Currently Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon By Michael P. Ghiglieri, Thomas M. Myers see related

Since my last post, a long, long time ago, we went on a long, long vacation.  We took a 2 week road trip.  I took about 750 pictures along the way, but I'll try not to include more than half of them in this post.  I'll just tell the story of our trip as I show the photos.  The point of the trip was to go to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and the Grand Canyon, but as you will see, we ended up doing a lot more than that.

On the day that we left, we intended to drive to Memphis, TN and spend the night.  Along the way, we discovered that we would be going right past the Hermitage, in Nashville, which is Andrew Jackson's homeplace, and also where he is buried.  How could we possibly pass up the chance to see another dead President?  So this, of course, was our first stop.

In front of his house:

In the garden:

In front of the grave:

After we left the Hermitage, Roxie called my mom and dad and told them that she had just been to "Angry Jackson's" house. lol  I guess she couldn't remember that his name was Andrew.  So now when you ask her where we went, sometimes she says Angry Jackson, and sometimes, if she can't remember his name, she'll say, "you know, the Mad President." lol

After we left the Hermitage, we discovered that Pres. James K. Polk was buried about 20 minutes away.  So we headed there next.  That poor dude doesn't have a museum, or homeplace, or gift shop, or anything cool to tour.....just a gravesite.  And let me tell ya, it was a looooooong trek up to the capital building where he is buried:

Just look at all those steps.  I told Jamie that I would just wave at Polk from the bottom of the hill, but apparently that wasn't good enough, so I had to walk all the way to the top.  I took a break along the way. lol...but we finally made it:

Roxie wanted her picture in front of his wife's grave...not sure why. lol:

Also, Kaleb made a point to visit every single NFL stadium that came within 20 miles of us.  First stadium: the Tennessee Titans:

And here's a random picture of me.  I thought I was due for a pregnant belly photo update, so I had to take it of myself:

Roxie, playing  in the water at our hotel:

Next stop:  The Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  They have a brand new stadium, and they were just opening it when we were there.  When we first arrived this is what we found:

They were having auditions for the new season of American Idol.  Jamie really wanted to try out, but I said forget it. lol

Those are the only pictures I could take.  I went inside where they were registering and waiting to audition, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures in there.  It was cool to see all the people waiting to audition, and I even got to see someone come out with their slip saying they made it to Hollywood.

Next, we went to the Pro Shop:

Those photos were taken just minutes before I had a rather unexpected experience.  As I said, the Cowboys Stadium is brand new.  They had just opened it when we were there.  Not many people were there, really, and there were still a few construction workers there doing some final details, like touching up the paint and stuff.  On our way out of the Pro Shop, as we were heading toward the front entrance/exit of the stadium, I was looking down in my purse or bag or something, and I looked up just as I was about to run into two men.  When I looked up, I was face to face with Jerry Jones!  For those of you who are dummies, and have no clue who that is, he is the owner of the Cowboys, and he's very famous.  Well I just stood there staring in complete shock.  He smiled at me and gave me a look like, 'yeah, I know you know who I am.....go ahead and ask for a picture or autograph...' lol  But I was in such shock that I just stood there like a dufus. lol  After I finally composed myself, and we went out the door, Jamie looked at me and said, "that was Jerry Jones."  Duh, like I didn't know that.  lol  And it was then that I finally realized that I missed a  huge opportunity.  He acted very friendly, and I know that he would have let me take a photo with him if I'd asked.  I said, 'Kaleb did you see that man?  It was Jerry Jones!' and he said, 'who's Jerry Jones?' lol  I guess he's too young too know, but after I explained it, he was excited that he'd seen him.  I so wish that I had taken Kaleb's picture with him.  That would have been so cool.  Jamie says I left a puddle in the floor where I was standing.  Smartelic. lol

And after we left, Roxie then called my dad and said,'Pappaw, we just saw Jerry Johnson!' lol

Anyway, after I partially recovered from that little episode, we went right next door to the Texas Rangers baseball stadium so Kaleb could see that too:

Then after a long and boring drive across western Texas and eastern New Mexico....

