Restaurant OR Torture Chamber? You decide.

Having the entire day to ourselves, Kris and I decided to try out a new restaurant. We were originally going to The Melting Pot, but those plans changed when we realized we'd have to drive farther than we wanted to, just to get there. *Plus we have a couple in St. Louis if we really felt the need (and had the money) to go!

So we wound up at a little restaurant called "Silk Mill Grille".

You can't go wrong with a restaurant that serves steak, right? WRONG! The atmosphere, while somewhat horrific, was very interesting, with items from the 50's/60's/70's on the walls and hanging down from the ceiling. What I found most interesting, as well as frightening is that the majority of these older'original' pieces of 'art' or decoration were weapons. Kris and I felt, in a small way, that we were in some sort of torture chamber! Axes in the wall, saws hanging down, etc...it was weird!

Mixed Signals

We have gone into 'town' (Gordonsville) two different times now. We keep passing this house that has a ton of what some people would call "Jesus" signs. Not those green and white one that you can spot on 50% of the lawns in St. Louis. Just signs that say 'We must be born again' or 'Real men love Jesus'. There are also several different sizes of crosses through the yard. It's like a lawn over-decorated with gnomes and flamingos, only this one is crosses and signs encouraging people to follow God. See below:

What I really found interesting about this is how 'inviting' it seems, as far as proclaiming that we all need God. And yet, as you approach the entrance to the driveway for this home, this is what you will see:

That's right...take a closer look:

I'm just saying...I don't know whether to feel like they want to keep people out, or they want to encourage people to accept Jesus. I just thought with the amount of "Jesus" stuff, their driveway wouldn't seem so uninviting!

Here I Am Again

I haven't been extremely busy the last two days; I just didn't want to bore you with things that weren't...well...interesting! Not that that has ever stopped me before...

Today Kris and I spent the day together, just the two of us. Cindy and Dean took the kids to Monticello today and they had an excellent time. They were so excited to go and learn about Thomas Jefferson. Abbey came back and said "Thomas Jefferson didn't have a middle name!" I said "He didn't?" And she said "Yeah it says so on this paper!" and then she held the paper up in my face. It was so cute-it was a little fact sheet about Thomas Jefferson. Apparently there was a lot to do and see there because Cindy left with the kids just before 10am and they all stayed there until it closed at 5pm! They soak in that history in ways that I do not remember doing and I am so thankful for that.

Kris and I on the other hand took a nap in the morning and then we went to Walmart. It's a tradition for Kris and I, as corny as that might sound. It started on our wedding night and anytime we go out of town, we tend to migrate towards Walmart. For whatever crazy reason, this is fun for us. We bought little gift bags for the kids with cheap (BUT FUN) toys for the kids to occupy them on the drive tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to Belle Isle. I had stumbled across it when I was looking for something semi-close by for us to do as a family. Then when I was going to 'map' it to see how far away it was, I found out that it was actually almost 3 hours from here!! But we had heard it had a suspension bridge that you cross to get to the island and that it has portions of ruined buildings, one of them being prison that held Union soldiers. Thankfully I decided to look it up again tonight, only to find out that I had actually been looking up the address to Belle Isle STATE PARK. These two places are NOT the same!! At all. Belle Isle State Park (which I had been looking up tonight and thinking it sounded boring) IS almost 3 hours but the actual Belle Isle I wanted to see was only 1 1/2 hours from here! What a pleasant surprise!!! It's actually located in the heart of downtown Richmond. You walk across a suspension bridge (though it looks more solid than what most of you are probably thinking and I am thankful for this!). The bridge is actually directly beneath the Lee Bridge. This led me to look at what else was around the area and there is The Museum of the Confederacy there in Richmond. Some of you know that we went to Gettysburg last year with the kids over spring break, so I think that this will be a great place to go with the kids. They really do love history and I am excited about taking this trip with them. Can't wait to get out there and get some pictures and just have a fun day with our kids.

Katherine the Composer

I have had a few posts in the past about Katherine and her artistic side. This is another post dedicated to the artistic styling of the one and only Katherine Grace Bishop. My heart is swelling tonight with love for her. Last night she had a very hard time falling asleep. She had taken quite a long nap in the van before we got to the resort, not waking up until 6pm. Naturally, she could not fall asleep at 9pm, or 10pm or even 11pm. We finally let her get up and finish watching Temple Grandin with us. Well apparently even after we went to bed she still could not fall asleep. I didn't find out about this until this morning.

Katherine came up to me (I was of course sitting in a chair with my laptop in front of me, as it is a part of my body!) and asked if she could sing a song that she wrote. I was in the middle of something so I had her wait a few minutes, so that I could give her my full attention.

She explained to me that she wrote it herself because she couldn't sleep last night and it helped her. So she sang it to me (FROM MEMORY I MIGHT ADD) and I was just so proud and I asked her if she thought she could sing it in front of the camera. I also asked her to write the lyrics down so that I could of course post them on here. She titled the song and everything! So cute...and if you listen to the lyrics, you can see that Katherine has a deep love for God and a very real understanding of why Jesus came to earth.

The video is sort of dark because it was night and the lighting isn't great in here. The lyrics are posted below the video.

We Will Praise Him
*written and performed by Katherine Grace Bishop, age 9, on March 14, 2010.

Verse 1

Jesus died on the Cross to save us from our sins,
All those nails felt worse than needles or pins.

Chorus:
And that's why we give Him glory, glory, glory
'Cause He's so holy, holy, holy
And we will praise Him, praise Him, praise Him
For all of our days

Verse 2

They killed Him even though He was an innocent man,
No one can do miracles but Jesus can.

Chorus

Verse 3

They wrapped Him up and in a tomb He lay,
He rose from the dead after three days.

Chorus

Verse 4

Now that you know the story of the Cross,
You know that Jesus is the ultimate boss!

Chorus (2x)

Temple Grandin

Claire Danes as Temple Grandin



The 'real' Temple Grandin



A few weeks ago Kris and I were watching The Colbert Report and Claire Danes was one of his guests. She was promoting a new movie she was in, called Temple Grandin. When we heard what it was about, we were both left longing to see this movie. It's about an autistic woman (based on the life of Temple Grandin)who overcame many obstacles and a cruel society and has led an amazing life. It was riveting...I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen the entire time, for fear I'd miss something. I wasn't sure how I felt about Claire Danes in this role when I first saw previews for it. But let me assure you, 10 minutes in you forgot you were watching Claire Danes and she really became Temple Grandin. It was an amazing performance and an extremely well-written script.

