Still Here!

Yes, we are still here! I cannot believe it has been over a month since I last posted.

It's been a very busy month (but aren't they all). The kids are still doing great in school. Abby is consistently saying 's' (Sarah) and is working so hard on her speech and vocabulary growth. I had a progress review session with her therapist earlier this week. I was a little disappointed to see that her verbal communication is at that of about 18 - 21 months (she is now 30 months old), but at the same time she is continuing to grow and learn everyday. She has about 100 words that she can speak now, which is really great. One really cool thing I've noticed is the kid can really carry a tune. She can sing the itsy-bitsy spider, and although she doesn't know all of the words, you can recognize it by the tune. That is really amazing to me. She has really adjusted to her schedule at school and LOVES all of her friends and teachers. Every day on the way to school she tells me everyone who will be there.

I also had a parent teacher conference with Seth's teacher this week. He is doing great academically in school. He recognizes all of his letters, knows the sounds for most of them, and is learning to write his letters. I would say he can write at least half of them. He is at the age where he is asking me to spell everything so he can write it down. One area he is having a little problem with is being able to sit still (surprise surprise). They try to really break things up so there isn't too much sit down time all at once, but we need to work on that. This is a kid who can't even sit still thru dinner and has to be constantly reminded to keep his behind on the chair, feet in front of him, etc. I remember my area to work on when I was that age was 'talking'. I used to talk too much in class, so I guess (hope) he'll grow out of it. We are talking about getting him into Karate. We didn't want to start the kids in extra-curricular activities at too young of an age, but he is now 4 1/2 so I think it's time.

I have some good news this month as well. Many of you know I've been in a really crazy situation at work. I don't want to go into details, but we had a management change earlier this year, and it has not been a good change. There are several people in our work group trying to get out of the situation, and I was lucky enough to find a new position. I start this Friday, and will be working on a new system. This system will eventually support all of the Billing for both Boeing Commercial and Boeing Defense. It's excited because I've not been involved in the commercial side of the company before. I'm really looking forward to the change and to learning something new. I will also have a desk at the office for teh first time in about 5 years! I'm excited about this because 5 years of working virtually is a LONG time without daily face to face interaction with people. I will be going in 3 days a week and working from home 2 days a week. Like I said, I'm excited, but I'm a little scared about schedules. I'm sure it will all work out, but it will be yet another change to our schedule.

Guess I should update about big Seth too. This is November, so it is his time to go hunting with his dad. He was gone last weekend and will be gone this weekend too. Sounds terribly cold, and boring to me, but he loves it and looks forward to it every year. He didn't get a deer last weekend, but ironically he got one on his way home from work Monday. He was driving behind a lady who hit a deer, so he stopped and he and another guy drug it off of the highway, it was still alive. Seth still had all of his hunting stuff in his truck from the weekend and was going to kill it (I won't tell you how...OK, he was going to cut it's throat) when a cop stopped. So, the cop shot the deer and gave Seth some kind of conservation donation paper and told him to take it home. DISGUSTING!!!!!! So he cut up the deer and let Seth Robert watch him. OH, I sure lived a sheltered life as a child. I cannot imagine watching someone cut up and animal. I'm just thankful the kids and I don't eat deer meat. I prefer my meat packaged and processed thank you very much!

Beautiful Days!

I love Fall. I love waking up to cool mornings, leaving the windows open all day, and listening to the bugs in the trees while falling asleep at night. The weather the last several days has been absolutely perfect.

We are having a bonfire tomorrow night and have several families coming over. I'm really looking forward to it, and the cool evening weather will be perfect! I cannot wait! Other than the bonfire tomorrow, we don't have a lot of plans for the weekend. I'm hoping we can take the kids to a Pumpkin Patch this weekend and take advantage of being outside in this beautiful weather.

Birthday Pictures

OK, so I'm only about 5 months behind with this, but we finally finished Abby's 2 year and Seth's 4 year old pictures. There are so many cute ones to choose from....thanks to having a mother in law as a photographer (http://www.janeholestinephotography.com/), we did this over a couple months, and a few shoots!
Here are a few of my favorites. Now, I just have to figure out what to order!!!


Here are a couple of Seth.....

and here is Abby.....


And this is my favorite...it doesn't get sweeter than this!

6 years? Really?

Yesterday was Seth and my 6th year anniversary! Time flies so fast. Seems like just yesterday I was waking up at 5am to be at the gym by 6am for our early morning workouts. Of course, that all changed after we got married and I wasn't so motivated since he was right there beside me every morning.



Now it is 6 years, 3 houses, and 2 kids later.....Time really flies! Here is one of my favorite snapshots from our wedding...