....we finally made it to Carlsbad Caverns, just in time for the evening bat flight out of the cave.  I did not enjoy that part, as the bugs were so thick, that all I did was swat at them for an hour.  Here's Lexie waiting for the bats:

and Roxie:

Then the next day we toured the caverns:

Then on to Arizona!

We toured the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.  It was HOT!!!  I mean hot, like 150 degrees.   Okay more like 110:

At the Painted Desert:

Yeah, Jamie was proud of the lovely photos he took of my hair, but I'll just post one:

Next stop, Sedona, Arizona.  It was a very, very scenic town, with lots of red rock formations and cool stuff to do:

The next day, we stopped at the next NFL stadium, the Arizona Cardinals:

Then we ate at a mexican restaurant right across from the stadium.  It was the best mexican place ever!  Roxie especially enjoyed the strawberries and chocolate fountain, as you can see:

Kaleb and Lexie liked it too:

We passed lots of cactuses, or cacti, or whatever:

Okay, finally we made it to the Grand Canyon:

This (the entrance) would be the only part where I did not panic.  As soon as we got there, and I saw how deep it was, and there were NO railings, I was a total mess.  I wasn't scared so much for myself, but for the kids.  I just knew they'd run right up to the edge and fall in.  And I saw a TON of stupid people standing on the edge, sitting on the edge, dangling their feet over  the edge, and letting their children PLAY on the edge!!!  I told Jamie that there must be a convention of stupid people in town at the same time we were there, because we saw all of them.  I couldn't believe it.  Here are some examples of the idiots I found:

I finally did find a few spots with railing, even though it still wasn't very sturdy or safe, but I let the kids slowly walk out there, while holding our hands:

The Grand Hotel, where we stayed:

Okay, we left there, and headed to Utah:

We visited the Four Corners, where Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado meet:

I would show the picture of my pregnant self straddling all 4 states, but it's not a pretty sight. lol

Next stop:  Colorado:

We stayed in a really neat historic hotel in Durango, CO.  It had a really old elevator, the kind that has a wooden door that opens just like a door to a room, and then it had one of those metal springy doors that you pull open and shut.  We could barely fit all of us in there, it was so small:

Then the rooms were really cool, too.  They even had bathrobes, which the kids just HAD to try on:

The next day we took the train from Durango to Silverton, CO.  It was a beautiful ride.  Very scenic:

Then we left Colorado, and on our way out, we found the Continental Divide.  Jamie was so excited, that he had to stop and take his picture straddling the Continental Divide.  I was not so excited and asked, "uh, what is the continental divide?" lol:

Finally made it to Kansas:

Where we were so lucky to find another dead President.....Eisenhower!

I had a not-so-happy experience at the Eisenhower gift shop.  I was there to buy my magnets (like I do every place we visit).  As I was standing at the check-out counter, a very nasty old woman working there, looked at my 3 children, who were standing a little bit behind me, playing with some toys in the kiddie section, and said, "Are you going to buy those?  Because if you're not, I want you to put them up. NOW."  (They were each playing with one of those squooshy, rubber balls.)  I then placed my magnets on the counter and said, "Well I don't really want to buy these (magnets) from you, but I guess I don't have a choice."

Okay, apparently this lady does not understand the issue, so I made a point to make sure that when I left, she had a clearer knowledge of what was happening, and why I disapproved:

1.  If you have a problem with one or more of my children, you direct your inquiries at me, NOT them.

2.  If there are toys on display at a place of business, and they are on the child's level so they can reach them, then this encourages the children to touch said toys, so that they may then play with them, and beg their parents to buy them.

3.  My children were being very quiet and mannerly, not bothering anything or anybody, and were simply touching the squooshy balls, which, as I said, were within their reach.

4.  If the management at this store does not want children touching the children's toys, then they should place them in an area that is out of their reach and inaccessible to children (oh, and good luck at selling any of them, if they do this.)

