Well, Thanksgiving is over and I finally have all our Christmas stuff up. I put up 3 trees this year! I have the big one in the living room with our ornaments. A western or cowboy one with all of our cowboy/western ornaments in the foyer. We have the kids tree upstairs with colored lights and all the homemade ornaments and all the ornaments the kids have made at school. They look really pretty. I kind of wondered why I was decorating and doing so much, and got to thinking. Almost every year I have moved right before Christmas. In 2004 we lived in Texas and it was our first year with a baby. In 2005 we had just moved to Calumet Farm into our second house in 6 months. In 2006 I had a 3 month old baby. In 2007 we had just moved into the big house we bought in Georgetown. In 2008 we had just moved into the house Hill n' Dale built us. So no wonder I have never done this much! I also bought lights and decorated some of the trees outside. We have a lot of little spruce type trees here so they are perfect for Christmastime. I have already boxed all the fall stuff back up and have transported most of it back to the storage building. Not bad for a weekend.

We still don't have the suburban back. I would hate to know how long it would take to fix one that was seriously damaged. I took it to the body shop on Thursday, November 12th. It is now November 29th. I went to pick it up last Wednesday and everything on the outside looked great! I had already had a round with the Enterprise rental people. I tried to get them to come to the body shop and pick the car up, to save time if I got there and there was a problem with the Suburban. They refused. I had to drive all the way out to their office then drive back through Lexington in 4 o'clock the day before Thanksgiving traffic. We get to the body shop, I get the keys, look the car over, get the car seats in, all seems good. The rental guy leaves with the Tahoe. I get in and start to put on my seat belt. They are still locked!!! The guy didn't' realize that they needed to be replaced! So by now it is almost 5 o'clock Wednesday night. He tells me he will try and have it finished on Friday. In my mind I think "Yeah, right!". I hurry and call Enterprise and ask if they can get a hold of the guy that just left because my car isn't finished after all. He was barely out of sight! They try calling him and (of course) he doesn't have his cell phone with him. So the kids and I wait in the car for him to drive all the way to the Enterprise office and then back to where we are. I then have to drive him back to the rental office!!! By the time I walked back into the door at home, it was 6:30pm. When we left, I just got the kids up from their nap and went to get my car. Thinking it would take an hour tops. We finally get home, the kids are starving because in addition to not getting a snack, it is now supper time. We didn't make it to church. Needless to say Wednesday was not my day!

It is now Sunday. I still have no suburban. Maybe tomorrow...
We have had this rental so long, we have driven to Knoxville for another football game. (UT vs. Vanderbilt) We then drove to West Tennessee to do our Thanksgiving with our families early. At least we weren't putting those miles on our car! The warranty is almost out on it so that is one plus to all this.

While we were in Tennessee I drove to Jackson to have lunch with my sister who is due to have a baby December 3rd. We went into a little shop that had some really cute stuff. I got the kids' teachers gifts there. I still need a little something else for them. I have also got to figure out what we are getting everyone else that we buy for. We are doing our Christmas early too. Plus Jeremy and I are leaving for Las Vegas on Saturday. Jeremy's grandparents will be coming to watch the kids for us. Madalynn will have school all that week. She will also have another Christmas program that we will be missing for the second year in a row. This is probably the last year that I will be going to AAEP. I can't keep missing this kind of stuff. I hope Vegas is fun, but when you don't drink or gamble I have to wonder how fun it can be. We do have tickets to the NFR which I am looking forward to. We have never been and Jeremy has splurged and got us some really good seats. So you might see us on TV during the roping on Monday night!

I have lots to do this week to get ready for our trip and get everything ready for the grandparents to be at our house. Plus I may have a new nephew just any day!!

Stuff

It has been a while, but everyone in this family is...at the moment...WELL! Healthy, not sick, no major coughs, runny noses, or overall feelings of yuckiness! Well, except I don't feel just right and Jeremy is dealing with yet another horse sale. (Today 2 of them!)So his mood is less than ideal. The economy is terrible and even in this land of horse people who are willing to spend a decidedly CRAZY amount of money on an animal, times are tough. So from now till Thanksgiving, Jeremy will be working a lot and many times be in a not so great mood. On to other stuff.