If you know anyone with Autism, or just want to understand Autism better, watch this movie. When Temple Grandin was 4 and diagnosed with Autism in 1951, they suggested she be institutionalized for the rest of her life and her mother was told she had a form of infantile Schizophrenia. How limiting our society and medical professionals were in the 50's. There wasn't much understanding of Autism at the time, and so the 'professionals' assumed that parents of autistic children just weren't nurturing their children and that is why they behaved the way that they did. Unbelievable. Can you imagine being told that it was YOUR fault that your child couldn't talk or interact 'normally' in social settings, when you'd done whatever you could to help them succeed? I'm thankful there is so much knowledge out there now about Autism. This movie is just another step in the right direction towards showing the world how intelligent and FUNCTIONAL people with Autism can be. Unlike Rain Man and I Am Sam, which are both good movies for becoming more aware of people who are not 'like us', Temple Grandin is based on the life a real woman who accomplished incredible things in her life! Obviously there are different sides of the spectrum and some people will be higher-functioning than others. I was fascinated by this film and recommend that you see it.

Times

It's been a long time since I posted a song on here. Unfortunately, I can't find it on YouTube. The video that is there is blank and doesn't play. BUT, you can listen to it here:

Times - Tenth Avenue North

The catch is that you have to create an account to listen to it (I just realized that(sorry!) and can only listen to the whole song one time without purchasing it (though it is totally worth purchasing!). I don't know if you can find it online anywhere else. I have the lyrics listed below. Amazing song. The first part is from the perspective of us...sinners...who feel lost and alone. The second half is what God says to us in those times, how HE responds and loves us in ways that we will never fully understand. It is a very powerful song. If you have a chance, listen to it while you read the lyrics. I hope that you are blessed by it, as Kris and I were today.

The song is called "Times" by Tenth Avenue North, who will actually be touring with Casting Crowns next month; they will be in St. Louis on April 2 and I am hoping that Kris and I can get tickets to the concert. I like Casting Crowns, but it's Tenth Avenue North that has some of the most profound lyrics that I am looking forward to (hopefully) seeing/hearing!

I know I need You
I need to love You
I love to see You, and its been so long
I long to feel You
I feel this need for You
And I need to hear You
Is that so wrong?

Now You pulled me near You
When we're close I fear You
Still I'm afraid to tell You
All that I've done
Are You done forgiving?
Or can You look past my pretending?
Lord I'm so tired of defending
What I've become
What have I become?

I hear You say "My love is over, it's underneath, it's inside, it's in between the times you doubt me

When you can't feel the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
The times you've broken, the times that you mend
The times you hate me and the times that you bend
Well my love is over, it's underneath, it's inside, it's in between, these times you're healing
and when your heart breaks
The times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
The times you're hurting
The times that you heal
The times you go hungry and are tempted to steal
In times of confusion and chaos and pain
I'm there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame
I'm there through your heartache
I'm there in the storm
My love I will keep you by my power alone
I dont care where you've fallen, where you have been
I'll never forsake you
My love never ends, it never ends

WOW...

The Cabin-Shenandoah Crossing

First things first:

We have internet. It isn't ideal...we *have* to connect through our phones, but since we are in the mountains, we were worried that our phones wouldn't get strong enough signals to connect to the internet-I'm glad our worries were unfounded.

I need main level laundry.

I need more than one bathroom in my house.

OK, now that we have that out of the way...we are HERE! We all made it safe and sound. The cabin is nice--very rustic, just like you would expect a cabin to be! The 'resort' has more of a camping-type feel to it and the kitchen/dining room remind me of an old farmhouse. There are quite a few pictures on this post, primarily because the kids crack me up with how they organized everything. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Kaleb's room, as he is staying in Grandma's cabin. I'll try to go over there tomorrow to see if there is anything of interest worth photographing.

One thing to note: in Abbey and Livvy's room, Abbey has a picture frame she got that she just loves. Katherine helped her find a picture to put in it, and when you see the picture, I just think knowing a little background information would be helpful. I don't know if I have written it here or not, but Abbey is very particular about who she loves. She loves God and Uncle Brandon the most. Then she loves herself, and then she loves everyone else. So the picture in her picture frame should come as no surprise to anyone. Oh and she also has a mirror right by her bed, probably so she can see herself and make sure she still looks beautiful!

Lunchtime laughter

Kris and I are travelling with Abbey and Katherine today. They've been pretty quiet. There is a HUGE difference NOT having Olivia in here with us! That girl talks NON-STOP. Kat and Abbey are pretty quiet and occupy themselves well. We stopped at Applebees for lunch. I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't see this sign first-I'll blame it on being tired. But I am thrilled that Kris saw it and pointed it out. You guys know how much I like to find 'odd' signs and write about them. I'm not going to tell you what store we saw this sign on--you can guess and we'll see if anyone gets it right!

My first thought upon reading this was "Um, no thanks. I have enough of my own." Well of course Kris and I were laughing about this sign and talking about it with the kids. My second thought (as we were far away at the time we saw the sign) was "I wonder what the fine print says." So of course I had Kris drive us over so I could get a better picture of it. So, tell me why they put SEE STORE FOR DETAILS in ALL CAPS and then directly underneath it they repeat it, yet without the emphasis of ALL CAPS? Seriously...frazzled mothers out there...if you need a place that will give away your children for you, I know where you can go!

During the course of our lunchtime conversation centered around this 'interesting' sign, Abbey somehow found her way to the following statement: "Mrs. Smith told us that when we have kids they are going to be just like us." I told her that was exactly right! So she asked me how she was like me. I told her that when I was a little girl all I wanted to do was get married and have babies and that is how she was like me. Then she started being silly and proclaimed "I'm going to sell my babies!" Kris informed her that was illegal. We then proceeded to have a conversation about selling babies and Abbey told us that she was going to have a garage sale to sell her babies and she would sell them for $1. It's good to laugh and besides being absolutely adorable, Abbey is the best when it comes to bringing laughter and absolute joy to our lives. Don't get me wrong...the others bring much joy too...but there is just something about the way that Abbey talks and thinks and just *is* that just light up any room she is in. She is truly living up to her name: Father's Joy.

When we got back on the interstate after lunch, Kris saw a sign that said "Pedestrians, animals, and bicycles prohibited." So we were joking around about what they do about the animals, seeing as how animals can't read and we're in the mountains, where animals will be abundant. I kid you not...within less than a minute we saw a dead deer on the side of the road. I guess they are pretty serious about enforcing those rules! Seeing that, I definitely will NOT be walking or cycling on Interstate 64!!!

Kris is perplexed right now. He's musing that he keeps seeing signs that tell him Virginia (which we have just now entered) is monitoring his speed with all types of different devices (radars, aircraft, etc...), but he has yet to see an actual speed limit sign! Seriously...what is the speed limit here? We're 7 miles into VA and can't tell if it is 65 or 70.

