Oh the romance...

Have you ever gone on a dinner cruise? I hadn't. It's something Kris and I have talked about doing, but have never done. So we heard about the GREAT dinner cruise in Fort Lauderdale, on the Jungle Queen. Beautiful scenery, great dinner on a private island, entertainment. Sounded good to us. Sounded like a wonderful way to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary yesterday. We got a little more (or less perhaps) than we bargained for. The tickets were about $40/person, and it was cheaper than most of the ones we've seen advertised in the past, so don't get me wrong. I wasn't expecting to go sailing on a yacht and feast on lobster. However, I also wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it actually was. Are you ready for the story of our anniversary adventure last night?

It started out pleasant enough. The storms we had yesterday were just in Miami, and they were not predicting anything more than cloudy skies in Ft. Lauderdale. As we drove to Ft. Lauderdale, sure enough, the rain died down and the sky cleared up. We were told to get to the boat at 5:15 to get our tickets; the cruise didn't actually start until 6:00pm. Because we weren't sure how long it would take to get there, we left early and ended up getting there by 5pm. We parked the car at the marina and walked around until we found the Jungle Queen (see below).



Once we got seated on the boat and surveyed our surroundings, this is what we saw. In case you are wondering, YES THOSE ARE LAWN CHAIRS!!! Oh and we have NO clue why there were rolls of paper towel on the fake steering wheel.




I do have to admit that while they looked tacky and the boat itself seemed 'run down' those lawn chairs were actually pretty comfortable.

And then it started to rain. Actually, it started sprinkling. No big deal, of course. The boat was covered and while open on the sides, we weren't getting wet. But there was this couple behind us. I think based on their thick accents, they were from Texas, or somewhere else where you can hear that distinct Southern drawl. Kris and I had trouble containing our laughter, before the boat ever set off. The couple was two rows behind us. And when it started sprinkling (I must emphasize that it is BARELY raining at this point!) the woman starts talking to the man. They are two rows back, so we can hear their conversation. The woman says "It's really raining. I'm sopping wet!" At this point, she proceeds to pull out an umbrella and utilize it to shield herself from the torrential downpour that was actually just a very mild sprinkling. It was quite amusing. We tried to pretend like we were taking a picture of ourselves, which is why our faces are cut off; we really wanted to get a picture of this woman holding her umbrella up for what apparently she felt was heavy rain (sorry for the poor quality-we took this one from Kris' phone).



The cruise got underway just after 6pm. The 'captain' was this older gentleman, who kept telling all these ridiculously stupid jokes. As we 'cruised' along, making our way to the private island where we would have dinner, he pointed out what we were looking at along the way.








So, after about 45 minutes of this beautiful scenery, we made it to the private island for dinner. Here is where we ate:



So it wasn't quite what we had expected, at all! But we had a great time with one another, laughing at how the evening turned out. For those of you who don't know, on our wedding night, after we left the reception, we took a trip to the Martinsville Walmart because one of Kris' friends had gone back to St. Louis early and had Kris' tennis shoes and toothbrush, etc...so the limo driver took us to Walmart, then waited outside for us, while we went in (wedding clothes and all) and picked up the essentials! This dinner cruise kind of reminded us of that. What classy people Kris and I are!

Seriously though, it was not actually quite as bad as I made it out to be. Well, it was. But the area we went through on the cruise actually had some really nice houses and yachts. The guy who started Waste Management owns this HUGE house on the water. Here are some pictures of the nice things we did actually get to see on the trip. Dad, you could buy one of these houses. Some of them were on sale. Granted, they cost upwards of $$5.7 MILLION, but we'd come visit you with the kids ALL the time!







Oh yeah. We spent about 3 hours out in the Miami sun yesterday and burned worse...myself included. So in addition to all the craziness of the cruise, we were SO sore last night it was ridiculous. We stopped at Walgreens on our way back to the resort to get some Solarcaine to help take some of the burn away. We were a miserable pair. We were laughing at ourselves for how 'old' we've gotten in just 10 years and how we are falling apart at the seams. Can't wait to see what the next 10 years have in store for us!!

More FL pictures

Miami in the morning.





Miami by night.

Only three more days...

...until we get back home. Only one more day here at the resort in Miami. Saturday morning we will head back to Atlanta, GA for the night, then Sunday we will get up and drive the rest of the way home.

We got to talk to the kids tonight. We talked to them last on Monday or Tuesday night. It was good to hear their voices. I really miss them. Not so much that I want to rush home now. I can wait until Sunday! ;)

Kris and I managed to burn today for the first time. Well, Kris has a little redness on his shoulders yesterday but his chest and back are red as lobsters now! I managed to get some sun on my face and forearms, but that was it. I think the tanning I did for two weeks before we left really helped!

Here are a couple pictures of our lovely sunburns.





Just for the record, Florida drivers LOVE to honk their horns!! They don't scream and drive crazy. They just honk their horns, ALL THE TIME!

Here is a picture of Kris and I pretending to sleep in the hammock.

Seems like a good day for contacts

The day started out like any ordinary day. Except we didn't have kids, and we slept in, and we are in, oh that's right, Miami Beach! We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, which was NOT as good as I remember it before it 'left' St. Louis. Then we went to Sports Authority to get Boogie Boards for some ocean fun. And of course, like any other day, there was some arguing that went on and more than a little anxiety on my part due to someone doing a u-turn (I won't mention who) after someone else (again I won't mention who)asked the first someone not to. A long silence ensued, things calmed down and we headed down to the ocean. We were there for about, I don't know, 20 minutes if that. Suddenly I hear someone calling my name. It's Kris, just a short distance from me. I realized right away what had happened when I saw him without those all too familiar glasses. A wave had come and knocked them off. Now I am not going to say anything else beyond that-we're going to keep this friendly. So of course we couldn't find his glasses. And I'm thinking, how am I going to drive back 20+ hours all by myself? Unlike me (who needs glasses but can see just fine without them-yes it makes sense), Kris can basically ONLY see shapes and colors without his glasses.

Suddenly I have an idea. I happened to grab my cell phone at the last minute and stick it in the backpack we were taking down to the beach. So I decided to look up local eye doctors and find out if there was any way to get glasses done ASAP. I found a place but they didn't accept our vision insurance (which THANK GOD just went into affect on June 1!). We found another place and they said there was no way they could get glasses, but they could do the exam and get him a pair of temporary contacts. At this point, I'm secretly thanking the Atlantic Ocean for swallowing up Kristopher's glasses.

You see, when Kris was in high school he wore contacts all the time. I guess he was trying to impress all those high school girls. In college, I barely remember a time when he wore anything BUT glasses. But for our wedding, he got contacts, at my request. And he looked great! Don't get me wrong...he was attractive with the glasses but man did he look good without them! He has really nice eyes and the glasses seem to hide that fact. But after about two weeks, the contacts started bothering his eyes and so he went back to his glasses. And has worn glasses for the last 10 years. He has wanted to get Lasik for quite some time; we just haven't been able to afford the payments. But I think he figured, 10 years ago, that once he snagged me, he didn't have to impress me anymore by wearing contacts. I don't really think that, but it's fun to tease him about it.

So we spent the afternoon at the eye doctor's and Kris is now wearing contacts. I think he looks great!! I'm pretty excited about it, even though it's a silly thing to get excited about I suppose. It's just that he looks so sexy with his head and face shaved and contacts in! I can say sexy. It's my blog. I can say whatever I want. ;-) Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from our excursion today.



WOW he looks good!

I finally got a tattoo!

JUST KIDDING MOM!

I did see this picture though and really liked it and thought I'd be silly with my blog title.