My good friend, Joni, who had such a worrisome pregnancy, gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Halle, a week ago. She just weighed 6 lbs 4 oz, but came on her own. Joni had 9 months filled with "supposed" medical experts telling her she had a large tumor that needed to be taken out as soon as possible and might necessitate a c-section and a baby born early. Turns out she is fine according to an MRI that was finally done. I can't wait to see Miss Halle again!(I took Joni and Caleb lunch the day they came home from the hospital.) My kids are dying to meet her. (I am hoping this will allow me to put off the need for another little one for a little longer.) I just love babies!!


Halle Grace is by far, the tiniest baby I have ever held! My babies weighed 7lb 11oz and 8 lb 6 oz respectively.

We went trick-or-trunking (at church) and trick-or-treating (at Calumet and the Morehead's neighborhood)this year. Or I guess I should say Micky and Minnie did! Jack really had it figured out this year. He was racing Mady to the doors and knocking if they didn't answer fast enough when the bell was rung! We will still have candy left this time next year.


Jeremy was offered tickets to the Tennessee game on Halloween. Tickets, a ride to Knoxville, a barbecue with the Boosters!!! All for FREE! It takes a good man to turn all that down. Although an opportunity like this probably won't present itself again any time soon, he did the right thing. Micky and Minnie won't be around forever! Well, guess what? We got 4 tickets to this past weekend's Homecoming game against Memphis! Yeah! We not only got to go to a Tennessee game, but got to take the kiddos to experience the fabulosity of Neyland Stadium! They went to their first game last year. Jack loved it! He has carried the playbook around since we got back Saturday night. Madalynn dressed up in her Tennessee cheerleading outfit. We left at halftime, but the kids got a hot dog and a sweatshirt out of the deal so they were happy. Unlike last time, we got there early and got to see all the players run out of the "Power T" and we got to see the band perform. Very Cool! *We also got our picture made with Jay Bush and Duke from the Bush's baked beans commercials. They had some special meet and greet things since it was homecoming. Bush's baked beans is headquartered in Tennessee.

We had car trouble coming home. Nothing major, although I was praying we would get home since it was already late. I took the car in yesterday to have it fixed and although they thought it was a bigger problem at first, I was able to pick it up today. Less than an hour later I was involved in an accident on my way to pick up Jack. Thank the Lord he wasn't with me! (And that it wasn't my fault.) I was stopped at a red light and a guy slammed into the back of me and then I ran into the back of someone else. So my beautiful suburban has some rear end issues and a little damage to the front. I think I am OK, but it shook me up. My neck and back are a little sore, but I think that is from me tensing up because I saw him coming fast in my rear view mirror. My good friend Heather saw me and turned around and even went back to the preschool to sit with Jack so his teacher could leave until Jeremy could get there to pick him up. My car is drivable, but the impact was enough that my seat belts locked up, so they will have to be replaced and are useless now. You can't take a vehicle in to be fixed until the police report has been filed and that wont' be done until Monday at the earliest. So, I either have to sit at home or drive around without a seat belt and that makes me really nervous. I am just glad it wasn't worse.
**Just for the record, everyone should invest in a trailer hitch. I had a drop hitch that stuck out several inches and it kept the other car from doing more damage to mine. When the wrecker pulled the other car off of me, it looked like someone had punched a hole through the center of his car. He hit me with enough force that it bent the bumper hitch forwards and messed up the latch for the back door on the inside. I ran into the lady in front of me and bent her bumper. She was really nice. She let me use her phone because mine went flying during the collision.
All this mess was after being up for hours during the night with some kind of stomach/menstrual cramps on steroids. Don't know what caused them or why. If you had told me I was giving birth to another child I would have believed you. The pain was that bad! Let's just say I haven't had a good 24 hours.

Sickness ...and more RAIN

So big Jack started running a fever Friday night, right before bedtime. Of course, my thermometer chose that night to have a dead battery. So I knew he was warm, but couldn't tell how high his fever was. Some parents would have ran out and bought a new thermometer, but I chose to give him a dose of Tylenol and put him to bed. Well, the next morning he was still hot, so I knew he was going to be sick.

With all the scary news about the swine flu I was scared not to take him somewhere. Being that it was Saturday we headed off to the Urgent Treatment Center. I am not a fan of these places, but when it is that or the ER, I will pick the UTC. What can I say, you get about what you expect at those places. We waited an hour and a half to see the Indian doctor. Nothing against Indian doctors or other foreign physicians, but I like to see an American that I can easily understand when it comes to matters of my child's health. So they don't seem to think it is the flu but say his throat is a little red. They do a strep test, but it is negative. They prescribe us an antibiotic and send us home. We wait about 20-30 min before going to the pharmacy to pick up his medicine. (We went to K-mart and purchases a thermometer.) Only when we get there, JACK hasn't had a prescription filled there before, so me and my sick baby have to wait another 20 minutes for the pharmacy to process the doctor's order. We left home at 10:15am and finally got done with everything about 1:15pm.