Even Jamie (who is very mild-mannered and usually encourages me to just keep my mouth shut as well, agreed with me on this one.  I guess what made it so bad was how extremely rude this woman was.  She didn't just politely ask if we could have our kids put those things back, she looked directly at a three-year-old innocent little girl, and forcefully demanded that she put away the toy NOW.  Well, as you can probably tell, my blood was pretty much at the boiling point, and I proceeded to cover the above listed issues with the not-so-friendly gift shop lady.  I asked for a manager or someone with some authority over her, but, of course, she said there were none there.  She proceeded to argue with me and tell me that my children were at fault, not her.  Uh-huh.  We'll see about that.  Jamie also pointed out to her that there were several adults in the store  who were touching items that they did not intend to buy....and why wasn't she telling THEM to put those things down?

For future reference, NO ONE, especially a STRANGER is going to tell my children what to do, especially when they are doing nothing wrong, and especially when I am standing right there.  Can you tell that this makes me mad just to think about it?  Yeah. 

Okay, on with the vacation. lol

We left Eisenhower (with me ranting and raving, and still wanting to go back and give NOL (Nasty Old Lady) a piece of my mind...lol) and went a few hours down the road to our last two stops:  The last NFL stadium (the Kansas City Chiefs) and another dead President.  This time, it was Harry S. Truman.  Unfortunately for Kaleb, the Chiefs stadium was under construction:

So we went ahead to the Truman Museum:

Truman's grave:

Truman's house:

Whew, well I think that about covers it.

Oh wow, I have been one busy little bee since my last post.  There's so much to cover.  The kids are out of school.  Lexie won her Reading Counts award at school.  She had a total of 305 points.  That is great for a first grader.  The kid who won the award for the 4th grade had 160 some points, so that should give you an idea of how well she did for a FIRST grader!  I was so proud of her.  I teased Kaleb because Lexie had a lot more points than he did.  He still won an award for getting over 100 points (he had about 160 or so....)  Anyway, we went to both of their awards' assemblies on the last day of school.  Lexie won the reading award for her class, as well as the Reading Counts trophy for her grade.  She also won the art award.  I was surprised at that.  Who knew she had artistic abilities? lol  Not me.  Kaleb actually won more awards than Lexie did.  He got an award for having 4.0 all year.  He also won a sportsmanship award in PE, a music award, the Reading Counts medal for over 100 points, and one other award....maybe it was the math award...I can't remember now.  Here are a few photos from their assemblies:

Lexie with her trophy:

Roxie had to have her picture taken with Lexie's trophy too:

Lexie in her classroom with all her classmates:

And the girls in the class:

Then after the assemblies, I gave them their gifts.  I had promised Lexie I'd get her an American Girl doll that she wanted if she won.  So I kept my promise.  I had told Kaleb I'd get him something if he won too, but since he didn't I got him a gag gift. lol  I went to the dollar store and got some cheap little thing and wrapped it up.  Here are both kids with their "gifts" lol:

My mom surprised her and got her an American Girl doll, too.  So she ended up with two.  She was so excited:

Jamie said that was mean of me to do Kaleb that way, since he had done exceptional in school this year too.  But I like to tease him, so it was all in good fun.  Don't worry, Pappaw and Mamaw made up for me torturing him.  They bought him something themselves....I think it was a game for his DS.

Also, Shannon has moved now.  We went together and had pedicures and lunch at Red Lobster one day before she left.  Here's Shannon finishing up with her pedicure:

Her fancy toes:

We had pizza and singing at Bob and Donna's the night before they left.  Everyone brought a little going away gift for Emma and Joseph:

Some people played pool:

Here's me and Shannon on our last Wednesday night out together:

And here we are on Sunday night at the Hayes':

And us with my sis-in-law, Lisa:

We also made a quick trip to Indiana for Lucas' dad's memorial service.  We got to see Jess and Dustin and the kids while we were there.  Here are some pics at the mexican restaurant in Bedford.  First, Cambree, with her mexican food face:

Jess and Dustin:

Kaleb and Josiah:

Lexie with her dolls at the hotel:

And just this past week I found out I'm having a baby GIRL!  Jamie was disappointed.  And Kaleb was REALLY disappointed.  He told my dad, "Papaw, I'm moving in!" lol  Now the name argument has begun.  I have a name that I am set on, and I'm trying to talk Jamie into it.  I think he's slowly starting to accept it.  haha  As soon as I get him to agree, I'll tell everyone what it is.  I really like it.  It's really pretty, and I have never heard it before, and that's what I like about it.  I am tired of common names, so I want something different.