No tattoos for me.

Day 2 in Miami

We started out the day by sleeping in past 9am. It was lovely. We ventured out to the beach today. The weather was great. Well, it wasn't raining. It was overcast mostly but not too bad. And it was warm enough that we weren't cold. It was a lot of fun waiting for the waves, and also very relaxing. We spent more time out there than I thought we would; we did decide though that we would like to buy boogie boards so I think tomorrow we are going to Sports Authority to get a couple. We looked at Target, but I wasn't sure the small Spongebob and Spiderman ones made for children would really work the way we wanted them to. ;)

Tonight we went to the Hard Rock Cafe/Casino in Hollywood, FL. It was really great. We had a lot of fun. Something I recommend to anyone who likes to go to the casino: anytime you are in a new city that has a casino, GO. Sign up. You usually always get something free. When we went to PA, we got $5 free I think. Every time we have gone to a new casino out of state we get something. This one was the best by far though. Because we were new, we each got $20 to play on. In addition to that, we got a credit for $7.50 to be used for food within the casino. And for giving an email address we got an additional $5 for food. So together we ended up playing on $40 of the casino's money and got dinner for free. It was great! I have a lot of pictures I am going to post on Facebook, but I will post a couple here too.

The Hard Rock Cafe/Casino/Hotel was pretty cool. It was like the Landing in Branson, combined with West Port Plaza in St. Louis, but so much better than both of them combined. It was beautiful there and there were a ton of shops and restaurants. There was a Brookstone there and of course Kris wanted to go in. In the past the only things I have cared about are the massage chairs they always have. I had THE BEST massage tonight. I WANT and believe that I NEED this chair! After 15 minutes, I was pain-free (back/neck/shoulders) for the first time in 2 months. I'm just now starting to feel the pain creep back in, but I went about 4 hours feeling great! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it 'only' costs $1800! However, if you got massages regularly, that's roughly 18 massages.

After the massage, I tried out the bed they have in there. I didn't care for it too much, but I found my pillow. Finally. I go through pillows too fast. I can never find a good one and if I do find a good one, within a month it's lost its shape. But Brookstone has this pillow called the Bella or something like that and it was perfect. The let me lay down on it on the bed to test it out. Problem is, it costs $130. But here's the thing. We have spent a lot more than that on pillows in the past (combined-not on ONE pillow) and this particular pillow has a 4 year warranty. So if it wore out in 2 months, they would replace it. And if it wore out again, they would replace. Key thing is that it is not suppose to wear out! I WANT that pillow. Kris agrees that if we should get it for me. I'm sure that's at least half of my neck problems right there, not to mention my troubles falling and staying asleep. He said that if we can set aside about $20 each paycheck that in 3 months we could get it.

Hurricane?

So Kris just asked me "Wouldn't it suck if there was a hurricane and we had to evacuate?" And I looked horrified and said "Why would you even say something like that?" I mean, the man has been married to me for 10 years (almost). He KNOWS how my paranoid mind works. He knows that if he says something like that I will most likely obsess about it and freak out for just a little while wondering if there really will be a hurricane and we really will have to evacuate. His explanation/rational for telling that to begin with was something about seeing a hurricane evacuation sign. I'm not exactly sure because I started obsessing and stopped listening and decided to write it down.

Now let's talk about tolls and the Florida turnpike. From the beginning I had looked up directions on Google Maps. And I knew from the start that there was a turnpike in Florida. Kris and I discussed our options. Did we want to get cash out and pay whatever crazy amount they wanted to charge us to take this toll all the way down to Miami? Or did we want to find an alternate route that avoided the toll altogether? We checked the additional time it would add and found that we could add 1/2 an hour and avoid the toll, and it seemed worth it to us, as we would have probably spent more on the tolls than on the gas to avoid the toll. SO...once we got past the exit that took us to the turnpike, and continued on I-95, we decided we would check the GPS in our phones to make sure it would readjust itself and match the route we had on Google Maps. You can probably guess, since I am writing about it, that they did not match up. The GPS told us to go about 60 miles, then turn and take a different road, then get back on the turnpike and it was 'only' going to add an extra hour or so!! Are you kidding me? FINALLY at our last stop (mind you we were only 2 hours away from the resort at this point) the GPS FINALLY matched the directions on Google Maps and stopped trying to put us back on that stupid turnpike! It was kind of amusing. Oh, and there was another 'adult store' at the same exit to get back on the turnpike. So, my theory is that the porn industry, the State of FL, and GPS creators are all working together in some sort of lucrative money-making scheme. Just a theory.

And just to continue with adding a picture to this post because I like pictures and because I can (you know, because it's MY blog), here is a picture of a palm tree. I know, settle down. It's a little exciting but try to contain yourself.

Georgia Hotel Signs

I like signs. Especially strange/funny signs. We didn't get murdered or anything at our cheaper hotel that we stayed at in Valdosta, GA. I say that because I have a nervousness about staying in hotels/motels where the doors open to the outside, not because I have anything against Valdosta, GA. The hotel we stayed at was a Quality Inn and it was nice enough, and better still, the price was 'right'. But you can tell by the signs they have posted around the hotel rooms and lobby that perhaps they've had some problems in the past. Take a look for yourself.

Wash cloths weren't on the list here, so Kris and I contemplated taking one, but decided against it!

This next picture is a sign we saw down in the lobby, where the free continental breakfast was.



And the biggest reason I took this next picture is because due to the sign (which happened to be directly above the bagels), I couldn't help but laugh and think that at some point, they USED to offer full-size bagels, as opposed to these miniature, baby bagels.

More random pictures

Here we are getting ready to leave the hotel in GA for Miami. Also, a couple pictures of our pretty nice rental car.

Day Two

We are about 5 hours away from the Solara Surfside Resort, and starting to see palm trees. I'm getting excited. I've never been on this side of Florida before. I was born in St. Petersburg and can't remember how many times (more than a handful I think) I went back there as a kid. And I think that one year for Bible Bowl we went to Orlando. But I've never been to Miami. I don't remember the trips to Disney (Mom, did we go more than once?), and I barely remember that Bible Bowl tournament. So this is going to be a good chance to create a new memory, doing something I've wanted to do since before we got married-take a vacation, on the beach! Here are some pictures of our resort - though they don't always give you a real idea of what it will actually look like once you get there.

An interesting dinner choice

We wanted to go to Chik-fil-a for dinner. We ALWAYS forget they are closed on Sundays. And it seems that we always want to go on SUNDAYS! So across the street there is a Taco Bell, a KFC, or a Chinese restaurant. From across the street, we can see that the Chinese restaurant is called Hong Kong Buffet. We decide to give the Hong Kong Buffet a try. So we park. And we look up and see all the windows. They have decals on them 'announcing' the different foods they offer. I edited the picture (you may have to click on it to enlarge it to see it clearly) because I wanted you to see these windows. Kris and I were amused.



What I didn't get a picture of was the side of the building that also said they have PIES. Yeah...they basically just had Chinese food. Guess they didn't want to go to the expense of removing the words from the windows.

Also, here is the fortune cookie I got tonight. I'm not sure what to think about this. There's not much left to 'enhance'!

Boneman's Daughters

Kris and I are listening to Ted Dekker's newest book, "Boneman's Daughters". We're about 4 hours in (total of 10 or so). It's really good. Thank you Ted Dekker for writing another book that IS the great work I am used to from you! Of course, I have no idea how it will end, but I hope that it will not disappoint. It seems like the last few books ("Adam", "Skin" and "Sinner" in particular) haven't lived up to my expectations for Ted Dekker's brilliance in writing. "Kiss" was pretty good, and this new book is along the same lines, as far as the genre, but so far I like it better than "Kiss".

