Bi-Monthly Update

Each week I think, I really need to post something on my blog. Then I don't think about it again. Our household moves at a speed akin to a moving train, so needless to say, items that are less than essential are usually pushed to my back burner. In fact, I'm at work right now, but I need a break. ;)
In the last six weeks:
The Happy One has learned several words, including: Don't! Stop! Uh-oh! No, no! and Bye. As you can see, most of her vocabulary is in exclamation point form. That is her mode these days. She is really quite an intense little child. She's so funny and such a happy, sweet, bossy baby. She almost always gets her way. She fights with the Wild One. She is a little monkey and climbs on everything. The piano is her usual victim, with her stomping away on the keys once she's up. If the piano is unavailable, she'll take the kitchen chairs, the front rail, the kitchen table, the boys' bunkbeds, or the back of the couch. We constantly pull her from precarious places. She has more bruises and bumps than skin. She has several on her face and one on her nose. She is still the most beautiful baby. I still have people comment on how beautiful she is everywhere I go. It's perfectly lovely and a vast improvement from, "Sheesh! You have your hands full!"

The Wild One turned 3! He is a smart little cookie. He can identify 75% of his letters, can count to 10, can put together 35 piece puzzles by himself, and is still not quite potty-trained for #2. We are working on it. He's at such a fun age. If you want him to sit still, offer to color or paint with him. Grandma got him paints for his birthday and it was the highlight of his day! New paints! Yeah! He will also read books for hours if your voice holds out. He maintains the blond shag. I love it. I got positive affirmation from my sister-in-laws mom, who declared, "He could be a model." Not a single pair of shoes survived the summer. He won't leave them on and so we now take him barefoot everywhere. I've seen my fair share of disgraceful! stares. Don't care. I'm not wasting another $15 on shoes until he'll wear them. The next pair may be snow boots. I'm serious.

The Funny One started 2nd grade. He sits kitty-cornered from a good friend from church. You should have seen me and his mom chastizing both boys that they needed to be quiet during school and pay attention. Not a word of it stuck. I'm sure they'll be a source of contention for the teacher. A bonus is that she's young, and she recognizes that classrooms should be noisy and full of questions and life and learning. His bed is my favorite grounding spot at the moment. He requires much prompting and prompting and asking and begging to help or to do his chores. Grounding isn't solving the problem. We are on a day-to-day process. He does well if his chores are dusting the wood, watering the plants, vacuuming. An easy-end-in-sight job. *Sigh* He is missing his indoor-voice. I am praying that we find it. Heaven help us if we don't.

The Sweet One started 3rd grade. I had a mini melt down. I REMEMBER THIRD GRADE. I met my best friend Kellie. I loved it. She is so grown up and has her own very distinct sense of style. It's kind of punk, kind of sweet. She idolizes her cousins. She also made a competetive team at Dance Factory. She's thrilled. The cost may break me. I'm dedicated to doing it for her. Her spirit is as fierce as ever. This weekend we went boating (more to come on that) and she was so determined to not get thrown off. I keep telling her that she can do anything. And she can.

The Steady One started school again. He has many, many, many credits. His classes are hard. Life is the same for him. We are doing all we can to help him. One of his classes is giving a test as a final. Only one. That means the rest are papers. Long papers. Environmental Assessment papers. He is already reading his many, many, many papers to summarize and I don't even understand the title. It's a good thing he's so smart. On top of that, he helps with our kids, is canning like a fiend (with my help, of course) and works on finishing our bathroom. He's such a rock -solid man and I'm so grateful for him. It's been really hard on us the last year because many of our dearest friends are splitting up or divorced. There is sadness and vileness everywhere. It is almost enough to lose hope. Do you realize how many children those 5 or 6 divorces affect? 20. So, their kids will also be affected. It's such a cycle, you can see why Satan tries so hard.

That's all. I'm saving all my updates for my very own post. So, first will be the LAKE. Then my updated life.