I already miss my parents! It has been good for our relationship that I've been 800 miles away for the past four years. It's helped me learn independence and to appreciate them more. I've also grown and matured a bit since high school so I've learned to respect them a lot more. My parents are some of the most generous people I know and I definitely used to take advantage of that. Now I worry about how much they spend when they visit! When they visited in November I wouldn't be surprised if they spent closer to $1000 than $500. We went overboard getting house things and eating out. This time I was not going to let that happen! But my mom did sneakily try to hide some money in my purse anyways!

It was a great visit. It was just too short. One day really isn't enough. We ate some really good food: The Depot Grille, Logan's, and Milano's. We went shopping and I got a bunch of fabulous new tops, including a small white shrug that I've been looking for to wear with dresses. Matt ordered some new memory for his computer and bought Shooter on blu ray. We hung out at the new Barnes and Noble on LU's campus. We got drinks and just say and talked for a while. It was nice. My mom and I went grocery shopping and spent over $300 on food and a few cleaning items! Good grief, that should last Matt and I for awhile. We stocked up on meat. Yum! And we finished the visit off by watching the first half of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We were too tired to finish it. I didn't want them to leave. Sad. I'll be glad when we finally move back to Michigan. It might be like taking a step backwards since we'll probably be starting over at new jobs and might have to have a smaller apartment since everything else in Michigan is more expensive than Virginia. But it will be worth it to just be there.

Teaching is still going well. I've enjoyed coming up with projects for the kids and lessons. Tomorrow we have a staff luncheon at a country club for teacher appreciation week. I'm excited.

Smile.