Home Again. . .

. . . and sick. Before we left for Thanksgiving vacation, Chris and Caden were sick. They were very sick. On our way down south they seemed to be getting a little better, and after a day in Florida I thought we were completely out of the woods. The boys had to go be with their father, which none of us was looking forward to. I was glad that they were not sick and hopeful that they would return well and everyone else would be feeling better by then too. Oh well. After ten days of not getting whatever it was that Chris and Caden I was sure that I had beaten it. I was also very grateful, because I don't think there is anything quite as bad as being pregnant and sick. Then, it happened, I woke up the last day we were at my in-laws and I had a little scratch in the back of my throat. The next day it was a little worse, and when we picked up Russell and Zeke I discovered Zeke was sick also. Now a week later Zeke and I are still fighting this horrible cold, and it seems it is coming back around with Caden and Chris developing coughs again. I wonder why Russell hasn't gotten sick yet?

Thanksgiving went better than expected in some ways and was a little bit disappointing in others. We managed to handle the travel pretty well, but being in Chris' truck, with those awful bench seats, was difficult on my pregnant body. On the way down to Florida we stopped in Tennessee and took the boys up to Lookout Mountain and then we road the incline train (the steepest train tracks in the world -- down the side of a mountain). Zeke decided that he was going to be terrified of the train so I drug him on anyway. For the first five minutes of the ride I don't think you could have fit a piece of paper between us. Then, he let go, looked up and me and smiled real big. It wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. In fact he loved the entire ride. They each got a post card of their visit -- our preferred souvenir because it is cheap.

We arrived in Florida Sunday evening to find our house in good repair and our maintenance free pool crystal clear and oh so inviting. It was warm and in the 70s the whole time we were there. That evening we went over to the Marshall's house. Russell and Zeke got to play with David and Allysa and Caden learned how to drive a battery operated jeep. They all had a lot of fun, and then we all went out to dinner together. It was a very enjoyable time. I have been really needing some time with friends. After dinner we had to hurry back to the house so that Chris could finish the last of his school work for the week. We are so grateful for friends like the Marshalls. We have not had to worry about our property since we left.

The next day I left Chris with Caden and went to drop off the boys with their father. After I dropped them off I got to go eat lunch with my friend Mari. It was so awesome. We ate lunch and talked for about an hour and a half and not one single interruption --YEAH. After lunch I went back to the house and Chris and I did some of the work that needed to be done on the house. To our surprise and delight, when we pulled the yucky carpet up out of the sun room we found it had been placed over good ceramic tile. What a great day. That is one less expense we have because now we don't have to lay new flooring in there. We just have to clean up the tile. We also bought flooring to put down in both the bathrooms and pulled up the carpet in the master bedroom since it will need to be replaced. We did not get as much done as we had wanted to, but we did discover we really like that house. We have put more thought into renting it. All the predictions are for 2 more years of this current housing slump, and we do not want to take a loss on the house. We will see.

We drove up and to Chris' mom's house on Wednesday and stayed until Friday afternoon. While we were there we had a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party where his grandmother gave him WAAAY too much stuff. Our kids already have enough stuff. Whenever it is birthday time or Christmas or whatever we try to impress upon people that while they like to get gifts they really are not all about the getting like some kids. In fact it would not hurt our feelings or theirs to get only one or two items. We ask that they limit what they give but it is amazing how people just don't want to listen to you. So Caden got from Grandma three Thomas books,one Thomas video, 3 different Thomas train track sets, 3 clothing outfits, two big boxes of play dough stuff, etc. . . Then, Chris' dad got him a battery operated Jeff Gordon Car to drive around in. It was the one thing we were planning on getting for him so since his Grandfather already got it he pretty much got nothing from Mom and Dad. Thankfully when we got to my mom's house he had only one Thomas the Tank outfit waiting for him. WHEW! Thanksgiving was an interesting day with Chris' mom's house packed to the rafters. Four of her sisters were there and much of the extended family. We were able to spend a bit more time with a couple of Chris' cousins. I was excited to find them people that I would like to get to know better. In fact his cousin Tyler and his wife may even come up from Texas for the New Year. Friday, we drove back down to Florida to pick up the big boys Saturday morning.

Saturday morning we picked up Russell and Zeke at 0800 and left to go back to Mississippi. Yes, you heard me right, back to Mississippi. Chris' dad owns part of a race car that races on the dirt track circuit and he wanted us to see the car and see a race. So we drove up there and made good time. Unfortunately we were disappointed by the rain and the race was cancelled shortly after we arrived. What a bummer. The boys did get to crawl around and inside of the car though. Maybe next time. So, we left there and headed to Nashville to spend the night.

After spending the night in Nashville, we headed for my parents for the night. it was not a bad drive and everyone including Caden travelled well. Once again, the only real issue was the seats in Chris' truck. We had a good time with grandma and grandpa. Although we had intended to leave Monday afternoon, we got caught up in our visit and I just felt too sick to drive all night so we stayed until Tuesday morning. We finally made it home Tuesday night.