My Mom's visit was great!  I don't think I cooked but 2 meals the entire time she was here.  She cooked a couple, but the rest were eaten out.....at her expense.  HA!  :-)  We shopped, shopped, and shopped some more.  Oh, we went to the Montgomery Zoo too.  We've been a few times, but it was Mom's first visit.  We had perfect weather....not too hot, not too cold.  We are zoo members, so we'll probably go a few more times before our membership expires.  Can't beat a $40 zoo membership, especially since it gets us into lots of other zoos in the country for free or reduced costs.  We've went to Zoo Atlanta for half off, and the Greenville Zoo for free so far!  We've spent the rest of this week trying to get back into our normal routines.  Problem is, I'm not sure what normal is right now.  We did accomplish school this week though.  History was sporadic, and science didn't happen, but we did the most important stuff, right?  Heehee. 

Knitting news....not much going on right now.  Still working on that blasted Girlfriend Shrug.  Hopefully I'll finish that soon.  I would probably finish it faster if I actually knitted, you think?  :-)  I have lots of sock plans in the near future too.  I ordered More Sensational Knitted Socks from Amazon the other day.  I'm hoping it comes in Mondays mail. 

Mike is doing well.  I was able to IM with him yesterday.  He's hoping to take R&R in December.  As it stands now, he should be able to do that.  But, it's still early.  :-)  December seems sooooooo far away right now.  But, we didn't want him to take it too early in case it ends up being an 18 month deployment.  I have an address for him, finally.  So, if anyone would like to send him a little pick-me-up note or package, let me know and I'll get his address to you.  My friend Terri called me tonight to ask if Mike would like a box of books to share with his guys!  I'm sure he'll love 'em!  :-) 

One last thing.  I realized tonight, even though I feel like I read to my kids all.the.time, I really don't.  I do lots of read-alouds for school, but that's it.  We have shelves and shelves of picture books, and I can't even remember the last time I read one of them to Liberty or Benjamin.  I remember reading Little Critter to Devin and Katie all the time when they were little.  Liberty climbed up in my bed next to me after her bath tonight.  I had been leafing through a magazine.  She wanted me to read a book.  So, I sent her to get one.  She comes back with a Music Theory book by Usborne.  HA!  I quickly sent her to get another.  She returned with "Mama Do You Love Me?"  I was quickly surrounded by Benjamin and Mikayla.  Benjamin brought "I Love You the Purplest" with him.  So, I read them both.  It was a sweet moment for us....until we got to the last 4 pages in the Purplest book and Katie started yelling "where's the shampoo" from the shower.  It was sweet while it lasted.  :-)  Until next time...........