On a side note, Abbey just randomly asked "When we come back from spring break, can I go to the dentist?" Yeah...I love that girl!

Rain rain rain

Well the day started out good. We had a great visit with my parents and two of my nieces. My dad suggested we take a different route than the one we had planned-a scenic route. I was fine with this as long as it didn't take us hours out of our way. When we looked at Google Maps it was only a difference of about 20 minutes, so I said 'Sure, why not!' And then it proceeded to rain for the next two hours. Once we made it in to Cincinnati, that's where the REAL fun began.

Let me just pause for a moment to point out that I HATE Cincinnati. It's up there with Sprint and Charter. It all started on my honeymoon. It's a long, boring story that ends with me lost in a bad part of downtown Cincinnati, and Kris waking up to me frantic and in tears. Kris learned really fast that either he drives or he stays awake! He chooses to drive. That being said...

Google Maps told us to do one thing, but when we got to the place where we were supposed to turn, it wasn't there. So we went about 15 minutes out of our way, turned the GPS on and decided to listen to the directions on that-we were starting to lose faith in Google Maps. We got back on track and found that if we listened to the GPS, we would actually make it to the hotel about 40 minutes sooner than Google Maps was estimating. But it was really frustrating all the same...now we're on some back road in Kentucky, in the middle of nowhere and Kris is just trusting the GPS. I hope it's right. And I still hate Cincinnati.

Here are some pictures the scenic route allowed us. Oh yeah! Dad, this is for you! I can see how the drive would have really been beautiful. We were next to the Ohio River most of the time and it really did have the potential to be a great drive. However, THIS is what our drive looked like...the ENTIRE way.

Maybe someday we'll get to enjoy the drive when the weather is nice and we can get out and walk around at one of the parks along the way!

Brandon, my favorite brother-in-law

I've written short bits about my brother-in-law before. He is 27 years old and the sweetest guy I have ever met! I am not sure what the 'official' diagnosis is...whether it is severely autistic or mentally retarded. But the bottom line is that he doesn't talk and his capacity to function as a 'normal' adult is limited. He can fend for himself fairly well, when it comes to making a sandwich, watching a movie, playing video games. And he is just such a nice guy. To everyone he meets. Every now and then he will get mad about something and you can tell he is mad because he turns lights off and on, or falling down on the floor, or slamming his foot in the door! But the majority of the time, he is just super happy and makes you smile.

Today I took a couple of pictures of him. Something to know about Brandon is that sometimes he gets on these 'kicks'. He's been on a Wiggles kick for quite a few years now. He only wears shirts that are the Wiggles colors-or shirts that have those colors in them! He's a creature of habit. Well, for whatever reason, he has started carrying about a box of Mandarin oranges. I thought maybe he was just using the box to hold stuff in it. Then Cindy told me there are actually 3 cans of Mandarin oranges in there still!! In addition to that, he has put a few things of his own in there and I believe he slept with the box last night. Today he took an orange from my parents' (with permission!) and stuck that in his box too. He makes me laugh. When I asked him why he had the box, he lifted his arm up and rested it on the box. I asked him if he was using the box as an arm rest. He shook his hand 'yes' emphatically. It made me laugh, so I had to take a couple pictures of him with his new box.

Obsessive Compulsive? Uh...yeah...

My son is very, very organized!! He loves to have his room cleaned and everything has its own place. I LOVE that I don't really have to tell him to clean his room. When he was two, we had taken him to a neurologist for some behaviors that I won't go into now (though if you've followed the blog, you know some of the background with him). Anyway, we stopped at a gas station about 20 minutes ago and told Kaleb and Livvy they could pick out one snack (Kat & Abbey are riding with Grandma today). Livvy wanted Bubble Tape. Then she decided she would get a ring pop instead. I checked some chips and candy and it all had soy bean oil in it so those were out. So she has her ring pop and Kaleb had picked out some Bubble Tape as well. I decided last minute (primarily due to Livvy whining about wanting something else and her being spoiled) that they could go ahead and pick out one more thing. Livvy chose to get the Bubble Tape with her ring pop. Kaleb...he made a different, interesting choice. It's not nearly as amusing if you don't know Kaleb, but let's just say that he has some OCD tendencies. My funny boy picked out (and was very excited about) HAND SANITIZER!! It looks like a pen and sprays on. He promptly opened it up and used some, and put some on Livvy too. Just a few minutes ago I could smell it and he was back there saying he was glad he got it and that it smells good. And just now, while I have no idea what he is doing back there, I heard him say 'My face is clean!' ***When we got to the hotel for the night (as I wrote the above earlier), his hand sanitizer was completely gone. So I did panic just a little, afraid he would die from whatever it is in hand sanitizer that can kill people. He read me the ingredients though and it didn't sound 'too' bad.

At this same gas station, which was located somewhere in a small town in Ohio, we stopped to fill up the van and have the kids 'try'. You know...to go potty...so we wouldn't have to stop again before we got to the hotel. The gas station was really small and there wasn't really anything else around. I asked Kris if he thought they had a bathroom, but he pointed and showed me where they were--they were on the outside of the building. I asked if he thought we'd have to get a key, and he sent Kaleb over to check and see if he could open the door. He could not. So we had to go inside and get the key, which happened to be attached to the lid of a 32-oz plastic cup! But before we went in to get the key, Kris said 'Those are old school.' Now that comment alone isn't all that remarkable...maybe a little odd coming from him...however, what was funny was just a couple of minutes later Livvy and I are walking towards the bathroom and she said 'These bathrooms are old school.' like it was the most natural comment in the world! It was funny!! Oh and as I am looking over this, I should point out that Kris isn't getting ready to go into the women's bathroom. Livvy was in there and he was holding the door open with his foot until I could get over there. He's not a creep...nor did he have any intention of using the women's bathroom!

Let the vacation begin!

