a clean slate

This past weekend, we (more specifically my Dad, and 2 other YM Dad's) installed hard wood floors in our down stairs. It looks so good! I am so excited about having a floor that is not all stained up by somebody else's kid. It's so clean looking. We also got a new oven because our old one wasn't quite working the way that it should. My Mom so lovingly called it a "fire hazard". I feel like such a princess having all four burners working, a timer, a clock and a actual light where I can see what I am cooking. Glorious!! So far Mom has been the only one breaking that joker in. So anyway, that has consumed the past few days for us. I will post before and after pics as soon Steven gets a chance. Sorry I am just not good at that.
In other news, we have been so busy(I know that comes as a huge shock!). The weekend before last, we went to Winterfest and had a great time with the kids. They did so well with so much freedom. We even got a compliment about the way they were behaving. It was a pretty big deal. This weekend is a leadership retreat for several churches in our area. I haven't decided if I am going or not. I am really tired and just want to stay at home. Maybe I will just come up late. My parents are leaving today. It has been so nice to have them with us, but I am looking forward to routine. OK, that's all I got!

my birthday week...

Monday (29th) was great! I got balloons at work from my parents, received lots of calls and e-mails wishing me a Happy Birthday and went to this fancy schamncy restaurant for dinner with my sweet punkin. Oh yea, Michael and Mindy Cooper called me to tell me that they are pregnant!! Tuesday (30th) was strange. My friends at work took me out for my birthday to Blue Coast Burrito and I was super pumped. Later that day I got a call from Steven asking me if it would be okay for a 17 year old runaway to stay at our house for the night. What?!?! All of these questions and thoughts went through my head. Is he going to kill me? Do I need to hide all of our bank statements? Is he gross? (sorry, but I can very shallow) But the thought that most penetrated my head was "this is exactly what we are called to do". So I said okay, but was really nervous UNTIL I got home and looked in our extra room where he had put all of his stuff. There, lying very peacefully on the bed, was a tuning fork. Yes, you read right, a tuning for fork. Two more thoughts...1) A band nerd, I can handle a band nerd...2) What kind of runaway carries a tuning fork with him?!?!? Oh, and I also bought hardwood floors for the whole down stairs and I am super pumped. I will post pics when it is done. Wednesday (31st) was equally perplexing. So I go home at lunch to check on our little vagabond and he was gone. So gone that it looked like he never walked through our door. All of his stuff was gone and the bed was perfectly made. Kind of a strange feeling. Turns out he decided that he is not grown enough to make it without his parents and went back home. Did I mention that home is Dallas, TX? Thursday (1st) was really fun. It was a snow day here in Little Rock so I was off all day. We went shopping, bought a new light fixture for the kitchen, then went home and did some things on the house that needed to get done. Friday (2) was productive. I cleaned our house, Steven put up the new light in the kitchen and we spent most of the evening watching the last six episodes of Lost getting geared up for next week. So there you have my birthday week. Man, this year of 28 has started really strangely.