You should see all the wires we have in the car. Ooh, maybe I should take a picture of our electronic set up here. Ok...I decided to show you what big geeks Kris and I are. There's no denying it. I even edited one picture and put text on it to show what everything is!

This is Kris' phone/speaker set up that is providing our GPS:


Here is a picture of me, blogging (shocker!):


And this, this is the picture that labels what everything is that is keeping us occupied and enjoying our long drive:


And now, now it's time to take some medication because the roads are getting curvy and we're getting into the mountains, and I am REALLY anxious. And the medication is NOT for car sickness, which I am fortunate enough NOT to suffer from.

Vacation has begun!!

As usual, I waited until the last minute to pack. I didn't get started until about 10pm and finally finished up the laundry and final packing around 11:30pm. Kris went to bed early so that he could make it through the long day of driving we had planned for today. I finally went to sleep around midnight after finishing "Click" for the second time. I was up and alert at 5am, which normally would be astonishing. But I always did get so eager before any kind of trip that it wasn't difficult to get up. I can remember every year when we would go to King's Island I had so much trouble falling asleep that night before, and NEVER had a problem getting up. I like trips. I especially like carefree, KID-free trips. It was sad saying goodbye to my kids-I think this is the longest we have left them, though the week they have spent with my parents a couple of times came close. Kaleb had no interest at all in saying bye to me, as he was all to eager to get back to his video game, but the girls were sweet and gave me hugs. So, while it was sad to say goodbye, I was ready!

I started out the driving (we left at 6:15am-only 15 minutes later than we had hoped!). I figured that would give Kris some time to wake up, since I didn't wake him up until 5:45am. We are in Missouri somewhere. Oh the excitement...

If you are reading this, just to warn you, now that I am not working and have more time, I will probably have quite a few posts with pictures. So to start us off, here are some pictures we took this morning to start off our journey. Oh yeah, and once again, because I can, I am blogging while Kris drives, connected to the internet through my Instinct!

Here is my handsome husband, still loving me, excited to be finally leaving for Florida:


Here is me, after Kris told me to 'look like you're annoyed with me' (even though I wasn't really annoyed):


Here we are, both very happy and excited about this vacation/10 year anniversary celebration:


There will be more to come. Stay tuned!

It's a busy day for blogging...

The kids LOVED Night at the Museum 2. Kris and I really enjoyed it as well. The older kids thought it was one of the best movies they have seen. Livvy on the other hand said she didn't like it. And then she said she DID like it-there were just two parts, then there were three parts she didn't like (her words): the octopus, the dinosaur and when that guy opened that lamp and put the little man in it. The lamp, by the way, was not actually a lamp, but an hourglass. It was so cute hearing her describe it though!

We were not able to get our family pictures taken today, due to the rain, which was incredibly frustrating since it is 9pm and it still has not actually rained where we're at!!! However, it did get pretty dark and pretended like it was going to rain, so waiting until the sun is out a little more and the wind isn't blowing so much will probably just make our pictures turn out that much better. Hopefully we can get them done Thursday evening. The most annoying part was getting the kids all bathed and dressed and doing all of the girls' hair, including my own. I like to try to look nice...but I HATE the work involved. I'm not one of those people that just loves to spend an hour on my hair and another 20 minutes on my makeup. I used to never wear makeup to begin with. Now, the only reason I put it on before work most days is because I leave it in my car and do it before I go in. It's just never been a priority. But I worked HARD today to get all of us 'perfect' (well, as perfect as we are going to get physically!). And everyone had their new picture outfits on...and then we just had to come home and take them off and put them away so that they aren't ruined by the time we actually get to our pictures taken!

Kat's baptism

Here is the video of Katherine's baptism this morning. It's a little shaky, and the quality isn't as great as I would have liked-I took this video on my digital camera and wasn't close enough to see their faces clearly. But if you are interested...here is Kris baptizing Katherine. :)

A new life

Katherine is getting baptized this morning. It's exciting! I told her to go tell Daddy it was her birthday. Then I stopped her and asked if she knew what I meant by that. She told me that it meant she was going to start a new life with Jesus. If we want nothing else for our children. we want them to know God, to REALLY know God. Not just believe in Him. Not just believe that Jesus died for their sins. But to have a personal relationship with Him. Katherine is starting that journey and it thrills us.

First Impressions of EA Sports Active for the Wii

Some of you have read/heard me talking recently about EA Sports Active for the Wii. It was released on May 19th and Kris and I decided we would go ahead and purchase it, after watching many videos on it and reading reviews-actually, we learned this game was coming out back in January or so and talked at that time about whether or not we would end up getting it. It is normally $58.99 but we signed up at www.buy.com and got a $30 credit AND FREE shipping! So we got it (in just two days) for $28.99 and it includes a resistance band and a pouch for the nunchuck to monitor leg activies (for running, lunges, etc...).

My first impression: SO SO SO much more sophisticated and advanced than Wii Fit. The amount of different custom/pre-made workouts is almost overwhelming. There is a 30 day challenge that combines all of the different activities available, and it is compatible with the Wii Fit Balance Board-in fact if you use the balance board WITH Sports Active it should give you an even harder workout. From what I was reading, rather than using the balance board all the time, some days will specifically be 'balance board days'.

In addition to the 30 day challenge are pre-made workouts as I mentioned above. I knew that I didn't want to try anything that would really strain my entire body, so rather than doing something that encompassed all the activities in the 'game', I scrolled down until I found the one I wanted. Like I said-there were a LOT of pre-made ones. Kris, for instance is doing a sports lover type workout right now. He's done some volleyball moves, basketball moves, baseball, lunges, squats and who knows what else to come. Probably tennis and the inline skating that is available within the 'game' as well. I keep saying 'game' but it's really NOT a game. If you want a great workout program THIS is it. I'm 100% convinced...and I have barely seen everything that is available.

Ok, back to me. As some of you know, I have had a lot of problems lately with my back/neck and shoulder. Medication doesn't help, at all, and I've gone back to physical therapy but so far still haven't had much relief. In PT, she is having me do some weight/strength training to strengthen my back muscles. So, this Sports Active actually has a couple of different workouts specifically targeted for toning/strengthening the back and shoulders! So I chose a 19 minute workout and about 6 minutes in I was already sweating. Most of my activities used the resistance band and in between these activities, I had to do some boxing as well. By the end of the 19 minutes (25 with the videos showing me how to do the 'moves') I was tired and sweaty and really felt like I had gotten a workout. And while I feel some stiffness now in the middle of my back, the awful pain I've had in my right shoulder and neck is actually MUCH better. Hopefully between this and physical therapy I will be back to normal sooner. I am not going to do any of the other workouts at this point because I really want to get my back/neck back under control so that I can handle the other activities. Once I get myself back to normal, I plan to start the 30 day challenge and go from there.

Oh yeah, another great feature of this 'game' is that you input your daily habits, such as how much you sleep, how many veggies you eat, how long you sit during the day, how much water you drink, your height and weight, etc... It takes this information and calculates how many calories you should burn over the course of the week, how many hours you should work out in the next 30 days and how many workouts you should do in the next week. Before your work out, it gives you a projection of how many calories that particular workout should burn. So, for instance, the one I chose projected I would burn 117 calories, but by the time I was done, I had burned 128. Kris' said he should burn 168, I think. He's already burned 161 and still has a couple of activities left-and he's REALLY sweating!