Settling In

I think we are all finally settling into our school time routine. Seth LOVES Jr Kindergarten and is learning so much already. I am really impressed with the program his school does for JK. They are doing a kindergarten curriculum and next year, in kindergarten, they will be doing an advanced curriculum. He is certainly tired when the day is over. In the afternoons he goes to PEP club (extended care) and he has finally resigned himself to take a 30 minute nap. That helps him not to be wiped out completely in the evenings.

I took Seth to the Magic House the day before he started school. I had to laugh (as I could related well) to one of the factoids posted on the wall; "The average four year old asks 437 questions a day." How true, how true. It seems Seth is starting to contemplate the meaning of life and asks some really tough questions. The other day he asked me if you get to pick who you marry. I asked if he had anyone in mind, but he blushed and said he did not : )

Abby is also settling in. She is growing so much in her speech. She is continuing the N, P, and still working on TH. Just the fact that she is working on TH means she is hearing it now, so that is really great. She is also using S more and more often. I've noticed it most when she says "ou-si" (outside). I am so amazed at her ability to adapt to all the changes in her life this last few months. She is definitely my miracle girl!

I love this time of year. The weather is beautiful and we can start counting down till Christmas !!!

Crazy, yet Exciting Times

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Abby has been in school for two full weeks now. It took her some time to adjust. The mornings go fine, but the afternoons have been really hard for her. Afternoons are lunch time and nap time, and I think she is just so tired by lunchtime, that she's just completely crabby. Anyway, she is starting to adjust better so hopefully things will just keep getting better.

SO for the exciting times part of this post....Abby has made several new sounds in the last week. I have heard an "S" (eeese A.K.A Cheese), "th" (look at THAT), "P" (POP). She is really starting to speak so much more, and so much more clearly which is so exciting! She works so hard at getting the words out as correctly as she can. Poor kid will keep repeating us as long as we keep saying words over and over again. You can tell she really wants to get the words right.

Work has also been crazy, but don't want to waste anyone's time listening to that mess. But, tomorrow I have taken a vacation day so I can spend the day with Seth Robert. Tomorrow is his last day before school starts so we are going to do some fun things (and run some errands) tomorrow. I think we are going to try to go to the Magic House if they are open in the morning. So here's what's on the agenda tomorrow: Take Abby to Speech 8:15, drop her at her class 9am, Appointment at Fontbonne University 10am, Magic House and lunch, Seth's "Meet the Teacher" time starting at 2pm, pick up Abby from school at 3:15. It will be a busy (but FUN) day.

I still have Abby's first day of school pictures to post. I'll post them when I post Seth's in the next couple of days. Hopefully things will settle down a bit and I can start updating more often!

First Day of School

Monday was Abby's first day of school! We had an open house early on Monday morning where I got to meet her teacher, some of the other parents, and all the kiddos. As hard as it is to leave a 2 year old in 'school' it is also SO exciting for me because I know Abby is going to grow so much in her speech this year while she is there. I know this because Seth Robert attended the Toddler class at St Joe's 2 years ago when he was 2. He was a hearing peer for the hearing impaired kids. He only went 2 mornings a week but by Christmas, he had grown so much with his speech. I know part of it was normal development, but I also credit much of it to the great therapy he got by being a part of the class at St Joe's.

Anyway, back to Abby's first day......I couldn't believe how easily Abby let me leave her in her new class. When I had to leave I said 'bye Abby' and she said 'bye Mommy' and ran off to play. I was worried about nap time as she has never slept on a cot, but apparently she was great with that too! She has been really tired at night and I even had to wake her up this morning at 6:30 (she's normally up by 6am like clockwork). Tonight I put her to bed by 6:30pm...and she was asleep by 7pm. Hopefully she will be fully rested tomorrow!

Back to school has been tiresome for me too! Probably because I stay up way too late watching Olympics : ) Last night I was up late watching USA win the gold AND silver for balance beam...it was awesome. Anyway, getting the kids and myself ready and out of the house on time is a little stressful. I am very thankful that Seth's hours have changed and he is here until 7am and does a TON to help me get the kids ready for school.

Seth Robert starts school 2 weeks from today. He will be in Jr Kindergarten from 8:15 to 11:30 then extended care from 11:30 to 3:30. He is so ready to go to school. His aunt Faith has been watching him the last few weeks and he is going to gymnastics on Thursday's so that is a really fun treat for him this last few weeks of summer.

I will post a pic of Abby on her first day of school later this week. I think she was most excited about her Princess lunchbox and her book bag than anything. Ahh, the simple joys in life!