It has been a crazy week. Sam's college soccer team was in the final 4 NCAA soccer tournament in San Antonio. We couldn't afford to go so Sam arranged for Dave to be a chaperone so he could go on the bus with the students. The athletes flew down to the tournament and Wash U paid for any of their students that wanted to go, to ride a big bus down and they paid for their hotel rooms. Dave got to ride a 16 hour bus ride with a bunch of college kids that he has never met:(

I was starting a new job at Macy's for Christmas so I couldn't go with him. Grandma is out of town visiting her favorite grandchildren, I have a feeling that if I went, Sybil would have thrown quite the party in our absence. Dave had a good time and was thrilled for the chance to see our daughter get the chance to play in the final four. We make ourselves crazy driving to soccer practices and games for years and years, making it to the final four is a chance in a lifetime opportunity for a soccer family like ours. I am glad Dave was able to go. We won the first game in penalty kicks, but lost the championship game 1-0. Not too shabby to be 2ND in the nation for Division III women's soccer. A picture of Sam holding the trophy was in the paper the next morning. Pretty cool.

I woke up early Saturday morning and thought that I had the flu, I was dizzy and throwing up. I took it easy all day Saturday and felt a little better. I called in sick for my second day at Macy's. I'm sure I made a great impression. The next night I woke up feeling like I was violently spinning, I ended up in the ER all night. Poor Dave after getting home from a 16 hour bus ride with a bunch of kids that he didn't know, he got to sit in the ER for five hours with me. They were going to do a cat scan and the Dr. asked if there was any chance that I could be pregnant. I said, "Well I don't think so, but we don't use birth control so I guess it could be a possibility." She decided to do a pregnancy test to be on the safe side. When she left the room my loving devoted husband muttered, "God help you if you are pregnant, I will leave you here, I swear" He was kidding, I THINK!! Everything came back fine, no baby, no tumor just a bad case of vertigo. I saw a specialist on Monday and had a balance test on Tuesday, I follow up with him on Thursday. I feel a little better aside from leaning slightly to the left and running into a few walls.

Lauren called me on Monday to see if St. Nick had put anything in her shoe over the weekend. The Feast of St. Nick is one of those traditions that is a hit or miss depending on whether or not I remember or pay attention to the date. Considering St. Nick is spinning around feeling like he is on a bad acid trip, he skipped right over the Murphy house this year, come to think of it, Santa may skip us over as well.

I had about five minutes before I left for work at Macy's tonight so I cuddled up with Maggie on the couch while she was watching Tarzan. My favorite thing in the whole wide world is cuddling with my kids under a blanket watching a movie. Ryan is my best cuddlier only he never watches a movie with me without farting on my leg and fanning the blanket. Why can't he just be normal?? Before I left for work Maggie said, "Thanks for spending time with me mom!" I felt so bad, I am always so crazy busy, she was happy to have just those five minutes of cuddle time. Not only that, she was happy to be able to watch a cartoon instead of one of the 50 episodes of Criminal Minds that Erin is always making her watch on the DVR. She is now an expert on serial killers thanks to Erin. No visions of sugar plums are dancing inside little Maggie's head at night, she is learning how to kidnap, rape and kill.