I'm pretty excited about it and for anyone who has wondered whether or not it is worth it, if you want a GREAT workout program that you can do from the comfort of your own home, this is well worth the money, and cheaper than the P90X or the Chuck Norris Total Gym. As I do more of the workouts, I will post some more information about what all they include, but for now I am focusing on getting my neck/back/shoulder better.

Hope this helps anyone who was interested in this but wasn't sure if it was worth it. IT IS!!!

The $10 'gold' shirt

I want to start out by saying that Livvy's school has been SO convenient this last school year, because it is within walking distance of our house and was affordable. And I am truly thankful for that. However, Kris and I have never felt 100% comfortable with the school. We weren't concerned about Livvy's safety, or the curriculum. Nothing like that. In fact, we both really like the new teacher Livvy got halfway through the year. But there is just something 'off' about the school and we've never had a great feeling about it. Throughout the year there have been a handful of 'political' type things that we have found to be incredibly ridiculous. I believe that today's incident, however, has topped the list.

I was worried when I saw I missed a call from her school both at work and on my cell phone. I thought that something was wrong with Olivia. Once I finally got through, I found out what they were calling for. Now, Kris came home yesterday and said that Livvy was going on a field trip today and her teacher said she had to wear red or yellow (you know so they can keep track of the kids). Earlier in the school year we paid more money than we wanted to for a MANDATORY red polo with her school's logo on it, in gold. Well, we figured we couldn't go wrong putting her in THAT shirt today. The teacher said red or yellow and so we put her in RED. Her RED 'official' uniform shirt.

So I get this phone call and have no clue who I am talking to; it might have been the principal or a secretary-that part doesn't matter really. This person proceeded to tell me that Livvy wasn't dressed appropriately and that she was supposed to be in a GOLD shirt. First of all, who has gold shirts???? Apparently her school does. And though Livvy's teacher told Kris red or yellow for the field trip, there was apparently a note that came home last night saying she had to be in gold. Well, it should be no surprise that we didn't see the note. I asked Kris yesterday morning if he had gone through her backpack, and he had but both of us forgot about it last night/this morning. Regardless, though, even if we had seen the note, we didn't have a gold uniform shirt.

Bottom line, we have to PAY for a gold shirt, because neither one of us can leave work today just to pick her up because she has the wrong shirt on and can't go on her field trip. It better have some actual gold in it!! The lady told me they had a few extras, and I'm thinking (HOPING) that they will just put her in one and then change her back after the field trip. Nope. She told me that we could pay for it when we picked her up. She asked if I wanted to do that and I asked her what other choice I had. She said 'ok' and that they would put one of those gold shirts on her. She has worn her red 'official' school uniform less than 5 times-the only time it was REQUIRED was a class/school picture (this is the ONLY reason we bought it-because it was required) and one program she was in. So we paid for that shirt and barely got our money's worth. Now, we are stuck paying for a gold shirt and TODAY is the only day she will wear it. I am tempted to send her to school in it for the next five days she has left at school. Yes, perhaps that is what I will do...

Needless to say, Kris and I are not too happy about it and are SO ready to get her out of there and send the kids back to Grace. We are, by the way, sending the kids back to Grace next year (all four of them in one place!), and while we don't have our finances lined up yet, we know that God will provide what we need.

I was sitting here trying to remember what made us so mad about her school last time. Kris was tempted to pull her out then for the rest of the year. And then I remembered...it was a few weeks ago when Livvy had the swine flu. That's right... *rolling my eyes*

Potty mouth

Twice now Kaleb has chosen to yell 'f*** you' at Katherine when he was mad. The first time, I wasn't home. Kris talked to him about it and hoped he had nipped it in the bud. Well...he didn't. Mad about something, Kaleb chose to say it again this afternoon to Katherine.

Unsure of how to proceed from there, we took a trip to the library and Kris and I discussed briefly, via text, how to handle the situation. We decided that he would lose electronics (computer, Wii, TV) until Friday. In addition, we found some Bible verses that talk about the tongue and harmful talk. He is currently looking up the 7 passages in his Bible and then copying them down. He will do this for the next three days. Thursday he is going to write a 'report' of sorts about what he has learned.

Kris bought me two new Bibles for Mother's Day. Since he spilled anti-freeze on my other one, we've talked about me getting a new one. I found one I like, but it was NIV and I really wanted New Living Translation. As I kept looking, I found another Bible I liked-it's the One Year Bible. It's pretty cool. Instead of being arranged in order (Genesis-Revelation) it's arranged by date. It's broken up so that in the course of a year, you will have read through the whole Bible. So you go to whatever day it is, and read the selected chapters. It has a passage from the Old Testament, something from the New Testament, part of Psalms and part of Proverbs. It's really an interesting concept. But then I had this dilemma. When I am at church or need to look something up, how am I going to do it? So I found a smaller Bible (NIV) that I can carry with me. Both of them together cost about $20 LESS than the original one I had found. I really like having some direction, some sort of 'format' for reading the Bible.

It's interesting too. Kris and I had gotten away from really sitting down and purposefully reading the Bible. We have started doing it now though after the kids go to bed, and have been really trying to do it consistently. So rather than hearing the TV as they go to sleep, they are now hearing us discuss what we are reading. If you ever think your kids aren't watching you, you're wrong. Tonight, Katherine asked if she could use my Bible 'with the dates'. She got her journal and my Bible and went to the table with it. I am not sure yet what all she did (I plan to ask her) but this simple act of getting back into the Word is being watched by my children. It's one of those things that we should have been doing all along. It's something that is obviously having an impact on the kids. The other night, Kaleb got his Bible and was looking up the passages he needs to memorize for church. It was cute and it showed me how important it is for Kris and I to set this example for the kids.

A good night

Tonight was a good night. Katherine has talked to us before about getting baptized. She told me a month or so ago that she was ready, but she wanted to wait until she was 9 (which will be in October). I asked her why. She just very matter-of-fact-like told me that's just when she wanted to be baptized. So I said ok. Well, this past Sunday during communion Kris was talking to Katherine, I assume about Christ's death and the symbolism in communion. Then, after church she told 'Pastor Jeff' that she wanted to be baptized, when she was 9. Apparently (I just learned this tonight) she filled out some sort of questionnaire on Sunday about Jesus I guess, though I am a little unsure of the details of said questionnaire.

They gave me an envelope tonight with Katherine's name on it, and I looked at it and it had instructions for her baptism, and the date listed was May 10-Mother's Day. I asked her if she was planning to be baptized Sunday and she said yes. I asked her about her plans to wait until she was 9, and she said she told Jeff she wanted to be baptized sometime this month. Well, there are apparently going to be a couple of other baptisms on Mother's Day and so she could be baptized then if she was ready.

While this is extremely exciting, I'm not actually writing this to share Katherine's decision to be baptized. She's Katherine...it should be no surprise to anyone who knows her well that she would make this decision.

What I want to share is what happened in the van shortly after this conversation about Katherine being baptized on Mother's Day. I am almost 100% sure that neither Kris nor myself said anything about her baptism being a gift for Mother's Day, but I could be wrong. Anyway, we get to the van, and I look back at Kaleb and he's struggling to maintain his composure. I could tell he was upset and there were tears welling up in his eyes. While we were walking out, Kaleb informed us that he too wanted to be baptized. So when I saw him crying, I went on and on about how he shouldn't get baptized just because Katherine was, or just because he felt left out. I was trying to be really understanding but let him know at the same time that being baptized wasn't a decision to take lightly. He starts crying even more.

And then he said "That's not why." As in, that's not why he was crying. He continued, with desperation in his little voice, to tell me that all he had was gifts made of paper, and Katherine was going to give me the best gift for Mother's Day. I almost burst into tears myself. He was already buckled so I told him to unbuckle and come up to me. I held him in my arms and was just filled with love for him.

