First day of School

It's that time again...back to school!
Here we are for the traditional front-porch pose.

It's just starting for Grant. Here's my big Kindergarten boy!

He was very proud to be wearing his backpack and catching the bus with big brother.

There's Connor, heading off to 3rd grade, I can't believe it!

And here's my boy in true Grant fashion. He is really really mad at me for taking another picture because he's "going to miss the bus!!!"
They didn't miss the bus, as you will see..
Though he was mad at me for distracting him as he tried to board.

Here's hoping for another great school year!

Girls and Boys

Newsflash: Boys and girls are different! My boys have always been loud, active, moving, jumping, climbing machines! They make a lot of noise, they make guns out of pencils, and will try to climb anything they see (I caught Grant hanging on the towel bar in the bathroom once). I watched my friends with girls and saw how different they were, but did not fully understand until I had Reese. Yes, Reese has her brothers who show her how to do many things that are "boy-ish," but she is very much a girl.



I caught her tonight at her grandma's house playing with the dolls.

One doll was in the crib, another was in the shopping cart (she was playing "Hy-Vee"), and the stuffed bear was the "mommy" of the dolls. The mommy was feeding the babies their bottles, taking out the "runined" (yes, that is supposed to be "ruined" but I spelled it like she said it) blanket and replacing it with a fresh blanket. She went on like this for about 30 minutes. My boys still sometimes have trouble sustaining an activity for a half an hour!



It was just fun to see the differences in the kids and it is great fun to see Reese becoming a little person!

The Lucy

You knew we could not wait until spring. We wanted to wait, really, we did. But our house was just TOO lonely. Eleven years ago I went "shopping" at the pound and came home with our first baby dog, Molly.
While Jeff was out of town (yes, I had his blessing) I took the kids and we went "shopping" out at Halfway Home Pet Adoptions and came home with this giant bundle o' love.

Lucy is about the laziest one-year-old dog you can imagine. She sleeps all the time. She occasionally tries to do puppyish things like stealing shoes and socks to chew on. But she quickly loses interest and decides that her time is better spent in more leisurely pursuits.




When I cannot find her, I can almost certainly go back to my bedroom and find her with the blankets under her, piled high for her very own "princess bed." She cuddles like nobody's business, and Connor loves that about her.




She has made herself right at home and we are thrilled to say she's a keeper.

From Grant

So, yes, I have become a serious blog-slacker. One would think that my newfound unemployed status would lend me all sorts of time for my blogging. Alas, this has not been true. BUT, I promise to keep trying, so please keep checking.

Last night, we were watching the movie Monsters, Inc. with the boys. Grant had not ever seen it, and had several questions while we were watching. Near the end, when Sully has to shred Boo's door, we were all sad. We asked Grant if he was sad that Boo and Sully would not get to see each other again.
His reply: "No, they will get to see each other again next time I watch this movie!"

I have very practical-minded children, don't I?

We'll Miss You Trumie

This past month we lost our sweet dog Truman. She had cancer and went to play in the heavenly fields with her sister Molly. Truman was buried with all of the tennis balls we could find in the house. This was partly for her, but mostly so that we would not be reminded of our grief. We spent the whole day out of the house to avoid the sadness, but returned later in the evening. The boys were getting ready for bed when Grant found another of Truman's tennis balls. He asked Jeff to "put it in a safe place so that I can take it to heaven with me and throw for Trumie."

This dogless house just isn't the same for any of us these days. We miss you, girl.

Our cuddly boy

Grant, upon waking this morning: "Can I go in and cuddle with Dad?" Me: "Sorry, Buddy, Daddy's already at work." Grant: "That's too bad. Dad would 'apprishidate' it if I cuddled with him."

Happy Birthday Reese!

We celebrated Reese's first birthday on Saturday with a cupcake party. All of the decor, down to her adorable cupcake shirt (thanks, Amy!) reflected the cupcake theme.
I was surprised that Reese didn't really seem to "get" that the party was all for her. Generally, she is very friendly (some might say "flirty") with people-smiling coyly, waiting for them to smile back at her. She didn't really act like that much on Saturday. She just enjoyed her cupcake and her presents (after we "helped" her open them--she didn't "get" that either). Oh well, Reese...you have lots more years to catch on to how this "birthday thing" works. We sure had fun celebrating you and are so happy you are part of our family!