We are now in Terre Haute. Just like our trip to Florida this summer, I am writing from the road. Kris is driving. We've got the music playing. The laptop is hooked up and my trusty Samsung Instinct is providing the internet that my laptop NEEDS. :-) Of course, by the time I actually post this we'll probably be at my parents' house, or on our way to West Virginia tomorrow because I am not quite sure how long my signal will stay strong between here and our exit--there are a lot of trees and it tends to interfere, so much so that I had to switch from Facebook to this! ;-)

I took a few pictures of some of the kids before we left today (Abbey was off in the other room doing something-though I have no clue what that something was). The house looked like a tornado had come through it! Granted, the small folded piles of clothes everywhere would lead one to believe it was a fairly 'tidy' tornado...but a tornado nonetheless! I didn't get everything done I wanted to, primarily because as always, I waited until the last minute to do EVERYTHING. Packing for 6 people is a lot harder and more time consuming than just packing for one or two! Not that this came as a surprise to me. This is our fourth spring break vacation in a row with four kids so it's not a new discovery. It just takes me a little aback me every time. Ok, maybe it does surprise me. And when it is all said and done, and we've got the van packed up and we actually leave, I am a tense, annoyed mess! I'm better now though. Thanks for asking. :-) It doesn't help that the kids were off school all day (and quite...um...not good), and Kris was at work, the house was a mess and I was left to do all the laundry and pack for everyone. The only thing I made Kris get together was his razor and contacts, though unless I press him he won't use either one of those! Yeah...he lasted a few months after our Florida/ocean/glasses fiasco wearing his contacts but it's back to glasses now. Every now and then he will put the contacts in. For about 2 hours. And the shaving...well...that's like it always is. If he has a meeting or a hot date, he'll shave. And unless I tell him to read this, he won't find out that I've said this for quite some time! And then I might get a look...but that's OK...he knows how I feel about shaving and contacts.

You know, I get made fun of on a fairly regular basis by certain people (you know who you are) because Kris and I listen to books. It isn't that we don't like to sit and read an actual 'real' book. It's that we don't have the time and we have a long commute to work. We both love to read and sometimes listening is the only chance we have to 'read' a good story. I know I've written about this before, so I won't dwell on it. I just wanted to share that I am extremely proud to have passed on this love to my children. Before we left, I loaded a couple of books on Kat and Kaleb's MP3 players. Geronimo Stilton for Kaleb and Ella Enchanted for Katherine. The library (at least St. Louis County) has a program called 'Overdrive'. You can check out digital books. It's the same as checking out a library book, in that you can only have it for a certain period of time. Instead of two weeks, we get the audio version of the book for three weeks. After three weeks, the book expires and you can't listen to it anymore--no it's not an honor system. The book just stops working on your device. It's a pretty cool way to go about it if you can finish a book in three weeks. Kaleb had finished the first of 3 Geronimo Stilton books before we even left the house! Kat is back there listening to hers, if the Dramamine hasn't knocked her out yet. We let Abbey 'use' my old Treo sometimes, and I have a book about a goose for her (that may sound random but it was one of the only ones I could find that would be more age-appropriate for her) that I need to put on there...she too will sit and listen to the books. 3 kids down, 1 to go!! I say we let her use it because it's quite a pricey device so we just aren't ready to entrust it to a 7 year old! Kris had given her his old Treo but the screen is cracked and doesn't really work as a touchscreen, which makes it hard for Abbey to navigate, and it makes me feel sorry for her so I'm nice and am letting her use mine. OK, enough about audio books. I just had to get that off of my chest. I've said it before and I will say it again...there's nothing wrong with listening to a book!! And Shane if you're reading this, yes it IS the same! Sort of! Same end result anyway.

Now, with that being said, here is a quick breakdown of our vacation plans, because I know you are all just dying with anticipation for a play-by-play of our trip. And if you didn't know that you were getting yourself into a play-by-play of the Bishop family vacation and you don't want to come along for the ride, I suggest you find another blog to read; for the next 8 days if you return here, you will be joining us on our trip!

Tonight we are driving to my parents house in IN. We won't be staying long. The visit here was a bit impromptu...we didn't add it to our trip until two days ago. We were originally going to get up and leave very early tomorrow morning to head to our hotel in West Virginia for the night. While we have added about two extra hours to our trip, it's split up. 4 hours tonight. Then 6.5 or so tomorrow, instead of the original 8.5/9 hours we were going to drive. I'm looking forward to seeing my side of the family.

So...here's the plan. We'll get to my parents' house in about an hour, though with the time change we'll be pushing 10:30pm. We'll get some sleep and then spend a few hours in the morning visiting with them. I think two of my nieces will be there too so the kids will get to see their cousins who (or is it whom?) they haven't seen since Thanksgiving. After leaving my parents house, we'll head to West Viriginia. The Dramamine will be given out generously at this point. Our oldest and youngest suffer from car sickness. Katherine was discovered a few years ago; Livvy we didn't learn about until it happened somewhere in West Virigina last year on our way to (or maybe from) Pennsylvania. We got into those mountains and the poor girl was a mess (quite literally)! Fortunately, Kaleb and Abbey have showed/shown (I hate when I don't know the proper word) no signs of this ailment, though we have extra Dramamine on hand and depending on my mood they may or may not be having some as well! Or perhaps I should say depending on THEIR mood. Because let's face it--if they NEED to sleep, is a little Dramamine going to hurt them? Not more than my frantic craziness and extreme anxiety if one of them starts throwing up! I went into full panic mode last year and do not want to repeat that. And I am sure that Kris definitely does not want a repeat episode of THAT!

Moving on...we'll stay the night in West Virginia and on Sunday we will be driving to Gordonsville, VA. I've never heard of Gordonsville before. There is a resort nestled there though called Shenandoah Crossing (http://www.shenandoah-crossing.com/). Now for those of you thinking we're just rolling in the money, we're really not! My mother-in-law has a plan with Blue-Green and so they allow us to use their points and Kris and I end up staying with the kids for free. By the way, my mother-in-law, her husband Dean, and my brother-in-law Brandon are also part of this trip so in the pictures that will later appear, that is who the 'extra' people are! We're staying in a 3 bedroom cabin at the resort, while my extended family will stay in another 3 bedroom cabin. These resorts are really nice. Kris and I have talked about it. If we had thousands of dollars to spend every year on vacation, that'd be nice. But we don't...and so we graciously accept the generosity of our family! The resort looks to be one of the better ones we've stayed at-I can't wait to get there and actually see it for myself.

We'll spend 5 nights there, leaving on Friday. We'll drive to Louisville for the night on the way home. This gives us about 8-9 hours driving the first day, and then 4-5 the last day. So we won't have to drive all day, get home really late, unpack and head right back to work. We'll actually be home on Saturday so we will have a day to recoup a little before we have to get back to the real world.

Now that all of the 'details' are out of the way, sit back and enjoy the trip with us. If this long, boring post has left you wondering why on earth you clicked the link to get here, well it can't be that bad because you're still reading!! ;-) Anyway, I promise to write about more interesting things as they develop. And they will develop. I hope!

One proud mother

I love my kids!

I always love them...but there are times when I am walking through the house, and I see one of them or hear them say something and my heart just swells.