At the end of it all, we decided that in fairness to everyone, Katherine could get baptized this month if she wants (though at our church they may only do it on a monthly basis-I'm not sure), BUT she was not going to be baptized ON Mother's Day. Everyone was satisfied with this outcome.

Even with the trouble he gives me...I truly love my son and think he is brilliant and wise beyond his years. Just to clarify, even though I didn't say I love my girls here...it should be assumed that I do!

Irresponsible parents

For those of you who haven't already heard...enjoy a little story and laugh at our expense.

I'm sitting at work yesterday, it is just after 12pm. My cell phone rings. I recognize the phone number. It's coming from my house. We decided a few months ago to go ahead and add a land line for emergencies-up to now we just used our cell phones. Yesterday, that home phone came in handy and I am thankful for the decision we made to get it!

So I look at my phone and think that maybe Kris went home. And then I got this sinking feeling. Why would he have gone home, and why didn't he just call from his cell phone? Yeah...he didn't go home.

I answered the phone and to my surprise, I heard Katherine's voice. She said "Mommy, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you we had a half day today."

Now this could have been much worse. It wasn't but maybe 6 months ago we finally got extra house keys made and entrusted one to Katherine, in case for some reason they ever got off the bus before we got home. Between that and the house phone, we were fortunate to have even found out about it before I got home at my normal time!

What happened to the little half slip of paper they usually send home warning parents of the half day? Do they actually expect us, as parents, to read the kids folders EVERY day? Yes, well apparently they do. It was right there, on Abbey's folder. Wednesday, April 28th, half-day. I blame the children. :) You see, at the beginning of the year, we got four rather large, magnetic calendars and I stuck every one of them on the fridge. These magnets showed all the half days and days off for the school year. Somehow, through the course of the school year, all of these magnets have disappeared thanks to said children. But let's be honest...I still wouldn't have known about the half day had the magnets NOT disappeared until after something like this happened!

Kris and I, obviously, are not the best at schedules and calendars and organization!! But the funny (and kind of sad part) is that Katherine knew us well enough to feel like SHE was responsible for reminding us there was a half day! They know us all too well and they know that if they don't tell us, we probably won't know. I hope there isn't another half day today that I don't know about!

Sympathetic? Not me.

I have a problem. I cannot seem to sympathize with sick people or people in pain, unless they are my kids. Sick people annoy me. Let me clarify...sick people that I am around on a regular basis annoy me-while they are sick. Not sick, not a problem. Kris had two teeth pulled yesterday. I had been gearing myself up for it since Friday. The weekend itself was a battle because SOMEONE didn't tell me about the appt. or give me any details until after the businesses were closed for the day (same SOMEONE didn't check with me before scheduling either so I had to wait until Monday to cancel an appt. I already had scheduled for Kaleb). I also had to wait until Monday morning to find out details, because as most men seem to do, Kris forgot to ask anything which made me anxious throughout the entire weekend.

So I got home yesterday and saw the kids safely from the bus to the house. Then we went to the library, returned some stuff (ON TIME!) and checked out a few items as well. After that, we went to Subway and picked that up for dinner, then to Walgreen to get chips to go with our subs. Then it was off to pick Olivia up. We got home and dished out dinner and put something on to watch and the kids got to eat out in the living room, which is usually only reserved for movie night.

Kris came home shortly after and of course, annoyed me. You know why? Because he started talking. And he had gauze in his mouth. And the sound annoyed me. What is wrong with me? There is NO rational explanation for this. Instead of being kind to him and making sure he didn't need anything, I told him that he should stop talking. As I began with, I have a problem! I told him to stop talking, not once, but twice. He and Kaleb went downstairs shortly after (I wonder why...) to watch a movie and the girls for the most part stayed upstairs with me.

Around 8pm Kaleb came upstairs asking about something, but I told him it was time to get ready for bed. He sat down on the couch and I said "Is Daddy sleeping?" And Kaleb said "He's resting." And I think I said something like, "Yeah I bet he's just resting." or something sarcastic...as resting and sleeping are synonymous and I hate when Kris tries to distinguish between the two. And what does Kaleb do? His jaw drops in shock and I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but he basically gave me a lecture on how Daddy NEEDED to rest because he had teeth pulled. It was humbling, kind of. I just laughed. I told the kids that it was good that they gave him sympathy since I didn't!

I put the kids in bed and proceeded to clean the kitchen and living room. I made the kids' lunches for today. I washed Livvy's school blankets and was extremely careful not to make any noise and wake Kris up. That in and of itself was a BIG DEAL for me. I wouldn't even let the kids go downstairs to give him hugs and kisses because I didn't want them to wake them up. So at this point I am feeling pretty good. I haven't tried to get his attention, I haven't asked him to help me with anything...I have been supportive and understanding and let him rest downstairs. While this might come naturally to everyone else out there, it does not come naturally for me. I have to work really hard to have a good attitude about that kind of thing. And though I started out negatively, I got my act together and left him alone...and to top it all off, I didn't sit upstairs mad about it either, which is unlike me also. I'm bearing my soul here people...I'm not a nice person sometimes.

So I finally sat down and found myself glad that I had grabbed Mystery Science Theater 3000 from the library because with Kris sleeping downstairs we wouldn't be watching any of our shows together. So I stuck that in and worked for a couple of hours. It was funny too by the way. I watched "Attack of the Killer Leeches"-I think that is what it was called. And then I took my medicine, read a chapter in a book and went to sleep.

All in all I would consider it a success! I felt good about how I had handled the whole thing, as sad as that is. Ok...I didn't feel good about the part where I told him to stop talking...but after he went downstairs...I handled it all very well. I don't foresee God calling me to be a nurse anytime in the near future though! You know those mean nurses you sometimes get in the hospital? That would probably be me. I'd probably be annoyed every time a call light came on. I mean, how dare that person who just had their gall bladder out need a glass of water? Yeah...I'm not sure why he married me either sometimes. Feel free to feel sorry for Kris. He puts up with a LOT! He's a very good man and I am blessed to have him in my life, even though sometimes I do not know how to show that to him, especially when he is sick or in pain!

Enjoy my stupidity!

First of all...let me just say that one of the things I love about the phone that Kris got me for my birthday (Samsung Instinct) is how simple it is. Everything about it is simple. Texting, taking pictures, sending or uploading pictures, checking email or Facebook, listening to music, etc...it is all really simple. I had a fancy smart phone previously (Treo 750w) and there were so many features I didn't use. So it was great to have a phone that I loved, that was super easy to use, and still did what I needed it to do.

With that being said, please see the picture below. I am going to show you just how simple it is, even to charge my phone, or to charge the spare battery. There are arrows for everything. The arrows point you in the way to go. It can't get any simpler, right?



Ok, so let me first say that I did not get a lot of sleep last night. I didn't go to bed until almost 1am. Kris came to bed around 3am, tossed and turned for what seemed like 5 hours, though in reality I think it was probably only about 15 minutes. He FINALLY went downstairs and I fell back asleep. I got up before 7am (right around 6:55am!). So I suppose I was tired. At least that is what I am blaming my stupidity on!

I got to work this morning and needed to charge my phone. I have two batteries. I usually have one charged and one in my phone. So I swapped out the full battery and put the one that needed charging into the charger. I plugged it into the USB slot on my laptop. The little light flashed, and then it went dark. Normally when it is charging there will be a solid red light on, and when it is fully charged the light turns green. So no light was on, and I was perplexed. It didn't help that I have a new computer and I thought maybe one of the USB slots was messed up. So I'm switching everything around. I keep headphones and a wireless mouse plugged in via USB and over the next few hours I kept switching things in and out, trying to figure why my battery would not charge. I finally decided there was nothing wrong with my computer therefore there must be something wrong with my sync cable.

