I'm posting this pic because I miss my babies today. These three are visiting Springfield this week with my in-laws. It has been very, very quiet at home. I think Cole even suspects something is not normal, but I've noticed he has tried to make more sounds than usual. He's trying to communicate by saying de, ba, te, and da. He also discovered that rolling his tongue in and out makes a lill-lill-lill sound.

Baylea, Molly, and Connor will be at the Dickerson Park Zoo this afternoon and will see my parents later today. Have fun guys, I miss you tons. . . Mom 

Withdrawal is a stinker. No- not nicotine, or alcohol, or drugs. . .diet pop. (Coke, soda, cola, whatever.) Brett and I started another diet, again, on Sunday. Yes, we've attempted many diets, but this one isn't some silly fad diet. It's basically low-calorie healthy eating. I loaded the grocery cart with tons of fresh vegetables rather than meals that came in a box or a can.

I found a weekly diet plan through beachbody.com. We ordered their workout dvd's a couple years ago, and they are really good as long as you stick to them. So, for the past three days I've eaten a low-carb high-protein diet, which hasn't been too bad. But, we also decided to give up pop. . . which apparently our bodies are addicted to.

I've heard a lot of stories about the perils of diet drinks, but didn't usually care. If it gives me a caffeine fix and contains zero calories, how can it be that bad? At work, we have a supply of free cans of Coke products, and I averaged 2-3 cans of Diet Coke a day. Then at home, I always had Diet Dr. Pepper on hand and probably had 1-3 more during the evening. So, since Saturday night, I haven't had any at all. Yesterday was rough.

I was okay throughout much of the day, but started to get a headache in the afternoon. By the time I got home, it was pounding. I don't know if I've ever had a migraine or not, but this was what I'd imagine one to be. I felt almost nauseous, didn't feel like eating, and the lights hurt my eyes. We tried watching TV, but I ended up laying on the couch with my head cradled on one arm, with the other shielding my eyes from the lights. I think I went to bed at 9:30. Brett felt awful too. He said he had no energy and it was making him very grumpy (he acknowledged it was because of the withdrawal symptoms.)

It made us kind of wonder what sort of stuff we put into our bodies that affect us so much when we stop. I mean, why doesn't this happen when I quit eating peas? Anyway, today was much better, I have been drinking tons of water and am actually excited to start losing the weight.

Oops. What did I say yesterday about having the tv all to myself? Our weather situation made the national news last night, and turned out to be quite an experience for us.

Around 6:15 pm, my mother-in-law came over to the house to help me drill some screws into the wall for shelving. It began to rain and the sky got that really weird green color. Then, it began to pour. I hadn't seen it rain that hard in a long while. After about 20 minutes, I looked out our front window and noticed the utility pole was leaning at at 50 degree angle. The power lines that went from the top of that pole to the side of our house were draping across my driveway. It looked like I could drive under them maybe, but I wasn't sure.

Church was supposed to start at 7:00, but it was lightning and raining so hard there was no way I was going to try to drag three little kids across the parking lot. I didn't see the light on in the nursery, so I knew I would be back there watching my kids anyway. Connor and I pulled up chairs to the window and watched the storm outside. The fire department came out and set up cones in front of the leaning pole so traffic wasn't allowed to proceed on our street. They didn't come up to the door or anything, and left after fifteen minutes.

We only had partial electricity. Some rooms had it, others didn't. The TV wouldn't come on and our water wasn't working either. Around 8:30 I was talking on the phone with Jen from church, when I heard someone's voice yelling at me from the back porch. It was my neighbor telling me we needed to get out of the house right away. I scooped up the children and we ran outside through the rain to their house. He turned me around and showed me what the deal was. His willow tree had been knocked over onto the lines, which made the pole start to lean, which pulled on the power lines attached to our house. The power lines that had been partially torn from the side of the house were crackling and zapping against the aluminum siding. Scary stuff.