Well, that night he isn't improving and seems to be getting worse. On Sunday, he is really making a lot of noise when he breathes, is still running a fever, and feels awful. So Monday morning we take Madalynn to school and I start trying to call and get him an appointment with his pediatrician as soon as they open at 8:30.

We get to the doctor's office at 10:15 and right away the nurses see how sick he is. I absolutely love the staff at Dr. Lagrew's office! They are the sweetest ladies in the world. They give him a saline breathing treatment and right away he is doing better. He was so brave. He was scared of the breathing machine and cried a few tears, but did great! We wait 10 minutes and then they give him another one. We spend an hour there and leave with a prescription for steroids and some congestion medicine. They warn me before I leave that the "roids" may make him mean.


Well let me just tell you... they were right. My normally sweet boy (He wasn't even grouchy while he was sick over the weekend.) is aggressive and mildly violent. Today is the last day he has to take them if his symptoms are better and I will be so glad. He has pretty much laid around and watched Cars about 200 times. I am so tired of that movie. It is all he wants to watch though. I am so tired of being cooped up inside!


Meanwhile Madalynn complained of a headache and her teacher said she wasn't herself at school yesterday. She woke up with a croupy cough and a fever today, so we may have another week of this ahead! And it is raining here...AGAIN!!!!



I did manage to get outside for a few minutes yesterday and cut down my cornstalks from this summer and used them to decorate my gate and on either side of the driveway. I looked up how to tie a floral type bow and made a couple of those last night. I also found a grapevine wreath in the garage that I had put in there for my yard sale, but I am going to put it on the gate as well. I also managed to clean out my craft closet in the spare room. This particular task took most of the day and has been on my "to-do" list for a month. I am also proud that I have managed to make it a priority to have my quiet time each morning to study my devotionals and read my Bible. Not bad for a week like this.

I have been praying for my kids to feel better soon! My nephew is sick too! There is so much sickness going around. I sure hope Jeremy and I can avoid getting sick. I have been taking my vitamins and I am going to go drink a big glass of orange juice!

The Best Taco Soup

It is fall! I can finally start thinking about cooking cold weather foods. Jeremy will only eat soup if it is below freezing outside and even then only about twice a year. I like a good bowl of soup now and then though. So today I cooked some taco soup for lunch while Jeremy was working the sale at Keeneland. I don't usually cook lunch, but I was craving this stuff so I did. I love it! I got the recipe from a lady named Pat Bradbury when I taught school in Texas. She was the cafeteria manager. We used to have a really good salad bar there and sometimes the ladies would fix soup for the bar as well. It is delicious with a nice kick. It is also very quick. The recipe says let it simmer for an hour- I can never wait that long. I think it can be eaten as soon as all the ingredients have time to warm through. Yum!

Taco Soup
1 lb. of browned ground beef, drained
1 medium onion, chopped and sauteed
1 can of Rotel- do not drain
1 can of *ranch style beans*
*In some areas, like ours, you have to shop around to find these
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of yellow hominy
1 pkg. of taco seasoning
1 pkg. of dry, ranch-style dressing mix
2 c. of water

Do not drain the canned ingredients. (I do drain and rinse the kidney beans, I just don't like that slimy liquid they are in.)
Mix everything together and simmer for one hour.

What do you do all day?

