My husband turned 40! How did we get this old, this quickly? It has bothered him more than I thought it would. He would have been quite content to let it pass with little fanfare, however I have endeavored to make it as eventful as possible considering we are so far away from the friends and family that could truly make a birthday roast memorable. Our four years in Indiana just haven't provided enough fodder. No one has set his shoes on fire, he hasn't gotten his foot stuck in any stadium seats and he hasn't spilt beverages on his family. He has run out of gas twice, and his shirt tail was untucked during our Christmas service, but those alone are not really enough for a good roast. Besides, people only say nice things about their pastor, everyone knows that!

We did try to add to the festivities with some exciting birthday gifts. I suprised him with "The Magic Bullet", a wonderful little blender thingey that he saw on an infomercial on TV and liked enough to wake me from a nap to see. There will be many smoothies and much salsa in our future. Personally I am all for anything that entices someone else to cook! I attempted to make a delicious birthday meal for him, but alas, things didn't go quite as planned. My meatloaf,oddly enough, was not completely cooked when we sliced into it, so I had to put it back in the oven and ended up serving it at the end of the meal when no one was really hungry anymore. It kind of fell apart too, so it looked more like some sort of goulash or something, but it tasted okay. I tried to get a little fancy with a new recipe, but I should know by now to stick to the old, but acceptably tasty recipe.

Tomorrow we are off to Missouri for a week. My folks are flying into St. Louis and we are meeting up in Branson. With Brittany off to college before long, we are relishing our family time. I'm looking forward to much relaxation. There is an outlet mall there, so I think I'll refresh with a bit of retail therapy. Jeff will be packing up the car tonight, half the trunk for Brittany's luggage and the other half for everything else. Fortunately, we discovered we will have laundry facilities, so she pared down a bit. The boy's very carefully and meticulously packed the PS2, so that was a big help to me. I have become the luggage-pile nazi. No one dares remove anything from my ready-to-go pile. There is nothing worse than checking an item off your list, only to find it's been tampered with. Okay, I suppose there are many things worse than this, but as far as packing goes, this is pretty high up there. Between the tennis rackets, golf clubs, scrapbooking gear, and of course, Brittany's luggage, one might think we were traveling for at least a month or two.

Christian and I are off to the Pine-Wood Derby this morning. Jeff had a regional meeting to attend, so I am temping in the pit-crew in his absence. We hope the "Silver Monkey" will turn in a respectable performance. (An update: We were not very speedy, but we looked good!)

I will endeavor to return from vacation with many interesting things to tell you all. TTFN!

We are back from Nashville, relaxed, rejuvenated and ready to be parents again. I must say, I started missing the kids on day 2 and was quite happy to see them again. Hopefully my renewed feelings of goodwill and benevolence will last us through the rest of the school year.

Jeff and I had a really nice time although I didn't fulfill my wax museum dream. It was $10 per person and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that for a rinky-dink bit of entertainment. Jeff promised me that should we ever get to New York or London, he will take me to Madame Tossaud's. We did spend time in the Barnes and Noble sipping our Starbucks. Not something we do a lot of with the kids. We also walked around the Opryland Hotel a bit. We tried to take a picture of ourselves by this lovely fountain, but it turned out quite hideous. I am going to see if I can airbrush some of our chins out in photoshop!

David has had an exciting week... upon our arrival home he announced that he is running for Freshman president for the 2006-2007 school year. He is promising that along with kleenex in every classroom, a box of Q-tips shall be provided as well. Apparently it's a clean-ear platform! I don't think he expects to win, but I am pretty proud of him that he's getting a bit out of his comfort zone and doing something rather adventurous. He also got a summer job at Holiday World (the local amusement park!) this week. He went in for an interview a couple of weeks ago, and received a letter in today's mail offering him a position at Goblin Burger's. He already has plans to start saving for college as well as beginning his 'car fund!' I think the idea is that he won't be driving a mini-van when he turns 16! The best part as far as I'm concerned is the mandatory hair-cut code. Nothing over the ears or touching the shirt collar. Yeah! He currently sports about 10lbs. of very moppy hair. I despise it, but have opted not to make an issue of it either.

Christian has changed his career goals once again. Apparently the secret agent/radio station manager positions he had earlier set his sights on, are now out! He is at present in a quandry over the pursuit of pastoral ministry vs. enlisting in the Army. I suggested that perhaps being a chaplain in the Army could be the answer to his dilemna, but apparently should he choose the military route, he definitely wants to shoot people. Should this concern us?

I'm off to bed... a plethara of dirty laundry awaits me bright and early in the morn!

I think the Graves might finally be healthy! A second wave of the stomach flu passed through our little clan (no pun intended!) bringing with it the end of my compassion toward the sick and ailing in my home. I am tired of sick people! A weak moment found me seriously considering punishing Christian when he complained of a sore throat yesterday. Ahhh, a truly proud parenting moment....

We recently decided to try to transition our outdoor dog into an indoor/outdoor dog. Saturday was our first attempt at bringing her in. Jeff got her freshly bathed and we moved all breakables up high. She did quite well, a little excitable, but all in all she was suprisingly well-behaved. I kid you not though, her breath could have knocked a skunk off it's feet. Are you supposed to brush your dog's teeth? Perhaps some canine binoca would help! Regardless, we are going to have to remedy this pungent problem. Our next step is to introduce the dog to the cat. They observed each other through the glass panes of the french doors, and neither seemed too traumatized by it. Our cat is pretty neurotic. Come to think of it, most of our pets have been a trifle odd! Hmmmm....

It was 75 degrees here today! A welcome relief from the winter cold! I am hoping it means spring is on its way... you know me, can't wait to get my hands in that soil and get my garden going! Well, that should have provided you a good chuckle. My thumbs seems to be just as brown in Indiana. I did try my hand at a small tomato crop in a whiskey barrel on my porch. It was a pitiful sight. Jeff has taken over the family garden. We are still waiting for his cantelope plant from last spring to bloom, but his banana peppers and tomatoes did respectably!

Jeff and I are heading to Nashville for three days next week. Just the two of us! I am so looking forward to it. I have almost talked him into going to the wax museum with me (the fulfilment of a lifelong dream of mine! I dream big huh?) so hopefully I'll have some wonderful things to report on next time!

TTFN!