The fire department and utilities truck came back and they shut off the power to both of our homes, then took the wires that had fallen. My neighbor asked them why they didn't tell me to get out of the house and they said they didn't notice. Comforting. You think they would investigate a little about live wires from a falling pole. The workers shut the power off, took the wires, then left. Anyway, we stayed there for a couple hours until my mother-in-law could pick me up, as she was dealing with her church's own flooding drama.

I followed her out to her house about 20 miles away, through one of the most active lightning storms I've seen. And get this, yesterday morning, the driver's side window quit working when it was in the down position. So my window is completely open, I'm driving through rain and a lightning storm- and my one phobia in life is being struck by lightning. I was leaning towards the middle of the van as much as possible in hopes that the lightning bolt wouldn't be able to reach those extra two inches. Don't laugh, it worked.

It turns out there were several funnel cloud sightings last night, one that was only three miles away. I'm soo glad Baylea wasn't here. She would have had a heart attack. The long night ended with a funny thought, though. Brett called me from camp. He said they had a talent show that night that Baylea entered. Okay, here's this often shy seven year-old at a senior high camp and she's in the talent show? What did she do, I ask? He said she walked up on stage, laid down on her back, then arched up into a bridge for three seconds, then walked off. Oh my gosh, no she didn't. Yeah, Brett says, and because it's Baylea, the high school crowd went wild! I would have loved to see it. Thanks Bayles, you put a smile on my face at the end of a very cruddy day.

It's Thursday afternoon and I still haven't been back to the house yet. The automated electric company message estimated my power to be restored tonight at eleven. But as I'm typing this, the weather services are posting more storm watches for tonight and I already hear the thunder rolling. I was swapping stories with Lydia last night and we laughed at how we were already formulating our blogs for the next day. We've become internet addicts, we admit. So if tonight is exciting again, you'll hear about it soon.

It's been a quiet week. Brett left Monday to speak at a camp up north. Baylea went with him, so it's just me and three kiddos. He was worried that Bayles would be bored, but it turns out she has having a blast. He said the campers, mainly high schoolers, have taken her under their wing and are just serving her hand and foot. Of course, she's loving it.

They'll be back on Friday night. Molly and Connor have done pretty well, the weather has been nice so they've spent a lot of time outside. Cole is taking more and more steps. He's at that age that is getting difficult to keep constant watch over him. Everything goes into his mouth, and he hates to be confined to a playpen.

The evenings have been quiet. I've done pretty well staying on top of cleaning and laundry, even. What I've noticed too, is how hard it is to stop watching tv late at night when you have total control of the remote. No ESPN this week!

No really, I miss Brett and Baylea and hope they have a great time. I've felt like something's been missing for the past two days, they need to get back quickly!

I saw the dumbest bumper sticker at lunch today.
It said:

Osama still has his job.
Do you still have yours?

This is ridiculous on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin. (And you can guess which political party sticker was on the other side.) Osama doesn't have a job, he's an evil murderer. Someone is trying to equate the job security of a terrorist to the plight of an American who demands that his government owes him a job. Well, if you think the unemployment rates are impressively low enough in the caves of Afghanistan, then take your pink slip and hightail it out of this country that apparently serves no purpose to you.

When I was a high-school senior, I interviewed for a scholarship from Wal-Mart (which is an abomination up here in Jeep Country.) They asked me if I could define capitalism. It threw me off a little and sadly, I didn't want to appear stupid if I defined it incorrectly, so I told them I didn't think I could comment on it. The thing was, though, I knew what capitalism was. I knew it involved the free market and the rights of people to own business and property. It is what makes America such a great country. And no, I didn't get the scholarship. You have the right to get out and create your own success. It's not about what the government can give me. Let them step back as much as morally possible and allow me to discover what will make me succeed.

My parents are living examples of this. After getting the raw end of a business deal over sixteen years ago, my Dad was in a situation of starting from square one. He came across a machine that cleaned blinds with ultrasonic waves, which did a better job than other methods. My Mom had experience with window treatments from working with my Grandmother several years prior. They put their talents together and formed a business on their own. Blinds Plus was born.