So I was chatting with Kris on Gmail, telling him I was frustrated and couldn't get it to charge. And while I was doing this, again I was fidgeting with it trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with my charger. I decided I would take the battery out and put it back in, hoping this would help. Now mind you, I had done this at least 3 other times prior to this. However, on this occasion when I took the battery out, I realized that I had put the battery in backwards.

Now that you have read that-look back up at the picture. A child could figure out which way the battery was supposed to go. So there you go. I am a 30-year-old, semi-intelligent, working mother, married for 10 years and raising four adorable children. I have a good life, AND a very SIMPLE phone to make my busy life easier; and yet, it took me a good three hours to realize why my battery wasn't charging. Apparently I cannot follow simple PICTURE instructions!

Have a good laugh at my expense!

Bedtime update

Since we implemented our new 'rules' concerning bedtime, the kids have actually taken really well to it. They've each had a warning from time to time (Livvy about every night) but that's it. No one has had to have their door shut since my last blog. This is HUGE!!! I am very excited and hope that it continues. Every night we remind them of the rules and make sure they are clear in what will happen if they break the rules. So far, so good. I will keep you posted.

A family meeting

Last night we called our first official Bishop family meeting. Knowing us it will probably be the last, as inconsistent as we are! Although the meeting was to talk about expectations and consistency, so hopefully we will start to see some changes.

Those of you with small children, I don't need to say more than BEDTIME for you to know what that entails. Excuse, after excuse, after excuse! It's getting SO old and we spend two hours every night after putting the kids in bed dealing with excuses from at least one or two kids at a time! I guess that's our fault for having four kids but that is beside the point.

In addition, there has been a lot of attitude and mumbling under their breath-primarily from Katherine and Kaleb. On the Kaleb front it is usually yelling at me and grumbling about every little thing or just flat out refusing to do what I said. It is exhausting, having kids.

So our meeting last night was to address those two issues in particular. We wanted to sit down with everyone and talk to them about being respectful of others-to my surprise every single one had an example of being respectful (my three year old included!) and examples of being disrespectful. Apparently they know what respect is and what it is not, which made the conversation a lot easier. The older kids said it is one of their 5 expectations (or something to that effect) that they do at school, and it is obvious that Olivia knew what it meant when she said that not getting up at nap time was respectful and that not listening was disrespectful. The conversation overall was very insightful-it is amazing to me how much these kids understand. I don't give them enough credit!

Anyway...my whole reason for explaining all of that is to document something funny that Abbey said. Those of you who have met my lovely, free-spirited Abbey Rose understand what I say when I say "Abbey is Abbey." She's just...well...Abbey. And she has been asking me FOR DAYS when she can wash dishes again. I let her wash dishes about 3 months ago, and I'll be honest with you-she did NOT do a good job! I had to rewash them all-this was at a time when our dishwasher was not functioning. So lately we have talked about keeping the house clean, and so perhaps this is what has renewed her interest in dish washing. Now that we have a new dishwasher, I don't have to wash anything by hand except my PC cookware, stones and knives. And all of those are either too sharp or too heavy for my six-year-old to wash.

A few days agao she asked me again when she could wash the dishes. I kept telling her soon. So a couple of days went by without her saying anything else about it, until last night at our little meeting. When we asked her what is something she has done recently that has shown respect she answered "Being patient waiting to wash the dishes again." My point is this-Abbey is dead set on washing some dishes! It was really funny.

Katherine, always thinking, has already made a mental list of about 10 things she would like to address at our next family meeting.

It is going to be hard to be consistent, seeing as how Kris and I don't have much practice in that area! But I know it will really cut down on a lot of these 'issues' we have at home.

Patience...

...I don't have any. At all. Especially with people who annoy me. Sometimes I can tolerate things. On a good day, I can get by without too much annoyance. On a bad day, there is absolutely nothing that DOESN'T annoy me. Noises really annoy me. Certain ones. People clipping their fingernails. In church, at work, at home. I don't care where-I cannot stand that sound. Though it does make me slightly more agitated when people clip their nails in church or in the cubicle next to me. I cringe just thinking about it now.

Other sounds that annoy me:

Jingling change-here's my question on this one. Do those who enjoy putting their hands in their pocket and feeling around, moving the coins around fill their pockets every day with hundreds of dollars in change just so that they can jingle it?

Coughing-I KNOW people can't help it. I KNOW people don't do it just to annoy me. I KNOW it isn't a personal vendetta against me. But I HATE coughing. Ask my sister. Ask my husband. Shoot, ask me-I can't stand myself when I cough! I annoy myself. That's pretty bad!

Breathing-not just your normal every day breathing. I mean, that would just be a really stupid thing to be annoyed at, wouldn't it? But what about breathing where you are sitting near (not right next to) someone. The TV is on. They are reading a book. You are trying to concentrate on LOST. And all you can hear is heavy breathing. Loud breathing. Louder than the TV. And it isn't just a once in a while thing. It's all the time!

I've been annoyed a lot today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Almost the weekend.

I am glad tomorrow is Friday. I love Fridays. They are the end of the work week - well sometimes! They are the beginning of the weekend - regardless of whether I choose to work on Saturdays. Friday means I get to wear JEANS or capris now that the weather is getting better. Side bar-Kris has sneezed about 20 times consecutively and is now officially annoying me. Back to Fridays. I love Fridays.

This last week was finally calm after a crazy week/weekend prior to now. Livvy started having problems with her asthma LAST Tuesday night. Ended up in the ER Thursday night. Her steroid had kicked in by the time we got there so we were just sent home. The next day she was feverish and stayed home with me. That night she began coughing so fiercely we could not decide if we should call 911 or just take her to the ER ourselves. She coughed for 30 minutes straight. It was scary-we opted to drive her to the ER and by the time we got there (due to the cold air we would later learn). Turns out she has croup. You can tell she is still fighting it. She has had trouble dragging herself out of bed all week...but then again, that's me every day so maybe that is more biological than some sickness!

Saturday night I am having some friends over for a little gathering. My sister will be here to do Henna on anyone who wants it. She's really talented. Check out her website: www.kalaofindia.com for more information. I should ask her if I said it right-I mean, do you 'DO' Henna, or do you 'GET' Henna, like you would get a tattoo? If she is doing it, is she giving it, and not doing it? I don't know. I'm not current on the Henna lingo.

Kris and I spend our evenings together (after the kids finally quit making excuses and go to sleep!) playing on Facebook on our laptops and catching up on favorite shows. We have recently started watching Lie to Me (I think it's ok/enjoyable), Kings (we've only seen the first two episodes and so far I am not liking it-not hating it though), and my newest favorite is Life on Mars. Big Bang Theory is GREAT too! If you have not seen this show-check it out!

Things I am currently enjoying on Facebook:

I am ALWAYS up for a game (or 5) of Scrabble.

Mafia Wars is strangely addicting...and I get just a little bit anxious if I run out of energy and am kicking myself for not choosing the 'character' that regenerates energy faster.

Texas Hold 'Em - fun game that I am loving learning to play!

Things I think are dumb or just do not understand on Facebook:

YoVille. It is so limiting. When you have played every Sims game (PS and PS2 for us and now Wii) it's hard to really enjoy YoVille. There is so much you can do in the Sims games and I find myself bored and annoyed with YoVille. Kris just checked it out too and agrees that it is stupid. I apologize to those of you who like it. I just don't see the point of it and thing it is too basic and there is too little that you can actually do.