I did a big cake for an 80s themed birthday cake for Mary's daughter, Michaela.  She turned 16 and had an 80s themed party.  Here are some photos of it.  (I had to take pics from every angle, because it was different all the way around.):

This week, we are going to Lexington to see Celtic Woman.  It's a group of women from Ireland and England that sing Celtic songs.  Jamie and the kids LOVE them.  Roxie calls it "girls songs"....We have a DVD of them that my mom brought us when she saw them a few years ago, and Roxie is always asking if she can watch "Girls Songs." lol  So they are all excited to go see them in person.

Kaleb's baseball season is almost over....but after that he will probably have All-Stars.  If he makes the all star team, we will have to take our vacation between the end of the regular season and the beginning of all-stars.  There's about 2 weeks between them.  I think we have decided to go to Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon.  That's what Jamie wants to do.  He is all for big road trips. lol  We like to take our time traveling, and stop along the way if we see something fun to do.  So that should be an interesting trip.  It's like a 24 hour drive from here to the Grand Canyon, and Jamie has come up with several little side stops he'd like to make, so that will add to our travel time, I'm sure.  Pray for me. lol

We took the kids to see Up on Friday evening.  They really liked it.  Jamie embarrassed me to death (as usual) with his uncontrollable laughing.  When will I learn NOT to go to the movies with him???  After the movie, I was craving chocolate-dipped fruit, so we stopped at Edible Arrangements and bought some.  The kids got more of it than I did:

There are now three of us at church who are pregnant.  (If you are having feritility issues, come drink from our water fountain.  I think it works.)  We compared belly sizes this morning:

I think Amanda is currently in the lead, but I am not far behind.  Brittany just found out that she's pregnant, so she's still normal size.  I told her to stick her gut out so we wouldn't look so bad, but I don't think she did it.

Notice the little "Gloria" hippo Amanda is holding.  Some mean person got her that as a joke.  I won't say who. lol

Jamie found a big ol' moth outside yesterday when he was mowing.  The kids were amazed with it, even though it was dead. lol  Here's Roxie's hand next to it so you can see how big it was:

Then Kaleb brought out one of his little men to fight it. lol:

I plan on trying to have a yard sale this weekend, if I can get all my stuff ready.  If not, then maybe I'll do it the next weekend.  Now that I know I'm having a girl, I'm getting rid of all the boy stuff.  My house is full of junk I don't need, and I am ready to clean it out!!!

This is post is FULL of pictures, so get ready.  I'm giving you advance warning...haha

I know it's been a while again since I posted, and I didn't really think most people would care, since pretty much everyone is on facebook now.  But I have had some people actually griping at me for not posting.  So I am trying to do better.

We are down to the final week of school.  Lexie's teacher sent home an announcement on Friday saying that their awards assembly will be next Friday morning.  She wrote me a note at the bottom saying that she hoped I would come, because Lexie will be receiving two awards, but she isn't aware of it.  How exciting!  I know one of the awards is the Reading Counts award.  That kid has worked so hard for that this year.  To give you an idea of how well she did, let me compare her points to what Kaleb had in the 1st grade.  Kaleb had the most points in the 1st grade when he won his award with 195 points....and that was a very impressive total in comparison with the rest of the kids' scores.  Lexie will be winning the award for the 1st grade this year with a total of 305 points.  I could not believe she did so well.  To earn points, they have to not only read a book, but they also have to take a test on each book and pass it in order to receive points.  Points are awarded based on the level of difficulty.  When Lexie started the program in January, she wasn't motivated at all, and she was behind.  I have a surprise already wrapped up to give her on Friday after she gets her award.  She will be so excited.  I don't know what the other award is that she's getting.  I guess we'll both be surprised to find out that one.

