Late Fall

I think Fall is waiting on me to post.  My last post was titled Late Summer and was in August!  This has been a beautiful Fall!  And we have enjoyed it, so I haven't been worrying about getting on here.   When life starts to get hectic, something has to give.  And the blog tends to be one of those things that has to wait.  I've stopped worrying about things that have to give.  I'll get around to them when I do.  Another example of this was the bookshelf area.  I dumped all of the books into a big tote when we had our floors re-done in April.  Well last weekend I just got around to getting them all sorted, cleaned and put back on the shelf.  They sat in the tote next to the bookshelf all summer.  They just weren't a priority.

So you ask what have we been up to....

The rest of summer was awesome.  The kids loved Kings Island.  We mostly stayed in the kiddie land, but their kiddie land is really cool.  And we spend a lot of time at the water park.  Then of course we ended the night with their fireworks display.  It was a great way to cap off the summer.

Next school started, and that's when life starts accelerating for us.  Hannah started Kindergarten, and Laura is in Second grade.  They are both doing great!  I wasn't sure how Hannah would like school, since she is kind of shy by nature, but she has totally surprised me.  She doesn't seem to have any trouble making friends and is doing great academically too.  She started the school year off with a bang.  The very first day of school she had to leave for a dr appointment.  She came back with a boot for the next four weeks.  She had a fractured growth plate from a trampoline injury.  I think it actually made her popular at school - an unexpected benefit.  Laura is having a good year too.  She jumped right back into the swing of things.  She was very happy to see her buddies again.  She really doesn't get to see them throughout the summer, so she was missing them.

2nd grade and Kindergarten

The reason life accelerates for us is that there is so much more to do in the evenings - lunches, homework, uniforms, reading, piano, baths, etc.  When you only have about two hours each evening, it makes for a busy evening.  By Friday, everyone is worn out.  I know many of you relate to this.  It's just life for most people these days.

The kids had their first piano recital in August.  I was so proud of them!  Hannah was extremely nervous.  I had to walk her up to the stage, and Laura stayed up there with her while she played her piece, BINGO.  But she did great, and I'm glad she went through with it.  Although I think she had some PTSD afterwards.  At every piano lesson after that, she talked about not wanting to do another recital.   We keep telling her it's not for another year, but she is still nervous about it!  Anyway, Laura of course didn't seem to be nervous at all.  As she listed to all the other kids, she was inspired to get even better and play more difficult pieces.  That is definitely Laura's personality. 

As we moved into September, we did a lot of tailgating.  It's been a great tailgating season.  The weather has been good, and the Buckeyes have not always looked good but have come out on top thankfully.  The kids came down with us to tailgate a few games, and Matt even took Laura and Hannah to their first game.  They both were amazed at the band and at the fans yelling loudly.  Amazingly they made it through most of the game.  Matt and I went to the Penn State game without the kids and had a great time tailgating and at the game (outside of the college kid that puked next to us in the stands).  The kids also had a great time.  They got to spend the night with Papa and Grammy.  Papa had a maze and scavenger hunt planned in the field at his house.  The kids had to find clues to find various pumpkins and gourds.  He told them the Indian story of the three sisters.  They represent squash, beans, and corn.  The kids have been talking about that story every since that weekend.

We also had some of my cousins over for a game.  Matt made his famous ribs and bacon-wrapped shrimp.  We ate, drank, and were merry.  Little Jackson was the hit of the party!

We've hung out with our friends on other away-game weekends.  It's great when our kids play and we get a semi-peaceful evening with adult conversation.



That brings us to Halloween, which was a bye weekend.  The kids had a blast dressing up at school and trick or treating.  Laura was a wolf little red riding hood.  Hannah was a demon.  And Emma was a fairy butterfly, in her words.  She had a melt down this week because she wanted to go trick or treating again.  She was mad it was all over.  On Saturday that weekend, my sister watched the girls, and Matt and I went to a couple of costume parties.  We had a blast!  We were the ghosts of Joe Paterno and Bo Schembechler.  Don't be alarmed - we did not invest any money in Mi*ch*gan apparel.  We bought a plain blue sweatshirt, and Matt made stick-on M's.  I still felt kind of dirty wearing all that TSUN stuff.  Ugg.

Our most recent development is that we have a new kitten!  Her name is Zeke - after Ezekiel Elliot.  Yes, it is a she.  Remember, Nugent is a she too and is named after Mike Nugent.  That's just our thing.  She is such a good kitten.  Emma has really been toting her around everywhere and is a little on the rough side, but she has been so good.  She doesn't claw at the kids or bite them.  There have been some funny incidents with Matt.  Matt - the one who isn't the biggest fan of the kitten.  Hee  Hee Hee!  We have enjoyed their interactions immensely. 

And now we're gearing up for the holidays!!!  I am so excited already.  I cannot tell you happy I was when 93.3 started the Christmas music on my birthday.  It felt like a birthday present just for me!  I listened to it in the car that day and all day at work.  Matt made my birthday weekend awesome, with lots of pumpkin!  Yummy!

Let the fun begin!