Hi From The Strangers

A friend of ours borrowed our camera and used it in Rome when he was there a couple of weeks ago and we haven't gotten it back yet, so no fun pictures for you. Our world has been chaotic like always. Peter had a cold and double ear infection...It was interesting to see the stuff come out of his ears that didn't come out before the tubes were placed inside of him! He must have been in pure pain for months. I'm glad the tubes are doing their job of helping the drainage. (I'm sorry if this is too graphic for some of you.) Ben has been enjoying his student teaching assignment. Last week we had dinner at his cooperating teacher's house. We got to meet his wife and 3 children. It was a lot of fun! The kids had a blast playing with Peter. Their youngest is a little boy who is 6 months old and Peter was fascinated by him and couldn't quite figure out why someone was smaller than him...treated him kind of like our cat. :) Ben surprised me with a baby-sitter on my birthday and took me to eat at the new Olive Garden. It was a nice evening together, although it was tough giving up a night with Peter since our busy schedules make it hard to have "family" time. This past weekend, though, we spent all weekend together! It was a lot of fun. We didn't get much accomplished, but it was fun and relaxing overall. Work has been extra busy for me lately and I've been going to bed early at night to prepare myself for the day to come...I've been pretty anti-social! But, next weekend we are going to be working at a retreat for 8th graders at Ben's home parish in Cannon Falls and the weekend after that I will be attending the Beautiful Beauchamp Babe Reunion (BBB's) in Fargo, ND. I can't wait to get away and have FEMALE time! It's hard being the only girl in the house sometimes. And, what happens in Fargo, STAYS in Fargo. :) Well, I must get back to the piles of work I need to do. We'll come back soon!