Where I've Been

Well, no where really. I've just been too busy to blog lately...doing two loads of laundry every other day (I hate cold weather and long sleeves, sweatshirts, and long pants...it makes for some really big loads!), folding clothes, playing puzzles with Grahm, playing hide-n-seek with Casey, coloring with Belle, feeding the kids breakfast and lunch, taking Belle (and the boys) to school and picking her up, playing WoW (of course), trying to keep the house picked up (although everything somehow always ends up piled up on our bedroom dresser), and trying to potty train Grahm. And when I do have time to blog, something else comes up. Like my Ghost Whisperer DVD arriving in the mail from Netflix. *grin* I got hooked on the show last year (back when we had t.v.), so I've been renting them non-stop, starting with Season 1, for a month or so now. I watch it as soon as the kids go down for bed and then send it out in the morning so that I can get the next one in a couple days. I am loving Netflix! I have a potty training DVD coming soon from them. Hopefully it will give me some new pointers for Grahm because everything I've tried isn't working. I've even left him without pants on for a few hours for about a week, and that hasn't helped (although I've heard it works). Although it did give me a funny story that I'll be able to embarrass him with when he gets older. I went outside to go check the mail, and on my way back inside, 3 Mormons stopped me to give me a handout and a speech. While they are doing this, Grahm is wearing nothing but his t-shirt. So all the while as I'm trying to get back inside and to get the guys to stop talking to me, explaining that I'm not interested, Grahm decides to come outside. The older gentleman laughed, but boy, was it embarrassing!

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We went to Chris' parents cottage a couple weeks ago. Well, I may have not been there because I didn't really contribute much. I laid on the couch every chance I got so my back can heal. My physical therapist has me doing the back exercises for at least another month or two, so I'm still in the healing process. Getting near the end though with no flare-ups lately though! But anyway, Chris was able to duck hunt up there (as it was opening day on that lake), and shot 3 ducks, which are now sitting in our freezer waiting to be cooked up...or dried into jerky. Either way, I doubt I'll be eating it. I've had a bite or two of it before, and it wasn't awful...just not my type of flavor. Casey touched/walked on the grass for the first time that weekend without fussing. Normally, whenever he would even touch the grass, he would start crying. I'm so happy that he's over that now. The kids enjoyed their last few days of summer up there. They went canoeing, rode bikes, and played outside (as well as inside). I was even able to take a decent picture of Frosty and her big ears, for those of you that haven't seen how enormous her ears are on her little body. She doesn't look like your typical pure-bred miniature schnauzer. *grin* Chris' parents helped out a ton with the kids while we were up there. Every once in a while I'd tag along and take pictures, but mostly I took it easy. So thank you Gary and Peggy...and Chris too, of course.













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With Isabelle in school now, the mornings are a lot more quiet. Sure, Grahm still runs around the house playing with his cars and Transformers, but we've also been doing a lot more coloring, reading, and puzzles lately. It's been nice and fun. Casey is really into the blocks now. Just today he made a three-block tower an attitude d was so proud of himself. His smile was priceless! But just as much as he likes to try to build towers, he loves to knock them down. And thankfully Grahm is a good sport about it when Casey knocks his tower over that he works so hard on.

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Isabelle has really grown up a lot since starting school. Not only with being able to recognize more letters and numbers, but also in her attitude. A couple days ago after I got done grocery shopping and brought the bags inside, she asked if she could put the yogurt away. Um, sure, if you really want to. So while she was doing that, I go talk to Chris about some Christmas gifts I bought. When I come back to the kitchen, she unpacked everything and put it all away! Now is she a sweetheart or what?! Chris and I have some good kids and are quite lucky.

We are also happy with our choice for her school. She comes home happy and is always a chatterbox on the way home, telling me about her day. And today, I was a little late in dropping her off and her class had already gone inside, but the third graders were walking in. A couple girls talked to her and held her hand and helped her inside. All of the older grades are so helpful, not just with Belle but with all the younger kids. It's so sweet how no one asks them to help out or anything, they just go over and do it. All of the kids are so nice and friendly.

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Well, that about does it. I think that long post makes up for not posting anything for over a week! Although I'm sure my friend Teresa won't agree. *grin* I'll try to be more diligent about it from now on...promise!