As everyone already knows, Ryan and Shannon will be moving in about a week.  We had a farewell dinner for them last night at Famous Dave's.  I made them a little going away gift.  It made Shannon cry, of course. lol  Here she is when she was starting to open it:

And here she is when she peeked inside and saw the front cover (It was a photo book that I had made for them.)  This picture doesn't totally capture how much she boo-hooed.  Becky was sitting across from her, snapping pictures, so I'd say she has some that show more emotion. lol:

Here's what the front cover of the book looked like:

And yes, those are our feet. lol

She actually closed the box back up and didn't look at it at first.  Then she blew her nose and composed herself:

Later on she was able to pose with me and the book.  We got Kaleb to take the photo, but apparently he has the same photography skills as his father:

So we got Tami to do a re-take.  Much better:

And I took some pictures of everyone visiting and chowing:

It took about 20 tries to get a picture of these 3 with their eyes open:

We went over to Ryan and Shannon's on Memorial Day for a cookout.  Emma, Lexie and James played Guitar Hero:

I'm not sure what Joseph and Roxie were doing, but they were downstairs being very quiet for a looooong time:

Roxie has a new favorite word.  Yesterday she did something....I can't even remember what it was....and then she said, "Oh, fiddlesnot."  Now she says it all the time.  Every time she drops something, or trips, or makes a mistake, she says fiddlesnot.  lol 

I took a picture of Roxie before church this morning.  She was wearing the outfit that Donna (and Bob) got her for her birthday:

I had Jamie take one of me with her.  I figured I should try to have a few photos taken of myself during the pregnancy, even though I really don't want to. haha:

I took a few of Jamie and Roxie:

And Jamie took another one of us...not so good:

This is a little better:

Our living room is getting closer to completion.  It's still a big mess, but it's all painted, and the new baseboards and crown moulding are all up.  We bought 2 new recliners that we'll pick up tomorrow.  I'll have to take some pictures when it all gets finished.  I have several pieces of furniture that I need to get rid of.  I was going to sell them in my yard sale, but I think I've decided to put them on Craigslist.  Has anyone else had any luck selling stuff on there?  I thought it would be easier to do it that way, because whoever wants it can come and get it, and I won't have to haul it over to my parents' house for the yard sale.  I hope I can get rid of it soon.

I'll close with pictures of the photo book I made for Shannon.  I took pictures of some of the pages, so here they are:

***Edit:  A blog site that is devoted to kids birthday parties did a feature blog on me and my cakes.  Check it out if you are interested.  Here's the link:  http://www.birthday-parties-for-kids.com/?p=599

Okay, it's official.  I'm a xanga slacker.  I was feeling so bad for a while that I didn't do much of anything.  This house was a mess, and I was waaaay behind on my laundry, but I've spent the past few days trying to get things caught up.  I have made quite a bit of progress.  So I guess now it's time to bring xanga up to date. 

For those of you who have asked, I am feeling a lot better.  I am now 16 weeks, and the nausea/sickness is pretty much gone.  I do have headaches a lot for some reason, but I'm hoping that gets better soon too.

School is getting close to the end.  Our kids have to go until June 5th, because they have so many snow days to make up.  So I guess they have a total of 12 days left.  Lexie is still trying her hardest to win the Reading Counts award for her class.  She is doing really well, although the boy in 2nd place is trying his best to give her a run for her money. lol  His mom came up to me at school the other day and asked me if I knew about their little competition.  haha  I told her that I knew about it, but I didn't let on about how much I knew.  Little does she know that I'm the one pushing Lexie to win. lol  I'm so sneaky.  Lexie does have a LOT of points, though.  I have a feeling she is going to win for the entire grade.  That's my girl. lol

Kaleb has been playing baseball.  Jamie is the coach this year, so that is taking up way more time than I would like.   (I feel like I've mentioned this before...)  Anyway, the students are having state testing this week, so there are no ball games scheduled.  Not to worry though....they start back up as soon as the tests are over at the end of the week.  Yay.