Radio ads were placed on the air, but as time went by, word of mouth became the best advertising of all. Dad gained accounts with offices, restaurants, and homeowners as he performed cleaning services that removed gunk, grease, and smoke stains from the decorative slats. Mom's expertise with sewing draperies and other window treatments created many satisfied customers and friends. Slowly, their business began to grow.

Several years later, they moved into a larger building to accomodate their needs. They eventually hired some help to meet the demands of their busy schedule. Every year they've been rewarded with cruises and vacations from their national dealer. Mom and Dad have been to Hawaii, Cancun, Alaska, St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands . . . to name a few. They are often on appointments and I rarely hear them pick up the phone anymore when I call the shop.

They achieved it. From a business standpoint, they are the American Dream. They worked hard, didn't expect handouts, put their noses to the grindstone, and toughed it out. They took their talents and put them to good use. And I'm darn proud of them. It may have taken an idiotic bumper sticker for me to say this, but I love them and marvel how they conducted themselves when faced with adversity or uncertainty. They succeed in their careers and retained their integrity, honesty, and class.

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

The Gospel According to Connor

Connor came up to me Sunday and showed me a little book he'd made in junior church. He wanted to tell me what it meant.

Black means your heart is yucky.
Red is when God's blood camed out.
White is for the snow that is washed.
Yellow is for the roads.
Green is for grass- I forget, Mom.

I asked him what he had in his hand. He said, It's my worth-less book.

Our trip to Springfield was really great! It was so nice to get away and spend time back in Missouri. Here's a basic timeline:

Sunday 10:00 pm, Toledo: Brett, his dad, me, Baylea, Molly, Connor, and Cole pile into a 15-passenger van and head south. Our plan was to drive through the night to make it easier on the kids (and in turn, easier on us.) At 11:00, Brett tells me, "Go ahead and rest now, we may need you to drive later." Sure, so I sack out. At 3:00 a.m., I feel the van stop and look to see we are at a hotel somewhere in Indiana. Apparently, we will be stopping to sleep for a few hours. Heh, guess that worked out for me. I end up getting about nine hours of sleep, which is more than I get at home.

Monday 10:00 am, Podunk, Indiana: Aaannd, we're off again.

Monday 12:00 pm, Effingham, Indiana: Sure, a KFC buffet sounds great when you're hungry. Afterwards, not so much.

Monday 5:00 pm, Springfield, Missouri: When did they take down that huge American flag at the hotel that's at the intersection of I-44 and US 65? The sight of that flag when you're approaching from the west on I-44 was always the sign that you made it.
"Look kids, there's where mommy and daddy went to church. Yes, it is big isn't it?" It's weird, frequently my dreams take place in that building.
We turned onto Battlefield Road and marveled at how much that area has changed. Brett wanted to drive by his elementary school, so we wound around a few streets until we see Sequiota. It's funny how schools seemed so big when you're a little kid.
We then drive around to mommy's high school with the funny name. No, Molly, it's not Pickapoo, it's Kickapoo. Still a funny name, nonetheless.
We drop off Brett's dad at Brett's grandmother's house, chat with her for awhile, then head off for our final destination. Finally, we arrive at my parent's house. We survived the trip! Mom makes us chicken casserole, which I didn't remember liking it as much as I did that night. Keith and his girlfriend come over and entertain the kids, or maybe the other way around. They head out to the backyard and play catch with beach balls and toy airplanes.

