You can't even walk in here!

Little e's room is now a giant mess of suitcases.

Four people times two bags a piece plus four carry-ons equals so much luggage I'm not sure how we're going to carry it all!

We were worried about baggage fees so we thought we'd get to take only a few suitcases but our travel agent said that since we're on an international flight, there are no fees for two pieces of checked luggage (each bag must weigh less than 50 lbs) plus a carry-on bag that can't exceed 45 inches total (which is pretty big--Wesley's SUITCASE fits these dimensions--25 inches by 8 inches by 12 inches--we're going to use it as a carry-on).

Our goal is to fill three or four suitcases with donations. We've filled one already and we have the word out to our friends and neighbors. Even Wesley's school has allowed him to ask kids in his homeroom for help. One of Everett's friends is a Girl Scout and her family is donating something like 40 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Fun!

That leaves four suitcases for us. There are some great packing lists in the Holt board files. We printed these and tried to pack everything this weekend but our clothes.

So far:

-one whole suitcase is filled with food.
I have a thing about knowing where my next meal is coming from, I get sick of eating out, and I'm afraid of getting sick. Plus, the kids are picky eaters. So, we've packed peanut butter, vienna sausages, tuna fish, and beef jerky. Four kinds of granola bars. A big tub of trail mix. A whole box of those packaged peanut butter and cheese cracker sandwiches. Applesauce cups. Ranch dressing cups (Everett dips everything in Ranch dressing). A Costco box of assorted candy bars. Oatmeal. Fruit snacks. Boxes of chocolate milk that we can put in the little fridge at the Union Hotel (they don't have to be refrigerated beforehand. Don't ask me why). Goldfish crackers. Teddy Grahams. And formula for Enatalem. Whew!

-one suitcase is filled with Enatalem's wardrobe, diapers, wipes, sippy cups, and toys. I packed 8 outfits for Enatalem. I figure we'll have her for four days at two outfits per day. We'll see how that works.

-Half of a suitcase is filled with non-clothes: medicines, flashlights, bug spray, toilet paper, paper towels, photo book for Enatalem's birth mom, and suncscreen.

-Which means there's one-and-a-half suitcases for four people's clothes and toiletries. Hmm. I'm not sure how this is going to work.

We may have to do some paring-down. I'll let you know what makes the next cut (not that anyone but me cares about all this detail --but documenting all my work makes it seem more fun).