yes we know we're delinquent

So, we just wrote in our September prayer letter that we are very behind. Starting school has really thrown us off.

But some cute things in the past few days...

The other night at the end of dinner, Isabella and I had a very long conversation about a boy in her class who is picking on her. We were talking about different options of how to deal with him. Finally she asked, "Mommy, can I be excused? This has been a very long talk."

At breakfast the other morning, Zach was going on and on with some story. It was definitely outlandish. Isabella put her hands to her forehead and exclaimed, "Zach, you are so creative!"

Yesterday, Zach and I were driving in the car and I turned left on a yellow light. Zach pointed that out to me, and said I was supposed to go slowly on yellow. I said something about not being a good driver, and he said, "No, mommy, you're a good driver. Just not on yellow."

Fun on the Swing

Isabella was having so much fun when she was swinging yesterday, I just had to make a quick video of it....

Cat What?

I saw this today on a friend's facebook page. I then showed it to the kids and it is now their all-time favorite thing to watch. Beware, it will either sicken you, or make you laugh so hard you'll need to take a bathroom break...

Fun at the park

Today we went to the park near our house and discovered that, after many months, they have finally replaced the plays capes and added some fun new toys for the kids to play on. They had a blast.

Pear trees in the back yard.

Liza has been wanting me to take pictures of the kids next to the trees we planted in the yard in May and I finally got around to it. I also noticed that they are putting out flowers, which I thought was supposed to happen in Spring. Maybe they are celebrating the “cool” weather after our 70 days of 100+ temps.

Indy was also out with us enjoying the romp around the yard.

Playing Tennis

Zach said he wanted to play tennis and asked if I would play. I said yes and he ran off to get the rackets and their special practice balls. He came back in the kitchen like this saying, “I’m ready! I got all the balls!”

Ice Cream Treat

The other night we went out for ice cream. Isabella had received her “privilege” money (we are not doing allowance for chores, but we do give her money that she splits up between savings, spending and giving. She calls it her privilege money) and she wanted to treat us to ice cream. So, I took them out to the Cold Stone Creamery nearby, only to discover that it had closed over the summer. So, we drove down to Amy’s.

They had fun eating their treat and then they wanted to play on the cows for a few minutes.

After we were done, we walked back up to the car. Near the street, Zach saw a dog and went up to it's owner and said, "Can I pet your dog?" He replied, "Oh yes, that would be fine. She likes kids, but she is getting kinda old." Zach looked up at the man, and, no doubt noticing his gray hair, said, "Well, you're getting kinda old too!" I saw it coming and spoke over him so the man didn't hear it, but it made me laugh all the way back to the car.

Sick day

This morning Liza came in to tell me that she would not be going to church because she was feeling sick. This was a bummer because we were starting our first week in our new Sunday school class, the Young Families Class. It was also the first Sunday for one of us to help in Zach's Sunday school class, so I would be doing both of those alone. So, we packed up and headed to church. I dropped off both kids and enjoyed the time in the Young Families class. I met lots of new people and I'm looking forward to the year. Then, I went down to the Monkey's class to be the helper in Zach's class. Everything was going great until one of Isabella's teachers came to the class and said she needed me over in the elementary lobby. Now, we have been taking her church for 5 years now and not ever have we been called from service or class because either of the kids needed us or was so inconsolable that we had to be called. Of course, the first time it would ever happen would be when I'm there by myself and one of only 2 teachers in the room. :-)

So, I went over to find her curled up in a chair saying her stomach hurt. Not good. I took her back over with me and asked the administrator if she could find someone to take my place because Isabella was feeling so bad. I took her back in to Zach's class with me to wait for a replacement. I took her in to the bathroom to wait and after about 10 min, she threw up. Yep, time to go. Right then Jenny showed up with a replacement so I was able to get the kids back home quickly. Isabella threw up 3 more times, but finally started feeling better after her nap. Now she is happy as a clam and wanting to go to school tomorrow. I guess it was a 12 hour stomach bug or something- I don't know. I'm just praying the rest of us don't get it.

Princess & Pirate Party

Today Isabella and Zach went to their friend Katie’s birthday party. It was a Princess & Pirate party, so they dressed the part. A shout out goes to my sister Kim who gave the kids a big tub of dress up clothes for Christmas- they still have not tried all of it on and we didn’t know there was a pirate outfit in there until this morning. Zach was quite happy to be able to really dress up.

End of the first week

Isabella decided to wear her school shirt to school on Friday. Her first pose was her “silly” dance and the second one was the “serious” pose. She really likes her school.