Tuesday: Brett heads off to the golf tournament, and I get the kids dressed and fed. Connor needs a haircut badly, so we go over Cookie Cutters. He chooses the airplane seat and wants to watch Justice League on the video screen. Why can't I ever come up with a brilliant idea like that? We go next door to see my best friend that I grew up with, Mandy Britton. She's over at Jellybeans so we traipse over there. We catch up on things and chat for awhile. I look around and wish for the day that I can spend $80 on a cute blouse for one of the girls.
I take the kids over to Irene's house and spend a couple hours there. She makes us turkey sandwiches and we play Yahtzee. Well, we played the kid version where you just count up the dots and first one to 300 wins. It came down to the last roll between Baylea and Irene. Irene ends up winning. Baylea takes the loss surpisingly well.
Later, I meet up with Brett, his dad, and Irene at Tasia's. Wow, that place is good. You see, here in the north, cashew (or sweet and sour) chicken is not that wonderful. It is not all-white meat, has a squishy breading, and the sweet and sour sauce is a bright red liquid. I don't understand why it's so hard to deep fry chicken the way Springfield does. Brett and his dad were lamenting the fact that their favorite restaurant, Gee's is no longer. They thought there was no way they could enjoy Chinese food again. . . until they tried Tasia's. They loved it and ended up eating there two more times before we left.
I then met up with Mom, Dad, Keith and the kids at Incredible Pizza. They loved it, of course. Pretty impressive buffet, but I was stuffed to the gills with crab rangoon, egg rolls, fried rice, and cashew chicken, so I didn't eat there. Connor, age 4, ate five pieces of pizza! I've never seen him eat that much. I guess when your intestines are operated on when you are one day old, you can pretty much stomach anything. We ran into Andrea Wilkinson's parents. She's currently teaching graphic arts at a college in New Zealand.

Wednesday: (Wow, this post is getting long). Today, we visited both sets of grandparents. We went to the Holland's in Nixa in the afternoon. It's weird to see your kids play with toys that you remember playing with as a little kid. We went on to the Tyler's later, where my grandmother fixed an excellent dinner. I always have to get seconds when I eat there, and I always end up hurting. The good kind of hurting, though.

Thursday: Mom and Dad were very busy today with appointments and all, so I hung out with the kids at my house. I try to convince myself that having a bigger house only means that there are more messes spread out. It was nice to enjoy the space, though. Brett and I discuss the possibility of putting up our house for sale, and trying to get something roomier. The cost of housing in Michigan is much higher, so we'll have to see if anything comes along.

Friday: Brett, his dad, the kids and I go to Silver Dollar City. We decide to do Fire in the Hole first. Baylea, our resident worrywart, works herself up into tears over riding the thing. We assure her she will love it, not knowing if she will or not. We move along in the dark, looking at the various fake fire scenes, hearing the warbled soundtrack, and smelling the musty odor that hasn't changed in thirty years. Okay, we're approaching the burning bridge. . . will the children freak out at the dip? Wheee! All's well, I don't hear screaming. Connor is next to me laughing is head off. We proceed to the oncoming train, which totally freaked me out the very first time I rode that ride. Today, it just looks like a flashlight glaring in your eyes. All right, last hill. . .FIIIRRE!IN!THE!HHHOOOOLLLLE! I forgot about the water splash at the end. Evidently, Connor does NOT like to be splashed, so he ends the ride crying about getting wet. Baylea ends up loving it, just like we told her she would.
Then we go to the hot-air balloon ride that spins in a circle. Baylea works herself up to tears again in anxiety. We assure her, she will love it, which she does. Does anyone remember where the room is that is dark and has lights and mirrors in it so it looks like you're in infinite space? We thought it was Grandfather's mansion, maybe they took it out.
The new kid's section was pretty cool. Their favorite was the spinning teacups. Yeah, I felt the aftereffects of that ride for awhile.
That night we went out with my family for dinner. We'd planned to go to Cheddar's but figured the wait would be too long for a party of eight, Friday 7:30. We ended up going to a Chinese food place in Ozark, where I had Korean-style cashew chicken. My mouth thought it was great, but my intestines disagreed a few hours later. Goodness gracious, I had about three hours of breaking out in a sweat and stomach cramps that brought tears to my eyes.

Saturday: Time to head back home! It was a great week and I'm glad we got to do it. Heading home, the kids help up fairly well. Baylea was so proud that she had to go to the bathroom six times on the way home- I think it became a game for her, she was trying to set a record. Me, I never want to see a gas station bathroom again. 10:30 pm EST We arrive home, exhausted, bored, yet happy. Unpacking will have to wait until tomorrow. . or the next day.