Days like yesterday are the norm for a stay at home mom. These are days where you don't know where you would find the time to GO to work! I got up yesterday at 6:30 am and put a load of clothes in the washer and one in the dryer. I finished loading the dishwasher and started it. Then I got the coffee pot ready and waited on its caffeinated goodness to finish percolating. I didn't cook breakfast yesterday morning, so that was a little quicker. We just did frozen waffles. I folded a load of clothes and sipped my coffee.
By this time it was a little after 7 am so time to get Mady and usually Jack up. Mady got up fine, big Jack decided to sleep in. Enjoy it while you can man! So Madalynn and I go downstairs and I talk to her while she eats her 2 1/2 waffles with honey. (Personally, Yuck! honey, I am not a fan. The kids get that from their daddy.) We then go back upstairs and she gets dressed while I make our bed and her bed and I finish getting ready. We do hair and wake Jack up in time to catch the big black bus to take Mady to school. (The big black bus is what I called our suburban when Madalynn asked if she could ride the school bus to school. She was disappointed to find out it was just our car.) Anyway, we head off to school to drop her off. I just want to say the car drop off line is WONDERFUL! I love it. I have always had to get up extra early to do hair and makeup so I could walk her into preschool without shame...no more.
Jack and I return home and I fix him a waffle and straighten up the house. I get him dressed and make his bed. I plan out our menu for the week and get my grocery lists together. I sort through a bunch of recycling and get hangers together to take back to the cleaners. I start another load of clothes.
About 11 we head out to do our running around. We drop shopping bags off at Kroger because I had a huge amount of them and didn't have room to wait until we went to shop. We went to the dry cleaners and the recycling center. Then we headed to Lowe's to return the gas grill burners I had bought because they were the wrong kind. We head to Kroger to do the grocery shopping. I am forced to get one of the "racecar" grocery carts. I hate those things. I always feel like I am driving the grocery store equivalent of an 18 wheeler down a six foot aisle. Jack loves them though. I usually put him off by telling him we only had a few things to get. On this day I was not so lucky. We finally get done shopping.
I run through the drivethru at Sonic because when we walk in the door I want to have something to slap on the table. So about 1 pm we finally get home to eat a quick bite and get Jack a nap in. I get about a 20 min nap after putting all the groceries away. We get up from nap and head to get in the car line to pick Madalynn up. I come home go over what is in her folder, question her about her day, the kids have a snack, and then I make them go outside to play. The weather here the last couple of days has been spectacular!! I fold a few loads of laundry. I am the room mother in Mady's class and have needed to write my parent letter for about 4 days so I go upstairs and finally get that done. I clean up the playroom...again. Mainly because my children think it is an Olympic qualifying sport to see how fast a toy room can be trashed. By this time I need to start supper. Lasagna, rolls, and salad. I had laid out the rolls earlier in the day, so they were ready to bake. By the time dinner is done, it is 6:45pm. We eat, I clean up our dishes and then head out to start mowing the yard.
I mow while Jeremy takes Jack on a walk. He returns and asks if I want to go to Walmart. I want to go to the tanning bed and it is next door to Walmart,so we load up. Well, as we turn into the Walmart parking lot, Jacks says he needs to pee pee. About 1 minute later, as the vehicle comes to a stop we find out he has already peed in his clothes and car seat. So Jeremy and the crew wait while I tan since Jack now has wet clothes. I return and Jeremy goes into Walmart to get his hunting license and other assorted hunting paraphernalia. By this time it is after 9! My kids are usually bathed and ready or in bed by this time. We can't very well skip the bath since Jack wet his pants so we do a quick bath and get PJs on. I just read a page from the Bible ABCs book and we say our prayers and the kids go to bed. I put away laundry, get myself a shower, and clean up supper.
I fall into bed about 11:45 pm.

So when someone asks with curiosity or wonder "What do you do all day?" sometimes I would like to punch them.

Random Thoughts

Well, we are about to start the third full week of school around the Whitman household! I'll be honest, I didn't get alot done around here the first week and a half. I just felt weird without Mady here! She usually is my shadow and is never at a loss for something to say... or three things to say at one time! Jack and I both missed her terribly at first. He kept saying things like when we went to McDonalds to get him a sausage and biscuit - "Mady don't need one, she at school." If I cooked anything during the day he thought it was supper and worried that "Mady no eat supper?" He still brings me toys. "I brought one for me and eww (you) one too. So I know he was lonely at first. You have got to think that he is almost 3 and this is the first time the two of us have been alone together for an extended period of time. When Madalynn was in Mother's Day Outs 2-3 mornings a week, A. We were running errands or B. He was in school too. We have never had just normal days of being alone together. One morning that first week, we sat on the couch and watched Cars. I haven't just sat and watched an entire movie since before I had kids! I am enjoying our time though. Every child needs time one on one with their parents. Jeremy hasn't been terribly busy and he has taken Jack to work with him for a few hours at a time. Jack loves that.
It seems like while we were on vacation he really took up with his Daddy. We had the great-grandparents along on the vacation and one night he and Madalynn both came back to the hotel to stay with us!
I have to get started planning on what we are doing for his 3rd birthday. It is about a month away and I think we will be traveling to West TN that night and visit for the weekend. Not sure yet what we are doing though. Maybe a construction vehicle theme. We did a tractor theme last year. I may even buy a cake pan and make his cake again this year. Last year the tractor cake I did turned out really well.
I am supposed to be the room mother in Madalynn's class this year. So I hope it works to bring Jack along! I have got to get my letter to parents done...tomorrow. I also want to get my menu for the week done. Plus the ironing of M's uniforms for school. We have had 2 birthday parties this week. School, family was visiting last weekend. My garden is finishing up. Playdates with Jack's friends Nico and Zachary. Plus all the "normal" stuff. Lots to do, lots to do.