Roxie is still as entertaining as ever.  She has been saying the funniest things lately.  She is three years old, but her vocabulary is unbelieveable.  The other day, I heard her arguing downstairs with Kaleb (this is a constant thing with those two.  Kaleb likes to make her mad just so she'll say something outrageous.)  Anyway, it sounded like she had had enough of whatever he was doing, and I heard her scream at the top of her lungs, "YOU'RE AN OBNOXIOUS LITTLE BROTHER!!!"  lol  I had to go get her and make her repeat what she said.  I had her say it over and over because it sounded so funny to hear her say it.  She says big words all the time.  She talks like an adult.  I took her for her check-up a couple of weeks ago, and the doctor asked me if she could talk okay, and if she could put together sentences, and if she made sense.  lol  I thought, if this lady only knew who she was talking about. 

One night a couple of weeks ago, Jamie was downstairs on the computer, and I was up in my room sitting on the bed.  Kaleb and Lexie were already in bed asleep.  Roxie had been running around playing.  When Jamie came upstairs to look for Roxie, this is what he found in her room:

She had fallen asleep in her baby doll's playpen.  lol  She is so little that she can fit into a toy playpen.  When they weighed and measured her at the doctor, she was in the 10th percentile for height, but for weight, she was just barely on the chart.  She is so tiny.

Okay, speaking of Roxie, she just came downstairs in some kind of princess costume and said, "NOW INTRODUCING THE GLORIOUS......ROXANNE!" lol :

That kid is full of it.

Roxie also says that she has a baby in her belly too.  And whenever you ask her what the baby's name will be, her response is always "Bella."  If you ask her what its name will be if it's a boy, she says, "It's not a boy!"  I have no clue why she thinks its name is Bella.  I guess I've let her watch Twilight too many times. lol

I went to the doctor today for a regular check-up.  They didn't do much except listen to the heartbeat.  They did make me an appointment for my ultrasound.  It will be June 12th.  I guess we should find out then what we are having.  I get kind of nervous about that ultrasound, because when I was pregnant with Roxie, the ultrasound showed some abnormality with her nose, and they said it was possible that she could have Down's Syndrome, which obviously she did not....so that just made me panic and worry for 5 months for no reason.  So I am hoping we don't have the same problem this time around.

We are still trying to decide where we want to go on vacation this summer.  We were planning a big road trip out west.  Jamie wanted to drive all the way across the country (I'm talking to CA and back), stopping several places along the way.  But that was before we found out I was pregnant, so now I'm thinking we should plan something else.  I don't think I want to drive that far and that long while I'm pregnant...not my idea of a good time.  We haven't come up with a destination yet, but I wouldn't rule out the possiblity of another dead president or two somewhere along the way. lol

I still haven't been doing a lot of cakes, but I have done a few.  It's been nice to not be so busy.  I did have one really big cake order a couple of weeks ago.  It was for a gumball machine and 60 candy cupcakes:

When I went to deliver this cake, a bunch of little girls hovered around me while I was setting it up.  They were asking, "Is it real?....Can we touch it?....Can I have some gum?...."  I tried to patiently answer their questions while I was trying to put the cake together.  Finally, they all left.  Well, at least I thought they all left.  One little girl was still standing there (the girl who was asking all the questions), and when I turned my back, she turned the knob on the machine to get her some gum.   Of course this is not a REAL gumball machine or a REAL knob, so it broke off.  I was not a happy camper to say the least.  I told the girl, "you do not touch that...see you broke it....you need to go....you need to leave."  Oh, I was so upset.  I mean, I wanted the mother who ordered the cake to actually see it before it was demolished.  I scrambled around trying to fix it as best I could.  I finally did get the knob back in place.  It was a little bit crooked, and I'm not sure if it stayed put after I left....but it was better than no knob at all.  I did feel kinda bad for getting mad at the little girl.  And after she did it, I heard her mother tell her, "go tell the lady you're sorry you broke her cake."  haha  Oh, and Shannon was there when I was setting it up, and she saw my face after the kid broke my cake.  That's a story she loves to tell. lol

I also did one for Lucas' 30th birthday:

