so this whole "working" thing is kinda stressing me out. couple that with mandatory mediation this week and i found myself feeling rather frustrated. i needed some zen time. the girls and i headed to the hills to find some peace and quiet. i had originally wanted to go back to the nantahala river, but the thought of a 3 hour car ride with 3 children sounded less than zen like. we tried out crowders mountain state park instead and found it to be quite nice. mark this weekend out for next year though, as this weekend was the third annual meeting of basset hound lovers. it was a bit noisy but the girls wanted to pick a picnic table that was close to the action. woooo! after we ate, we went for a walk around the lake (man-made, i think, and a bit low).

it was warm, but there was lots of shade and a wonderful breeze to keep us cool. so we followed the trail and saw lots of neato naturey things...like a mountain and "wildlife" and tracks.

after that, the girls were ready to go. next time, they want to hike to the summit. i think i will do it once without them to make sure it's something they can do. i'd hate to have to roll them down to get home...

happy birthday elise!

so did i mention that having children is a mixed blessing?

i think the best reminder of what blessings children can be came monday morning when elise barged into the bathroom and announced that the hall bathroom was flooded. i was in the shower (the first shower). i asked her what happened and she told me that it was wet and that she hadn't been in there at the time...clarence was in there, though. clarence, the cat, of course. so i had to mop up the flooded bathroom floor...brings a whole new meaning to "eau de toilette". another quick shower and i was ready to face my monday :) i'm so efficient that i showered for monday and tuesday in one morning! ;)

so today was elise's 6th birthday! i had asked her a couple of different times what she wanted to do and what she wanted for her birthday. she said every time that she wanted to go to tgifriday's for dinner and she wanted them to sing to her. easy enough (except that they don't sing at friday's anymore). we also brought (dirt) cupcakes in to the school to share with her friends. as i was telling my boss what elise had picked out, elise stopped me and said "but they aren't really dirt...it's chocolate." heeeeeeeeeee! elise also wore her birthday girl crown and sash pretty much all day...but then was so surprised when people said "hello" and "happy birthday" to her while we were out. when we got home, she opened pressies and (woohoo!) it was bedtime :)

i'm just kinda glad that we are done with birthdays for a bit at our house. christmas is coming...

what. a. week.

the girls are home and i am so thankful for that! of course, with them comes the noise and mess, but the house was way too quiet last week. it's a lot of work, this motherhood thing, and a bit of a break is always nice, but it is so very nice to have things back to the way they should be.