There's my boring Bishop update.

Green peppers...

Katherine and Abbey remind me of my sister Jenny and myself when we were little. There's a story I must share before I can tell you what happened between my girls tonight.

I don't remember how old we were. But something happened when we were young that neither of us have ever forgotten. I HATED green peppers. My mom kept putting them in our salads though. And one time, I was convinced that Babe, our cocker spaniel at the time would eat the peppers if I picked them out of my salad. So what did I do? I did what anyone who hated peppers would do. I picked them out of my salad and threw them on the floor. And what happened next? Well I can tell you that Babe did NOT eat those stupid peppers! Someone found them though. That someone was my mother. And she would not rest until she found out who did it. Of course, I told my mom the truth right away-I told her that Jenny must have done it because it certainly wasn't me. And what did my sister do? SHE DENIED IT! Can you believe that? I mean here we are in trouble because SOMEONE threw their peppers on the floor and she just denied it. So what could my mom do? She fed us both peppers until someone finally told the truth. We still laugh about that, Jenny and I.

Tonight...I got to be my mother. Abbey and Katherine put me through a situation so similar it was both amusing and frightening at the same time. What started out as a simple game turned into much, much more. It took a good hour to finally get one of them to cave. Abbey caved. Prior to this, Katherine was BEGGING through tears for Abbey to tell the truth so they wouldn't both lose their privileges tomorrow. We were 95% sure that Abbey was lying and Katherine was telling the truth. But there was that 5% that wasn't convinced. Finally we got to the bottom of the matter and Abbey admitted she was lying.

It was really eye opening for me. Oh the joys of parenting!

Oh and by the way, I actually eat green peppers now from time to time!

On the road again...

This is probably the most interesting day of travel I have ever experienced. It is probably more interesting to me than anyone else, and I can't really explain why I find it so interesting...I just do. The driving today has gone by extremely slow...we've had long pit stops, got on the road late. It just seems to be dragging. That, however, is not what I find so interesting. What I find interesting is that we started in Pennsylvania, then we drove through Maryland to avoid the PA turnpike and tolls (MARYLAND WAS BEAUTIFUL!), then into West Virginia for a bit (also beautiful!), then BACK into Pennsylvania and are about half an hour away from OH! That's a lot of states to travel through in just 4 hours! The hills in Pennsylvania are also beautiful-I was not intentionally leaving that out. This whole 'region' is full of God's beauty.

I am also admitting how much of a geek I am. I am pretty excited to be blogging while Kris drives. He found a way for me to use my cell phone as a modem (for FREE) and so I am connected to the internet while we drive. Through Maryland/West Virginia the signal wasn't very strong but I am back online now and writing about it and am amused by being able to do this.

We are going to wind up in Dublin, OH much later than we had planned or wanted, but there isn't really any rush so it's ok. We are just hoping we gain enough distance on Cindy and Dean (they were ahead of us earlier) to get to the hotel before they do, since the hotel was reserved in our name. And I am really hoping we get there in time to take the kids to the pool one last time. Though the speed limit has just gone down from 70 to 55 which doesn't make us happy! Oh well...tomorrow is going to be a lazy day for us. The Drury Inn always lets us have a late (noon) check out so we plan to sleep in, enjoy their breakfast buffet, and take our time in the morning. It will take us almost 7 hours to get home tomorrow, but we will gain an hour on the way back so that will be nice too. Even with longer stops along the way, if we get on the road by noon we should be home no later than 8pm tomorrow night.

I don't have much to say. I can always tell because I bore myself. So I will stop boring you now too!

Pictures from vacation

Gettysburg PA

Hershey PA - our resort and Hershey World/Museum

Signs, signs everywhere there's signs...

Tonight is our last night in Pennsylvania.  It has been a great vacation and wonderful that I haven't worked at all!  That is a great feat...as I am kind of a work-a-holic.  It wasn't as difficult to stay away though as I thought it was going to be.  Though I did log in once to monitor my email but I didn't do any actual work.

Pennsylvania LOVES their signs.  There are signs everywhere, hence my brilliant title for this post.  The signs are ridiculous too.  Some of them are legitimate.  Some of them are just pointless.  "No shoulder in 2/10 of a mile."  "Are your headlights on?"  "Turn your headlights on.  State law."  All of the signs we saw now explain why we had to pay $11 to drive on the PA Turnpike!  I'll try to get some pictures of the signs as we head back to OH tomorrow.  I found myself amused by all the signs...we've thrown around a lot of jokes this week due to the large amount of signs.  

We went to Hershey World today.  The theme park was closed but we were able to go to the Hershey Musuem-that is not its actual name but it is escaping me at this time.  Milton Hershey was an amazing man.  Reading about how he went from bankruptcy to building a company and a town...it was pretty cool.  The younger kids weren't that interested in it but Katherine was absorbing it all.  I was disappointed to learn that they haven't allowed tours of the Hershey Factory since the 1970's.  However, Hershey World made up for it because they had this little tour that showed you how the factory operates and that was interesting, and geared more towards kids, which meant that it was much more interesting to them than the factory tour would have been.

I am going to try to post a slide show of pictures from our trip on here-we'll see if I am able to get that done.

Overall it has been a great vacation.  I'm sad to see it draw to a close.  Oh and we got to find out that Olivia shares Katherine's car sickness...as soon as we got into West Virginia and the roads got hilly and curvy...fun times!  So we now have two children we have to drug with Dramamine before going on trips.

Chocolate

I love chocolate.  It's no big secret.  :-)

Saturday my family will embark on a journey to the sweet, sweet town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. We'll 'caravan' with Cindy, Dean and Brandon, stopping halfway there for the night.  I just didn't think the kids were ready for a drive like that in ONE day, so we're breaking it up over two days.  Maybe it was more that I wasn't ready for a drive like that with the kids--but I really do believe they are just a bit too young to tolerate more than 6-7 hours a day.

I'm really looking forward to some time off work.  Of course I will find myself worrying about it while I am gone, but I need a break.  I'm really looking forward to getting some reading done.  I plan to finish Dekker's latest book "Kiss" and hopefully read the fourth book in the Anne of Green Gables series since I can't seem to find that one online anywhere to listen to (for free); that is, if Katherine will let me borrow the book!

I am sure I will have plenty of pictures to share!  Below are a couple of pictures from our weekend trip to Castlewood State Park.

It's me again

It's too late (early depending on how you look at it) and I am too tired for anything heavy or interesting.  But I am still alive!  I have just really busy.  Tomorrow is the first day I can remember where we have nothing planned.  No work for me, nowhere to go, nothing we have to do...Kris and I are both really looking forward to this.  Kris dad came out yesterday and layed (laid) large carpet squares down in our basement (no padding in case it floods again).  So we spent the evening getting that back to a liveable space.  It's so nice to have that space again! 

My medication is in full swing within my body.  It feels good to feel alive again.  It feels good to be able to get out of bed in the morning.  3 days this past week I got to work by 7:30am (one day by 7am).  This, my friends, is miraculous as before I was lucky to make it to work before 9am.  Fortunately for me my schedule is obviously somewhat flexible.  But because I got in earlier, even with leaving at 3pm most days so I can be home when the bus comes with my kids, I haven't had to work in the evenings and don't have to work Saturday to make up the hours.  I'm still getting the hang of managing my anxiety/panic attacks.  I have gone from taking the Xanax 3 times a day to primarily only taking it before bed to help me sleep.  The last two evenings I have taken it while the kids were still up, having been feeling more on edge than usual.  But it's nice that I am not dependent upon it!  And the Rozerem, now that my mind isn't constantly churning (because I take the Xanax before bed) is actually doing it's job and helping me fall asleep and STAY asleep.  This hasn't happened in a long time.  I tested the theory of whether or not the Xanax helped me sleep.  Sure enough-the two nights that I didn't take it in conjunction with the Rozerem-I could not fall asleep and kept waking up.  So for now, the Wellbutrin, the Xanax and the Rozerem are a great evening cocktail.  And because I am sleeping better and because the Wellbutrin is now fully in my system, I am less overwhelmed and anxious and therefore do not need the Xanax on a regular basis.  I am happy about this, as there is always the concern of becoming addicted to certain medications.

