WOW! This is my 10th day off from work, a nice little stretch off and I have been BUSY!

Last Saturday, Abby, (my) Emily and I went over to St.Louis for the day to see Tara and meet little Jack. What a trip! I had it all planned where we would leave just after Emily ate her breakfast so that she would take her morning nap on the way. PLANS don't always work. When I planned this trip, I didn't know we would be getting two more teeth! So, after she cried and cried and cried, we finally pulled off the side of the road and I sat in the backseat with her... she fought it another 45 minutes and finally just outside of St. Louis she went to sleep, all for a 45 minute nap! Anyway, we had a good day after that, visiting with Tara. I have to share, Abby and I are always bad about not eating that great (great as in healthy) when we get together. In college, we ALWAYS went down the road to Dairy Queen, especially if we worked out we thought we earned a blizzard! :) Well, for supper that night we got a cookie *first* from the Great American cookie, then went to Sonic where we split an order of mozzarella sticks and both got a slush! Yummy! Here are some pics of our trip.

Emily checking out baby Jack and Tara with her baby! So sweet!

Abby and Emily rocking in the chairs Tara's dad made. So cute!

The 3 of us girls with our kiddos... (Abby's due in Feb.)

I have been having some trouble seeing (just ask Abby, as I was driving, I couldn't see a single road sign) So, Tuesday I went and got my eyes checked. Not bad, my vision is 20/30 and I need glasses for distance, so I have to wear them for driving other wise just as needed.

Then I got this idea to paint my office. What a disaster!! I started painting Tuesday night....painted every chance I got on Wednesday (during naps) and then yesterday pulled the tape off and paint had seeped through the tape and if it didn't seep through on the woodwork then it was peeling the wall paint off. So, after a little breakdown, I started working some more. Oh, I forgot to mention. I had to paint my ceiling edge white from where some previous paint was showing through, the paint didn't match, so that is a whole other disaster! I got almost all of the paint off of the woodwork, conditioned the woodwork, painted some touch ups and put the office back together last night. I really do like it, however, it is definitely not the best paint job. So thats that!

I have been cleaning out cabinets, getting rid of clutter (I hate clutter!) and trying to make more space!

Emily and I have had fun though too. She is taking steps... she has taken 5 steps in a row a couple of times. The last couple of mornings, she drinks her "ba ba" and I drink my coke. (My mom taught me well! Coke for breakfast, right mom!) Then we share Fruit Loops! She loves it! She has learned to say, "Aught oh!" It is so funny! Oh and as I mentioned earlier, she now has 4 "teefers"! She got her top two teeth in. She's fascinated by them, she keeps grinding them together, giving me the chills. Those little teeth are so tiny! Here are a few pics in her cute little strawberry jammies....

That's it for now, gotta run! Have a good day!

Mandy