Ups and Downs

I'll start with the "downs" first. As I keep realizing, I'm not 100% yet. This is most obvious when I lose my balance. The other day, I fell over while vacuuming - tripped on my own foot. Fortunately, the carpet was relatively soft and I just tweaked my shoulder a bit...and nobody saw me. 8) Last Tues., I fell while carrying Ethan up some stairs. I have painful rug burns on both knees to remind me that I'm not as "fit" as I sometimes think I am. I was carrying Ethan and a bunch of other stuff, running late, and trying to muscle through the fatigue going up the stairs (as most Moms do). Well, I didn't lift my foot high enough and down we went. I kept Ethan from falling/getting hurt, fortunately. He just looked at me like, "OK, Mumma, what just happened?" Crazy times.
The "up" is that we made a trip to Pittsburg...just me and the kids!!!! This was HUGE! I've never gone on a long drive with 3 kids before. This doesn't bother me as long as nobody pukes, has to pee (or worse, poop), and there aren't any car problems. These snags can create quite the adventure. This is also the first road trip I've done since chemo (without another adult). It was interesting because as I headed out, I felt nervous just like the first time I drove my parents' car after getting my license. (The nervousness then was mostly because I was going to a place where I had never been...on my own and navigating at the same time.) I was surprised at the commonality. Everything went fine; we arrived 5 min. after midnight. The visit with Grammie and the rest of the family was great. I even got to see my 17-year-old cousin, Whit, twice! That's major considering he's a busy guy working these days. I also was able to visit quite a bit with Denise. This was such a treat as we haven't been able to spend much time together since I was spoiled last summer with her being with us every week. It was wonderful hanging out with the kids and Grammie - we had a picnic and "swim" at Back Lake, visited a castle climbing structure, played on the huge grassy lawn, ate YUMMY foods! The weather was really good, and we had a great time. Denise rode home with us, which was a great opportunity to gab and also helped me maintain sanity with 3 crazy kids in the back seat. And, the kids and I had dinner with Gram H. The kids were ECSTATIC about the box mac and cheese and hotdogs, with choc. milk to boot! Anderson said, "I don't think it gets any better than this!" 8) Gram and I had a nice visit, and it was wonderful to be over her place after almost 2 years away. God is good.