Tuesday we had Kaleb's parent-teacher conference. It went well. His teacher likes him; he's a smart, fairly well-behaved kid. He tends to get in trouble whenever there are 'transitions'-like being in the hallway after lunch or for restroom breaks, or going to Art/Music, in P.E. He struggles to remain self-controlled and tends to get himself and other kids in trouble for talking or playing. Beyond that, there isn't much to complain about. He is a great student and respects his teacher and I am pleased enough with that.

Tonight we had parent-teacher conferences for the girls. Abbey's teacher never has anything but delightful things to say about her. She is a hard worker and most of the students can understand what Abbey is saying these days-so speech therapy is definitely proving to be worthwhile (not that I ever thought it wasn't!). Abbey really does light up any room she is in and it is such an amazing thing to watch, and it brings a LOT of joy to my heart! Knowing that we named her Abigail before we knew it meant Father's Joy is just kinda cool too. Oh and I know I've posted before some of Abbey's pictures and stories...I have a new one to post. She's so cute. She went to the Y with Kris tonight (all the kids did because I had the conferences). When she got home she had this huge smile on her face and then she handed me a card. So, instead of playing the entire time, THIS is what Abbey did. Now I should point out that for the most part I am feeling just fine, so I am not sure if she is referring to my healing knee or what! But still...she's such a sweet little girl. Look at her latest creation:

Katherine's teacher said nothing surprising...Katherine is doing well and is a great student! She excels in anything academic! She even got upset today because I thought they had a half day and so I had told them that I was going to pick them up at 1pm. Well apparently she went to the office to make sure we knew they had a full day today-I believe she was afraid that I would pick them up and they would miss some of the school day and not have a chance to say goodbye to her friends...you know since they'll be gone for a week!

Olivia as well had a good review. Who can resist that adorable little four year old? She is SO excited about our upcoming vacation. She keeps calling it 'A-cation'. It's really cute! She asked me today when she could pack her toys for A-cation.

Warning! Get ready for the blogging to go into overdrive. Remember when Kris and I went to FL over the summer? Yes, it will be like that again. I still have the cool phone that gives me the capabilities to connect my laptop to the internet anywhere I have a phone signal! So there will be pictures and hopefully some funny, random encounters to document! Though I am not sure what will top the King Conference Room from the Drury Inn last year! Nothing like a king size bed that overlooks a HUGE 12-seater conference table. Those were some good times!

It's RANDOM THOUGHT night!

Aren't you glad you're reading this?

You're in for a real treat tonight (insert sarcasm here). I have a bunch of different thoughts rolling around in my head, and tonight I am attempting to get some of them out.

I walked into the bathroom tonight and saw about 15 little bath toys on the floor outside, yes outside, the bathtub. And it reminded me of a funny encounter I had with Livvy the other night when I was giving her a bath. For those of you not familiar with the Little Bishops, Olivia is 4. And she has quite the personality! She's very adorable and funny, quite similar to her older sister Abbey, who is 7. Between the two of them, there is always something quite funny said or done.

The kids have become extremely self-sufficient, which has been such a blessing to Kris and I. Because of their self-sufficiency, the older 3 always shower on their own instead of taking baths. Most days we are fortunate enough that one of the older kids will get Livvy in the shower with them. The other night though, I decided to let her take an actual bath. So she's in there playing and I am going back and forth between cooking and checking in on her. She's just playing away for quite a while. Then she called me back there and told me she was ready to get out. She is of course spoiled, so she dictated which towel I HAD to use, and I proceeded to obey my spirited four-year-old! After I put the towel around her, I noticed that ALL of the bath toys were dripping wet, laying on the floor, outside the bathtub. And I asked her "Livvy why are all the bath toys on the floor?" Her reply? "I needed room for 'laxin'" It took me a minute to realize she was telling me she needed room to RELAX. I was telling Kris the story and Abbey chimes in, as if it's the most natural thing in the world, "Were you trying to lay down flat in the bathtub?" This must be something the two of them do when they are in the bathtub together! So Livvy likes to 'lax in the bathtub.

Kris and I have been working...and working...and working...but we've been trying hard not to come home and spend the evening working. It's been quite relaxing to go home and know I'm not going to log in and work some more. But we are definitely staying busy at work. I like commuting with him, though this will be my first full week in our downtown office. And I have Friday off because the kids are out of school. Well, technically I don't have the day off. I have to log in and dispatch any claims that come during the day, while I try to clean up my house and cook for Bunco, which I am hosting at my house Friday night.

I actually have a fairly full weekend ahead. Friday night, Bunco. Saturday night, Tastefully Simple party with some old friends-the companionship is what I am really looking forward to. And then there's Sunday. I am going to be a 'vendor' at a Relay for Life fundraiser. I was blessed to be a part of this event last year, and they asked me back! Granted, it could just be that they don't know any other PC consultants in the area...but I'll tell myself they liked me. :)

Kris and I discovered a funny little webisode on Hulu called CTRL. Check it out if you want a short little comedy to close out a stressful day. http://www.hulu.com/ctrl

I have an addiction. It's food. It's always been food. At least for the last 12 years. And it's been getting the best of me lately. A lot of you know I have been attempting to live yeast-free (you can follow that journey here: http://myyeastfreejourney.blogspot.com/). It started out so great! Lately though, I've just really been giving in to cravings. You know, it's that time of year again. You know what time of year I'm talking about...Girl Scout Cookie Time! And I think "I don't want to work so hard to eat right when we go to Virginia over spring break in a week and a half" and so part of me wants to just say "Ok, I'll get back to yeast-free as soon as we get back." It's not good. But that's what the other blog is for, so I won't keep going on about that here!

Kris and I are doing a good job so far sticking to our new budget. We have been doing a lot more cooking at home, and then taking our leftovers to work. We have $30 total per pay period set aside for eating out. That's it. And if we use it and run out, too bad. I don't know if that seems like a little or a lot-it amounts to $10/person/month. For a family of 6, if you go anywhere that isn't fast food, you'll be lucky to get out for less than that though! And for this family of 6 who was used to eating out more times a week than I'd like to admit. So while it's been a lot more work on my part, ultimately it's been great! And if I can ever get myself back on track COMPLETELY, it will be a LOT easier to eat yeast-free.

I've been writing this off and on for about an hour and a half and am getting tired so before this turns into a jumbled mess of incoherent thoughts (more so than it already is!), I'm signing off for the night.

Heathen...that's me!

I'm skipping church this morning. I feel bad, because there is a chili lunch after church and I know that trying to get four kids fed and yourself is a handful...hopefully it won't be too hard on Kris. I think Grandma is going to be there too though so I'm hoping it will all go smoothly. Not that Kris isn't capable...oh he is. He's really great, especially with the kids. I just feel bad that he will have to go it alone, but I still just do not feel good.

