Catchup

I'll start out with a "thank you God" that my kids are still well, and a knock on wood...I was smacked down by the flu last Saturday and today, a full week later, is the first day I have felt like a normal person since. I have never been a person to get sick often, maybe once every few years, and I hope it is a looong time before it happens again. I have my normal voice back today...I think the kids enjoyed my not being able to yell at them! The only good parts of this story are that 1) I caught up on my movie-watching, I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire, Marley and Me, and Seven Pounds, and 2) I lost some weight! Never a bad thing to not have to do my crazy dance to get into my jeans!
I am 33 now. Creeping up to that age that, when I was a kid, I deemed "old". I had a low-key birthday, did some shopping and some work in the flowerbeds, then my family had a little party for me at my grandparents' house with a pretty red velvet cake.
Spring Break with the kids gets more and more fun every year as they get a little older, more mature, and able to appreciate vacations. This year I kept it simple, and we drove to Dallas to spend a few days with my mother-in-law Letty. The kids adore their grandmother, and the Haest Homebase is a wonderland for the grandkids. Lots of toys to play with, a creek to explore, a park three lots down. I wasn't quite sure Sam was going to survive the lack of caffeine in the house though! Letty only has water, milk, oj, and wine! She is an extremely healthy eater and drinker! By the third day, we had to grab Sam a 2-liter of Dr Pepper to keep him from going over the edge! Poor kid. We went to the Dallas zoo while we were there, ice skating at the Galleria, where the kids had the entire rink to themselves for about a half and hour, until other people started arriving, then it still wasn't crowded at all. It was Sam's first time to ice-skate, and I don't think he had to grab the wall at all! He is a natural. Mariel had a lot of fun with it too. They skated for a full 2 hours, giving Letty and me plenty of time to visit. We took the kids mini-golfing, which is always fun. We played Parcheesi and spent lots of time out in the sun, it was lovely! The only downside to the trip was my discovery that my very favorite clothing store, La Mariposa, has been closed down. I had been so excited to go there and buy lots of new outfits for spring and summer and was so bummed! I made the kids endure a half-day at the outlet mall on the way home instead. They got some pretty good stuff out of it so not tooooo much complaining. My son has discovered labels. Suddenly he wants Hollister t-shirts, and everything else has got to be Puma or Nike. Oh boy, it starts. I am finally going to get paid back for my pre-teen obsessions with Pepe, Guess, and Lawson jeans and Dooney and Burke purses!! Yikes! I got myself some sweet new running shoes so I was pretty happy. I cannot wait to get back into the gym to try them out!
School is back in session and now Sam is counting the days till Summer vacation. Mariel loves school and being with all her friends so she doesn't care. I don't like getting up early these days so I am looking forward to Summer as well. I am thinking of ditching the country club here in Greenwood for Fianna. I want to play tennis and Mariel needs to learn too. We have a vacation planned at Clearwater Beach in July, I am sure I will never want to come home from there! I am a beach person, and it's a wonder I haven't packed it up and moved somewhere more near a beach by now!
Well it is Saturday, and I hope everybody has a fabulous weekend. Stay healthy and safe!