Our First Day of Kindergarten!

Whew! I am glad that is over and no tears were even shed! This is a major feat both for Madalynn and myself. I have to admit there were times I feared that we would ALL be crying like babies. No so though!

Jeremy was able to come back home in time to drive to school with us. (It is only a few miles from our house.) We walked in and she was the first to arrive in her classroom. The room looked very cute! Their class mascot is the monkeys. That is perfect for kindergartners. We tried not to stay long, but long enough. As parents, you often have to find the line between just long enough and too long. Stay too long and the waterworks are sure to start. She was supposed to have a friend from preschool in her class, but she is a twin and the mom wanted to separate them so of course the girl was the one switched out. I wasn't sure this would go over well with Madalynn, but she did fine.



I hope we have made the right decision about the school she goes to. We chose a small private Christian school here in town versus the public school. I am not against public school and I never thought I would send my kids to private school, but with the public schools we were looking at upwards of 25 kids in a class. Mady has 12 in hers. Everybody says "well it is just kindergarten." It is, but I think it still matters. We will see how this year goes. I want to find time to volunteer in her classroom and maybe others so that I can get a first hand look at what goes on and how things are done. That was something that was strange. Before, I have always been on the inside. I knew what the procedures and routines were; now I am a parent on the outside looking in. Getting in depth info from a 5 year old is like questioning a wall so she isn't much help at this age.

Jack ended up going to work with Jeremy when we got back to the house, so I had ...gasp...FREE TIME. I didn't know what to do with myself. I cleaned the playroom, stripped all the beds and put clean sheets on every body's bed, went to tan. Then I just sat around thinking how weird this was. To not have somebody talking to me or strewing toys around that I just picked up. Weird. Maybe I need another baby. I am not sure I like being the parent of a school age child. Makes me sound old. I can't be old...

When we got home, she was bouncing off the walls! Apparently she loved it! Hallelujah, my prayers have been answered! I am not sure how to break it to her that she has to go to school every day for years. :)

OK. I hope I am ready. At least I hope I am getting there. My baby girl, my Peach, my Madalynn Kayte will start school in exactly 2 days! I have purchased all the necessary school supplies. The monogrammed backpack, the crayons, markers, lunchbox, etc. Today Jeremy went to rope with a friend and took the kids with him. I struck out to Wal-mart to get last minute breakfast and lunch box items.

She is not excited...AT ALL! I have tried to tell her that she already knows some of the kids in her class, she will love it, it will be so fun, that this is the year she will begin to read- on her own, and she will be a Big Girl now! The other part of me wants to cry all the time and tell her ..."You are right! Let's just not go!"
I worked for about 2 months after she was born during which time I brought her to school with me in the afternoons and then was off for the summer. (I taught elementary school.) Then I taught school for a year longer. When we moved to Kentucky, I never went back to teaching. I hated the idea of being in a new state and knowing not a soul in this town and certainly having absolutely no one I would trust to take care of my baby like I could. It was hard - in more ways than one! We were lucky to have savings from when we both worked and had no living expenses. (That is another story) If we hadn't had money in the bank I would have had to go to work doing something. I also wasn't used to being alone with a small child ALL DAY EVERY DAY! It was hard. but like everyone says "If you can stay home when your kids are little, you should!" That is so true. The past 5 years have flown by!

I have been very conscious of this being our last summer of freedom. We have taken trips- Dollywood, Tennessee to see family, Knoxville to the zoo, and Yellowstone National Park. We have camped out, roasted marshmallows, and slept late. We have watched movies, ridden horses, and attended the "Happy Hour" at Sonic more than once. We have played in the pool, had picnics, and playdates at the park. It just isn't enough though. I am not ready to loose this wonderful freedom we have had, she and I, for the last 5 years. Sure we had days of appointments and days of preschool at mother's day out, but nothing like this 13 year journey we are embarking on.