I managed to get some sleep last night, thanks to Nyquil, Melatonin, and Xanax. Oh and Ibuprofen for the pain in my ears, eyes and throat. I also sucked on one of those Chloraseptic drops all night and managed to get some rest. I'm hoping that by resting this morning I will be able to make it through grocery shopping at Schnucks and Aldi's this afternoon, as well as the dreaded task of cleaning out the fridge!

Our new 'meal plan' starts today. Kris and I are going to work hard to stick to our budget and plan out the meals throughout the week so that we can not only buy ONLY what we need, but so that we can save some money and stop eating out for lunch at work. Not only is it costing us a lot of money, it makes it very difficult to stick to my yeast-free diet! So, starting today, the meals are planned out (only through Saturday so far) and we are looking forward to hopefully saving some money and eating better. The nice thing for me is that for the most part, everyone will now be eating yeast-free. There will be some exceptions for Kris and the kids, like white bread and chips that I can't have. But the 'main' meals will all be yeast-free. The great thing for Kris is that he will get to enjoy my home cooking on a more regular basis. Deep down, part of me wonders if this wasn't his plan all along...just to get me cooking for him all the time...and he is just saying it's to save money!! ;-)

Insomnia

It's 3:30am and I cannot sleep. I laid down at midnight, stayed in bedfor about 30 minutes, and then headed out to the couch. I hate nights like this. It used to be that almost every night was like this. This is the first night in a long time that it has been this hard to go to sleep. And that is with taking some Melatonin and Xanax. I took some Dayquil around 10:30pm, figuring it was too late to take the Nyquil since we have to pick Kat up between 8:30-9am. She went on a field trip with the Girl Scouts to a sleepover at the Magic House. I don't know if I am just awake because of this head cold and sinus pressure or just because, but it's really frustrating. I am thankful that I don't have to go to work tomorrow though. And I am thankful that I've gone from most nights being this way to only an occasional sleepless night. I still don't stay asleep throughout the night but at least most days I can fall asleep within 30 minutes to an hour. The kids will be up in 3 hours.

I'm still here

I'm alive and well, in case you were concerned. After reading a comment just now from my previous post, I realized that I hadn't posted since my despondent rambling of early last week so I thought I would check in and let my faithful readers know that all is well with me. That hopeless feeling did indeed pass, as I knew it would.

Life has not slowed down though. In fact, it seems to speed up more and more each day. A coworker and I have switched jobs. I can't remember if I wrote about this already and so if it is a repeat, I apologize. While I am feeling better emotionally, I don't have enough mental energy right now to open up a new Google tab and read through old posts to find out (i.e. I'm lazy).

Until last week, I was driving to Fenton every day. On a good day, it took me right around 30 minutes to get there. On a bad day...well...fortunately there weren't too many of those!! Regardless, it gave me plenty of time to read. Those of you that know me, know that I listen to books while I drive. I'm telling you, I was against it at first. Kris finally won me over to listening to books when life started to speed up. I love to read and didn't seem to have any time anymore to read. So now when I am working out or driving or cleaning, I can just pop the headphones in and 'read'. It's a great way to pass the time.

I was the 'onsite liaison' for one of our clients, so I had a desk and worked right there with some great adjusters, assisting on files, making sure the people we hired did their job, etc. My coworker was in our actual office, dispatching claims, which is a fancy term for logging contact and accident info into our system and finding a local appraiser to investigate, take pictures, statements and so on. Extremely exciting insurance-related stuff. In addition to our primary roles, we also each have several other tasks that we are responsible for. I've been onsite at Vanliner for over two years now I believe. Maybe it's only been over one. I can't remember. It's been quite a while though. And I really enjoy being there. But I was getting extremely burnt out. And I didn't even realize how bad it was until last week, when we switched places.

Between last week and this one, I have been about 110% MORE productive. And I realized why tonight. Change is sometimes very good. Change is hard for some people, and while this change has called for quite a bit of adjusting, overall I am happy with it. I love my job again. And that is a great feeling. I still haven't really been able to fully jump into my role in our actual office, interacting with my other coworkers, all six of them. I've gone to a much smaller office too which is odd but I have barely been there. The girl I switched with was sick this week and so I filled in for her on Monday and Tuesday at our client's office. She was scheduled to be out today through Monday too, so I am back down in Fenton until Tuesday. While I was only gone a week, I have missed my adjusters down there. It's been good to be back among them, though I do look forward to getting into the swing of things downtown once Tara gets back. Ultimately, it feels good to change things up and have a different role now. It has energized me really.

Perhaps one of the greatest pluses for me is now when one of the kids is sick or they have a snow day, or one of their many random days off for no apparent reason, I can actually work from home. I am not required anymore to be onsite with our client each day, so I feel less pressure if someone is sick. It's hard for me to be productive from home, but it can be done, even with the four Little Bishops running around. And if Tara is sick or needs to be out, I can fill in for her down in Fenton. I don't know about her, but so far I am enjoying the change, and it feels good to give 100% again. I was getting so tired of the same thing every day and when you are weighed down, it is really hard to give everything you've got. So admittedly, I was not giving everything like I had in the past. It was a slow progression that left me to wanting to play on Facebook all day (not that I did!) instead of focusing on what needed to be done. And I HATE feeling like I could do more, or I could give more, but just not having the energy to do it.

On a different note, we had to sock almost another $1000 into Clifford the Big Red Van. I'm so tired of that van! Besides the fact that it hates me and won't blow out heat whenever I ride in it, I just feel like we are always putting money into it. This time the fuel pump went out. Kris and I weighed out our options. We didn't really have any. We NEED a van. We can't realistically (or legally) fit into my Explorer. And we can't afford a used van right now, which means we certainly can't afford a car payment. But we talked today about actually sticking to our budget and how if we do that, we would actually be able to save a decent chuck of money in a short period of time. So hopefully what we just did to the van will last us until we can sell it or trade it in for a newer used van. Preferably one that has a heater that works.

Lastly for tonight, I went back to the Y this evening. I haven't been in a couple of weeks. Kris and I commute to work now, since we go to the same place. We're saving on gas, though that money is now being spent to keep the kids in extended care so that we can work a full day. But that has left me unable to get up early and go to the Y on my way to work, or stop by on the way home. Abbey has speech therapy on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30 now so we are really limited. And if there is anything we try to be consistent about, it is the kids' 7:00pm bedtime! Trust me...I don't care hold old they are getting. They still need that sleep! We get up at 6am every day now (well the kids do while we usually drag ourselves up by 6:20) and if they go to bed late, like they did tonight because Kris and Kaleb's Tae Kwon Do doesn't get out until 8pm, they are cranky!! Or the ones that aren't cranky burst into tears at random intervals throughout the day. Anyway...with therapy and working different hours but riding together, it is harder to get to the Y now. We're shooting for Tues/Thurs/Sat though and hopefully we can stick to that schedule. A little tip about stationary bikes. If the heart rate sensors aren't working, it's probably not a good idea to pick a random workout that adjusts the resistance based on your heart rate. At the end there, with the sensor being temperamental, it took me from a resistance of 6 up to 12. And let me just tell you that was NOT easy. My knee seemed to tolerate it ok. It was puffy and red when I finished but by the time I got out of the shower it looked and felt better. And overall, it just felt good to work out again.