Kaleb and I have gone to the psychologist twice now.  We go back this coming Monday, and then 2 weeks from that day as well.  It is good.  It is necessary.  It is expensive.  But it is worth it.  I am calmer with Kaleb (and the others as well) with my medication but also with the new techniques/revelations from the therapy and Kaleb I think really likes that attention and he is actually really excited to go to his appointments.  I think that this is a good thing.

We are gearing up for a big trip over spring break, which begins on Friday.  Friday is not technically part of spring break, but it may as well be.  There are parent/teacher conferences Thursday (so the kids of course have yet another half day after being off a whole day today too) and then are off again on Friday.  I think it is odd that they are doing it this way...but it is kind of nice for travelling I suppose.  You kind of get an extra day and a half head start.  We don't, because I think Cindy may still have school that day and we didn't realize they had this day off until last week but that's beside the point.  So I am planning to take off Friday to be home with the kids, and then I can get everything packed and ready for our long journey to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  I am looking forward to it.  It will be nice to get away, though I will still need to do some work from there so that I can afford to take time off in June when Kris and I go to Miami.

This is what happens when I wait until 1:00am to start writing.  I babble on with useless information that no one but me really cares about.  But that's ok...because as I have said before...this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want!  :-)

Music and more

I was downstairs looking for some CDs today and came across a photo album I started on a few years ago...when I had the time and the energy to scrapbook. As I was reminiscing, I came to a page of Kaleb as a baby. I can remember each one of my girls in their newborn and toddler stage.

What I discovered tonight is that I do not remember Kaleb as a baby. I look at the pictures of him, and I don't recognize them. I don't remember them being taken. I don't remember him looking like that. What I remember is being despondent and seeing those pictures almost fills me with despair and regret. When I look at his baby pictures, I am incredibly sad that I can't remember anything but how hard it was to adjust, how he cried all the time, how I never wanted to hold him unless I had to feed him.

I don't remember ever being happy when he was a baby. I don't remember holding him and staring down at him and being overjoyed with this new life God had entrusted to me. I remember feeling cold and indifferent and so alone.

I remember that while I was pregnant with him, I spent a lot of time trying to smile and to hide the fact that I didn't want to be pregnant again so soon. I remember everyone giving us a hard time about me being pregnant again and how difficult it was to pretend to be happy about it when I was dying inside. I remember his birth. I remember just wanting to get it over with and didn't care who was there. I remember seeing him for the first time, holding him on my chest before they took him away to be cleaned and measured--and feeling nothing.

Where was the joy I had felt when Katherine was born? The same joy I would feel with the birth of Abbey and Livvy later? Where was that pride and that awe in the presence of something so profound and incredible as bringing a new life into the world? It wasn't there. What I remember about Kaleb's first year of life fills me with sorrow if I think about it too long. Not guilt...not anymore. Just intense sadness. I look at him and the struggles with him now and I wonder if it is all related. I believe that it is.

I didn't intend to start this and have it turn into such an intense glance back at my son's life. I can't dwell on it. I can't 'deal' with all the emotions that come to surface when I think back. I wish I could go back and undo it. I wish I could remember just one time in his first year of life where I felt something good. It's so sad that I can distinctly remember the first time I loved my son, and it was not until he was about 7 months old. It wasn't instant for me...like it typically is...or like we are told it is supposed to be.

A friend at work has recently introduced me to some new music. There is one song in particular that I can't get out of my head. It is by the band Decyfer Down called "Burn Back the Sun". Below is a link (and the lyrics) to this song. There is a video with the song that I don't really care for; it's the song that touches me...I love the idea of being loved with "passion's quiet rage".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKuDg8tM6PQ

"I take a walk in the bitter cold, I try to see your face, The way it used to be, The sky was never grey, There was a time when I let you in, You turned my night to day, But I turned you away

(Chorus:) Burn back the sun, Bring back the fire once Blazing inside this hollow cage Burn back the sun, You were the only one To love me with passion's quiet rage

I have tasted the apathy, It's bitter on my lips, I am not who I used to be, Betrayal with a kiss, Open arms for the prodigal, You kept the flame alive, You keep this flame alive

(Chorus) Rage, quiet rage"

7 year old Missouri boy charged with theft, forgery and fraud.

Wednesday February 4th, 2009 - St. Louis MO

Parents of Kaleb Bishop were shocked Wednesday to learn that their 7 year old son had stolen a check out of his mother's purse, filled it out and turned it in at school for a book order. The boy's mother received a phone call early Wednesday morning from Kaleb's teacher, concerned about the check he handed in, completely filled out in black marker, and filled out correctly for the most part. The book order was not processed and Kaleb's teacher sent the check back home with Kaleb, who was sentenced to losing his money and writing "I will not steal" 100 times. It is unknown at this time if there will be further punishment.

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Of course this was not actually published in any local papers, just on my blog for all the world to see. My son...gotta love him. I'd love to say I was surprised by the above story which is completely true. But I was not surprised. It was SO like him. He told the teacher I wrote the check. She told him that she had a sample of my handwriting and when she told him she could show him he immediately changed his story. Here is how the conversation then went:

Kaleb - My sister Abbey wrote it.

Teacher - Abbey's in Kindergarten right?

Kaleb - Yes.

Teacher - Kindergarteners don't know how to write checks.

Kaleb - Well she's really smart.

Ahh...nice Kaleb. We have finally taken steps towards trying to figure out how we can make our home more peaceful. Kaleb and I went to see a child psychologist Monday night and will go again tomorrow. He seems to enjoy going actually and he was given a little homework assignment, as was I. I am hoping though that I can find a good psychologist closer to our home because I am taking him out to Kirkwood right now and it's a bit much to drive home from the Kirkwood area just to drive back out there a couple of hours later.

I've been intending to get on here and write for some time now-I know I went a long time without doing it. A lot has happened. I've been back on medication since February 4th, and this time was prescribed Xanax (in addition to my Wellbutrin) to help with the anxiety/panic attacks I have been having. It has helped quite a bit. The doctor recommended using it to help me sleep too and it has helped some. Though it is not helping me stay asleep during the night. I have kept a log of when I have taken it, how many, how it affected me, etc...I will be printing that off and taking it back to the doctor when I go back in a week and a half. It was a good decision to get back on medication. I am feeling so much better and enjoying life.

Kris and I celebrated 11 years together (not married) yesterday. Our first date was on Valentine's Day 11 years ago. We had a great time together-the best day we've had together in a very long time. We got to see "He Just Not That into You" last night and I thought it was a great movie. Much better than "New in Town" which was ok, but I just can't stand Renee Zellweger. Today we are surprising the kids with a family date. The $1 theatre out here is showing "Tale of Despereaux" and when we get home (our friend Faith watched the kids overnight so we are at a hotel) we are going to tell the kids to shower and get all dressed up so we can go out. Then we are going to take them to see the movie. I think it will be fun.

I have more to say, pictures to post, etc...but Kris is wanting to go and get breakfast so I must join him.