I am trying to keep up a good front like all moms of kindergartners do. I am planning to decorate the kitchen like I do for birthdays, complete with streamers and balloons for the big day. I am baking a cake with pink icing just for her. I want it to be a party. I couldn't feel less like being happy or partying, but that is what moms do. They make it all look hopeful and fun and exciting, when inside they just want to crawl into bed and cry all day that day... that day their baby goes off into the big world. I pray that we have made the right decision on where to send her to school. I hope she opens up and just blooms into this beautiful little person who loves to learn when she is there. I hope we get really lucky and she loves it from the get go. I hope I can say the right things if she doesn't. I hope she knows how much I will miss seeing her face between the hours of 8:30 and 3:30 each day and hearing her constant chatter in the house.
Her world will never be the same and mine won't either. I hope she knows that when I turn and leave Wednesday morning, I will hate to go as much or more than she hates to see me go.

Jack's First Playdate

Today was a busy one, but a good one. I have a friend from church that was suddenly sick and needed a babysitter at the last minute. We had already planned to get together with another friend later today and take the kids to the park. So I got up earlier than I usually do and kept her little boy who is Jack's age till about 10 am. We played with Jack's tractors, ate pancakes, and watched a little Dora on TV. Then we all got our picnics and headed to the park. I would have never found it if Karen hadn't been leading the way. We had a really good time. The boys and Mady played for a while and then we ate lunch. We headed home about 1 o'clock. I had a really great time today and hope I can invite them all over for a play day here. they both live in neighborhoods in town and have small yards. We live on the farm and have a gated space with plenty of room to run around. The kids could play with the toys in the playroom, the swing set, even the little pool if we were feeling brave.

We went to the grocery store and picked up a few things and then took a nice nap. Once the kids were up they played outside with the new kittens. Jeremy was nice enough to bring home 2 kittens yesterday. After all I had only told Madalynn about 1,000 times that we would get a cat when we had a barn. I asked him the afternoon he brought them home if he had purchased some property I didn't know about. (He had not.) I worked on dinner and enjoyed a quiet house for a few minutes.

After dinner we all rode around looking for a farm Jeremy had heard about. We didn't find it. The kids went with Jeremy to sit on one of the farm's tractors. While they were doing that I sprayed some round-up, mowed just a bit, and harvested my zucchini crop. I had a few that were so big they were scary when I lifted up the leaves. I had no idea they were ready, let alone of huge proportions! When the kids got back we all roasted a few marshmallows and then came in for baths and bed.

I think I am going to make it

I have had the crud all week this week and part of last week. I first thought it was just a runny nose Jack had had earlier last week. Apparently not. I have had full blown stuffy/ runny nose, coughing, sore throat, sneezing, headaches, and ears that feel like they need to pop but won't. I am glad to report though, I am MUCH better today. Finally! There is nothing that makes me appreciate being healthy more than a few days of being sick! We all that are healthy need to realize how big a blessing our health is. Jeremy and I both know how quickly that can change.

Anyway, I have actually felt good enough to catch up or attempt to catch up on our laundry. All moms know - one day down and it begins to heap up. I have experienced what 4-5 days of that can look like in the past week. It looks a lot better around here now. I weeded in the garden, straightened the kitchen, dealt with the builder who was here working on our front door lock, worked on some school type stuff with Mady and run a few errands today. In addition to the required feeding and tending of children. Those two things I just can't get away from.

We will miss tonight at Bible school though. I have missed all week, but the kids have been attending. Jeremy said he would probably be working late tonight since he was off yesterday. He has been picking up the kids after I drive them to church and drop them off. I was supposed to be helping this week. My assigned duties were to be the 1 year olds, the 2 year olds, or refreshments. In the state of my health this week, not a good idea. I appreciate sick people trying to keep their germs to themselves, so I am trying to follow this advice. I am not obsessive about it, I just hate to have healthy children that get exposed to people that know they are sick and choose to be around others anyway. I am still coughing like I have TB so I didn't figure I need to go spread germs all over small children. The kids technically don't know they aren't getting to go tonight. I know there will be a certain 5 year old that will have quite the dramatic reaction when given this information and I am delaying that performance as long as possible.

The weather has been great here this week, so I hate that I haven't felt like doing more. It would have been a good week to go to the park or something, but I just haven't had the energy. I weeded a little in the garden today and dug potatoes Monday night. The rest of my garden seems to be in slow motion. It will probably all be ready the week we are in Wyoming. Temperatures of 70's and 80's in late June and early July just don't happen that often. Oh well, I am just thankful I am feeling better and it isn't something more serious.