Ok that is enough for tonight. I'd better stop now...are you still awake???

I hate feeling this way

From time to time, I just feel 'hopeless'. It's not as dramatic as it sounds. But I have these days where I feel 'down' about everything. Everything looks bleak. I feel sad. I'm on the verge of tears. Even when things in my life are going well. There are just these days. Fortunately I am learning that they don't last and it must just be some crazy female hormone imbalance, but when those days hit it's like being run over by a truck. At least emotionally...

Over the years I have tried to explain to Kris that sometimes women cry and...I know this is hard to wrap your head around...we don't always know the reason why. We've experienced this with Katherine (age 9) many, many times. It happens with Abbey and from Kaleb every now and again. Last night I watched this happen to Olivia. And sadly for my girls, it won't get better as they get older. There will still be moments and days that they find themselves 'emotional' for no good reason. It happens to me when I am really tired, whether that be physically or emotionally. When I am tired, that is when I struggle the most to reign in my emotions!

Today is one of those days. Not with the crying so much. Just the sad feeling, and feeling like nothing matters. Nothing I do, nothing I eat...who cares about any of it? Because I certainly don't. For today...

I'm thankful to God that those times don't last. But I really don't like them when they come. It's that longing to curl up in a little ball and hide from the world. To just zone out, tune out, and just not care about anything. That's where I am at today. I am confident that I will not feel this way tomorrow though so I just need to get through the rest of this evening...

Did I mention I like word games?

Today is obviously Valentine's Day...

Kris and I were fortunate enough to have sitters in place so we could get away Friday and Saturday night. We had a great time away. We met up at church today and then took the kids to Target and let them pick out a little $5 present. Then we ordered Chinese and came home and watched G-Force and one of the Tinkerbell movies. When all of that was over, we got the snack foods out and played a new game we picked up at Target. Scrabble Slam. I am a lover of all things Scrabble so of course this game piqued my interest!

We made up some rules for the first round of this game...that way it would be easy enough for the kids to play. The real object is to start with a four letter word (not the bad kind!) and then deal out the rest of the cards. Then it's like Speed and the first person to get rid of their cards wins! You all play at the same time, shedding cards by making words. After Kaleb and Abbey got bored with it, I told Kris he had to play with me the right way. Katherine hung around and wanted to give it a try too. So we let her.

The first game she plays with us we're down to the wire. I have 2 or 3 cards left and she has one. Kris doesn't really count in here since he had about 12 cards left! :) So we're sitting there looking at loom or something like that. I've got a card with a z and k on it and there was no way I could play on it. I had to just wait until an opportunity opened up. Kat is sitting over there staring at it, then all of a sudden she throws down her last card, which has an A on it. And she yells 'LOAM!' Kris and I are like "Loam is NOT a word!" And she keeps insisting then goes on to tell us that it's in her science book and has something to do with soil and plants. So of course, Kris goes to the computer to Google it! And sure enough, LOAM is "soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration, considered ideal for gardening and agricultural purposes." I haven't seen Katherine that proud and excited in a while. It was awesome to see her proving us right! I never liked science!!!!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

As I mentioned earlier, Abbey stayed home from school today. She loves to play Farmville. But today for some reason, it was glitching. She kept adding things to her farm and making it just the way she wanted it. Then she would refresh the screen and everything had disappeared. After this happened about 5 times, Abbey said the funniest thing today:

"Why does it keep doing that? It's like it says 'Oh let's get rid of everything and give her back her money so she gets frustrated!'"

And the dancing around singing 'Thumbelina!' was pretty funny too. Though I told her that sick people shouldn't be dancing and made her sit down!

Abbey was WAAAY to excited...

I am blessed in so many ways. What I am thankful for this morning is the fact that Abbey usually doesn't get sick. Out of the four kids, Abbey gets sick the least often. Because of this, she always has to watch the others get little beds made up in the living room when they're sick. Many times she tells us she doesn't feel good, but I am pretty sure she just wants the kind of attention the others get because she doesn't act sick. Today however, Abbey finally got what she wanted. She came into my room this morning and said she didn't feel good. All of the kids have been fighting colds and so instead of just writing Abbey off, I felt her head and she felt hot all over. So, Abbey has a fever and I told her that she should go lay back in her bed until the others left. She happily pranced back to her room to lay down. Then she came back into the room asking if I would make her a bed in the living room. I told her after the others left. Then she kept going back and forth between my room and hers asking questions! She was really excited to finally have an opportunity to be sick and stay home.

Livvy's take on Indians

We're watching "Virginia's Run" for movie night tonight. Kris is immediately bored and so he and I are cracking jokes about the movie...this is how we suffer through *some* of these 1 1/2-2 hour movies with the kids (most of the time we enjoy them but there are some that just aren't quite right).

So there was this scene where a dark-haired woman gets out of the car and they played some music that sounded like the kind of music they play in a movie where there are Native Americans. And so we were joking around about her being an Indian-even though she clearly is not. And one of the kids said 'She's not an Indian.' And then Livvy said 'Yeah because Indians don't even have cars!'

A few minutes later, they showed a scene with this very white and very BLONDE woman riding a horse and they started playing that Native American music again so Kaleb yelled out 'Hey her mom is an Indian!'

I don't recommend this movie. 15 minutes in and I wish we could watch Spongebob! I shouldn't even be sitting here with my laptop on during movie night...but the movie is *that* bad!!

A visit from the Tooth Fairy

I really wish I had taken a picture to post on here of Abbey with her first missing tooth. Sadly, I did not. But wanted to 'write' this down before I forget it.

Last night Kaleb and Kris went to Tae Kwon Do. I kept the girls all home with me so that I could put them to bed at a decent time (7pm around our house!); we've had too many late nights the last couple of weeks and they NEEDED to sleep. I contemplated keeping Kaleb home too but since we are paying for the class, he really should be there.

As I was putting the girls in bed and turning all the lights out, I told them that I didn't want to hear any talking or playing or want anyone getting out of bed...the normal bedtime speech. I had forgotten Abbey even had her first loose tooth until she said 'Maybe if I do that [she meant get up] you can pull my tooth out as a punishment.' She's funny. And as if that wasn't funny enough...