I tried to make the pictures on the cake as true to life as possible.  Don't you think that looks just like him in the USPS shirt? lol

Nobody touched or broke anything on Lucas' cake.  All the kids at church know better than to touch cakes.  lol

And I did a cake for my cousin's little girl's birthday:

So that's most of what's been going on around here.  Oh, and also, we are doing a little bit of updating/remodeling in our basement/living room area.  We got new furniture, so we decided to tear down some paneling that was down there, paint, replace the baseboards, and basically get rid of everything that was in there.  I'm into de-cluttering this house.  I'm tired of knick-knacks and trinkets and junk.  I just want to simplify things.  It feels cleaner that way.  Less is more.  That's my new motto. haha  Maybe I will go take pictures of how it looked before Jamie gets too far into it.  He just started tearing down the paneling today.  I'm hoping this whole process won't take too long, but you know how that goes.

I've been feeling yuck-o, so I haven't felt like posting or doing much of anything.  I'm about 13 weeks now, so hopefully this sickness will be totally gone soon.  I think it's starting to get better.  I feel really good in the mornings, but I still feel bad in the evenings.  I do seem to have some sort of cereal addiction.  I buy more cereal every time I go to the store.  I bought 4 boxes the last time I went, which makes a total of about 10 boxes in my pantry.  I've been buying kinds I've never even eaten before.  What is up with that?  I have determined, however, that I do not like Cookie Crisp.

Anyway, I've been really busy, despite feeling bad.  The kids and I went to Chicago with my parents over spring break.  It was absolutely freezing, and it rained the whole time we were there.  Is spring break supposed to have temperatures in the 30s?  I don't think so.  The reason for our trip was to take Lexie to the American Girl Place for her birthday.  She loved it.  We had brunch at the AG restaurant.  It was really nice, and the girls loved it.  Also, Lexie and Roxie each got a new AG doll, along with a bunch of other accessories and stuff, so they were thrilled with that. 

Inside the restaurant:

Since Jamie wasn't there to get some good pictures of me, my dad took over for him:

My mom's plate:

Kaleb's plate...he just loved the heart-shaped pancakes. haha:

My plate:

This is what we all had for dessert:

Kaleb loved it.  He can't wait to go back. lol:

We ate at the Rainforest Cafe while we were in Chicago too:

We got to see Oprah's studio and go to the Oprah store:

We also visited the Field Museum in Chicago.  Kaleb wanted to go there to see Sue, the world's biggest T-Rex skeleton, or something like that:

Then we drove to Springfield to go to the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library and to see his grave.  Yep, that's right.  I saw another dead president!  I am one ahead of Jamie! haha

The kids with the Lincoln family:

Abraham Lincoln's house:

In front of Lincoln's tomb:

Finally going home:

Now we are back, and I am so glad to be done with traveling for a while.  I just want to stay at home.  It seems like one thing after another has been breaking around here.  Isn't that how it always happens?  The faucet in the kitchen broke, and had to be replaced.  Then one of the sliding doors on our van broke, and we are still waiting for it to be fixed.  Apparently, the part that is broken is on national backorder.  Then, our front-loading washing machine (which is only about a year old) broke for the second time in about two months.  It is not fun being without a washer when you have a family of five.  Then my shower head started leaking.  I'm just waiting for something else to bite the dust.

Jamie's birthday was last Thursday.  For his gift, I bought tickets for the whole family to see Celtic Woman in Lexington in June.  They are a group of Irish singers/performers that Jamie and the kids love.  My mom went and saw them a year or two ago, and she brought them back a dvd.  The kids watch it all the time and know all the songs, even though some of them are in some other language...I have no clue what it is.  But they love it.....especially Roxie and Lexie. 

Well I haven't been doing a lot of cakes lately.  I've been cutting back some since I haven't been feeling that great.  It's been really nice to have a break from it actually.  I have done a few, and I do still have a few scheduled, but I'm not doing as many as I was.  I did one for Reagan last weekend.  It was her first birthday:

And finally, here are some pics of the kids on Easter, which was the day we left for Chicago:

Of course, I wasn't ready when Jamie took the picture: