Bye Kiddos:(

Today my two kids are leaving me for a week to spend time with their grandparents in Indiana. I'm so sad for them to go, tho I know they will have a blast and that Dave and I will have such fun not having to worry about childcare or ANY disciplining for one whole week. But it is still weird to let them leave. Feels like you looks all control (which I guess, in a way, you do). Dave's parents are great and I know this will be theraputic for them too. They are lonely up there since Jeremy's been gone, so this will be good for them.

Our kid-free plans for the week include: a day at the shooting range with Dave's new pistol, dinner with my sister and bro-in-law at cheesecake factory, dinner with another couple on another night, Dave's last week on call with ESI (woohoo!), and then a day off for Dave on Friday so that we can go get our kids back!

Speaking of Dave's last week on call with ESI! He got a new job as a consultant. He will be doing something pretty new for him, AND he will have a 50% pay raise on his hourly! That is going to be a huge blessing to us as we have some debt that we've been working on. Who doesn't, right? We've been pretty faithful every year when raise time came around to continue living off of the original salary, and applying the rest toward our debt. So, by doing this with the new job, we can very potentially look at having only a house payment left by the end of a year! I'm so thrilled by that prospect. It would be a huge stress relief and hopefully make us even more conscious about creating debt. Like learning to wait for what we want instead of instant gratification.

South Beach diet still going pretty well, I realize that we really need to incorporate the exercise part into our routines now. I hate that. I hate exercise. Always have. But I know it works and I know if I want to have a splurge once or twice a month on a night out in a restaurant of choice without regret, then I'll have to work harder on exercizing. So, we'll see how I can do that this week. Dave too. Wish us luck. He's down 18 pounds already! So proud of him!

Well, I'm off to do bathtimes so that my in-laws don't have to take stinky, dirty headed kids home with them. :)