I went into the kitchen and started cleaning up so that I could make myself dinner. About 5 minutes later, Abbey walks into the kitchen. She has her little hand outstretched and said 'I went into the bathroom and pulled it out myself.' She stood there proudly holding her tiny little tooth (which of course grosses me out because I hate teeth!). So she's standing there with this huge grin on her face-oblivious to the blood that was pooling in her mouth. I put the tooth in a ziploc bag and told her to go rinse her mouth out. She came back into the kitchen, I gave her the bag and sent her back to bed, telling her to put it under her pillow.

And then she would not go to sleep! I don't know if she was just excited because she knew the Tooth Fairy would come (or in our case IF the Tooth Fairy remembers to come!), or if she just couldn't shut her brain down...which happens many, many nights. Kris and Kaleb get home just before 9pm and I am pretty sure that at this point Abbey is still awake.

Finally, she fell asleep. And fortunately, the Tooth Fairy remembered to come to our house. Abbey came into our room this morning to show Kris where her tooth had been. Kris, not wanting to get up yet, was like 'yeah...' even though he didn't have his glasses on and couldn't possibly see it! So I told her to turn the light on and him to get his glasses on. He did, reluctantly...

And then I asked Abbey if the Tooth Fairy had come. And she said "Yeah, she gave me a dollar!" Then she proceeded to tell us that she actually woke up at 3:30am and felt under her pillow. These are close to her exact words: "I reached under there and my tooth was gone but there wasn't any money. But then I reached WAY BACK and found a dollar! And then I went back to sleep."

A belated birthday present

I feel like I've been celebrating my birthday all week. Monday night (since I wasn't eating 'right' to begin with) we had Chinese. It was wonderful. Every last sickening sugar and gluten filled bite! Tuesday was my birthday and my day off went exactly as planned, except for one minor glitch which I managed to get over fairly quickly. I slept until 11am and it felt great! Then I did some boring things...working out at the Y (not boring for me), grocery store, picked the kids up from school. Kris came home early. We ordered St. Louis Pizza and Wings (as I was still making poor choices) and watched LOST with my mother-in-law. All in all, it was a good day. Oh...yeah...back to the belated present. Kris told me I could order some things from Avon. Well, actually I told HIM I wanted to place an Avon order for my birthday...and he said I could and gave me my 'limit'. So I ordered a few things and got them in the mail today. I love companies like Avon, BeautiControl (though I can't afford it anymore), Tastefully Simple (though I can't have this anymore), and of course the best ever Pampered Chef! In fact, towards the end of my 'active' Pampered Chef days, all of my commission was either going to buy more Pampered Chef or Avon. It's been a long time since I was able to get something 'fun' from Avon. Anyway...so it arrived in the mail today! I know this is incredibly boring and no one cares, but I don't care that no one cares. I was giddy with excitement. I love getting new stuff!! My favorite was a new perfume. I'm always hesitant to buy perfumes without smelling them first, but I felt the catalog gave a fairly good description of this particular one...and it was only $10...I was thrilled to get it and find out I LOVE it! I also got some makeup and a necklace and earrings that I'm pretty excited about, which is odd considering I don't typically wear jewelry. But I always see these cute things and think, 'maybe I'll start wearing makeup and jewelry'. And then I get through a couple of days of that and decide I just don't have time for it.

While I didn't go to the Y tonight, I sure did get quite the workout at physical therapy tonight. 12 minutes on the treadmill. Leg press, scooting around like a fool on a chair, leg lifts, bike. Then there was the trampoline. No, I didn't have to jump on it. I had to stand on one leg (my bad leg) and throw a two pound ball at an upright trampoline and then catch it...all while trying to balance on my one leg. I assured the therapist that I would be unable to do this even without a bad leg. I insisted that he just wanted to have something to laugh at. Today, because I did better than last week, he made me stand on this foam square and do the stupid activity. I told him that I was NOT a circus act. He just laughed.

Happy Birthday to....ME!

This is random and has nothing really to do with my birthday, but Livvy just said something I thought was really funny: "I hate three minutes because it takes so long. Why do Daddy always have to do that?"

I've had a great day. Kris got the kids up and ready for school, then took them to school this morning. I vaguely remember them coming in my room about a million times before they left but then I went back to sleep and didn't get up until 11am! I don't know when the last time was that I slept that long! It felt wonderful.

The house was messy and since I didn't feel like cleaning (it is my birthday after all and who wants to work on their birthday?), I got my bag together and went to the Y. I've been sticking to the recumbent bike while my knee continues to heal and get stronger but I get so bored with the bike. I don't burn as many calories and when I'm done with 30 minutes, I feel like I should do something more. While the elliptical and I are known for hating one another, I am ready to get back to it. Today I rode for just 15 minutes on the bike and because my knee was feeling pretty good, I thought I'd give the elliptical a try. I managed 5 minutes with no pain and burned the same amount of calories as I did with 15 minutes on the bike. So tomorrow (assuming I actually get up at 5:30 and go to the Y before work) I am going to start with the elliptical. Besides that, the physical therapist showed me this exercise I can do when my knee feels 'out of place' to get it back in place and I'm really happy that it actually works. There is now very little limping. My scars are getting softer and smaller as I rub them constantly with lotion at the P.T. recommended.

Boring stuff aside, I wanted to share some pictures of the birthday card Katherine (my 9 year old) gave me. She's a great little artist and very thoughtful in all she does. And if there is one thing that girl knows, she knows her mother! She's so funny and her card was the best part of my day. See below:

This is the 'front' of the card. She got a kick out of the fact that I share my birthday with Punxsutawney Phil. I like the drawing of an eye in the middle of the heart to say 'I love you.' Oh and that is, I believe, a groundhog saying 'Happy Birthday Mommy!'

I thought this next part was really cute too! Because I loved her design for the spring carnival t-shirt, she decided to include a replication of it on my birthday card!

But I saved my favorite part for last. Katherine decided to make me an acrostic. She used the word 'MOMMY'. Oh and she just had to do a pop-up book report, so she has a pop-up groundhog in the middle of the card. What really just melted my heart was her descriptions of me. I have to cherish this now because in 5 years, who knows if she will still see me in the same light.

I know you can't really see the acrostic so I am going to write it below. Again, my all-time favorite moment of the day was reading this:

Master of grammar and spelling. c-a-t

One of the best cooks ever.

Mommy always cares for me.

Maybe I'll grow up to be like you some day.

Your the best Mom ever!!

I didn't point out to her that it technically, grammatically should have been "you're" instead of "your".