall. It was a little plain, but not bad. Last night we had tilapia with yummy wine-y craker-y cheesy stuffing. I just had it left over for lunch. Somehow it was a little more wine-y than I'd planned and I felt it last night and today. Very relaxing. The kids are plowing throught their virtual classes. Unfortunately for them as soon as they finish one thing, I'm yelling at them to do another. California waits for no one! Speaking of school work and California, they all took the California Achievement Test a few weeks ago. A friend asked Jake why he was taking it and his reply was, "I don't know, I guess cuz we're going to California." Well, the good news is, the results are in, and California will let us in when we get there. They all did really well! This was the third year Jonathan and Madi took the tests (prior to that they never tested at all) and the second year for Jake, but they've only done the language and math ones in the past, this year they did the "full battery" which includes Social Studies and Science {which boosted everyone's overall scores}. Jonathan scored in the 98th percentile for vocabulary, that and his easy A's in high school English continue to prove my point that constant talking and reading are enough for Language Arts in the early years. Madi got in the 96th percentile for language mechanics which further proves my theory. As I've said before though, don't tell Jake this because he does have a Lanuage Arts book and we already bought next year's too. This is more because he needs to learn to follow the rules and a modicum of stucture isn't hurting him. He kicked butt on all of the tests except spelling, but his brother, who is also weak in that area, will teach him the fine are of spell check, and he'll be fine. Speaking of spell check...where is it?! Not only has blogger changed everything around and lost one of my posts, but I can't find spell check either!! We all participated in Relay for Life on Friday night. Except for a little dozing for about an hour and a half, I stayed up all night and probably walked about 8 miles. I didn't keep track of laps in the beginning and then was very frustrated that I couldn't say for certain how far I walked. Madi walked 64 laps, which is 16 miles. Keeping with her usual go go go, she then spent Saturday with friends while Mike and I slept and the boys lounged on the couch. Staying up all night is getting harder for me, it took a few days to recover. Mike's mother comes down in a few days. She will be here for Madi's Confirmation, Mother's Day, Willy Wonka, a dance party to celebrate Madi (her birthday, Confirmation, completion of "middle school" etc), and lots of other craziness that is the month of May (not the least of which is finishing school work!!) Speaking of that... time to shut off Seinfeld, which is still the lunch break show of choice around here, and get everyone BACK! TO! WORK!!!