End of September

Everything here is going and going.

Lauryn loves her new school. She has more homework and the expectations they have are higher but they also have lots of extra people like Math and Reading specialists to help the kids worth through any issues they have. She's made lots of friends and even went to her first birthday party of the year Saturday. She also is very excited because on Wednesday she starts French classes! She can't wait to call her Auntie and say things I can't understand.

Robert also loves school. He says his favorite part is homework which he has every night except Wednesdays. He's teacher says he's doing awesome and she had no idea he's still only 4. He reports back every day how many behavior stars he had left. They start out with 3 and if they do anything wrong (forget to raise their hand, be crazy in the hall) they lose one. As long as they don't lose them all, they are OK. His biggest problem was remembering to raise his hand but he's always had 2 or 3 left everyday.

The house is sold! After a couple more little bumps in the road, it is finally done. We're happy to be finished and finished working with the person who bought it. I'm glad we had a realtor and did not try and do it by ourselves because she was a pain in the bum and made things much harder than they needed to be.

Rob and I are good too. He's got so much work he's trying to get done at the hospital that he hardly sees his apartment. However, he likes the walks to and from the hospital and it serves it's purpose. I'm trying to keep up with everyone and getting all the chores done. With two schools to do things for and dogs to walk, I never stop but that's good I guess too.

Love to all!

L

1st day of school

Here are Lauryn and Robert on their first day of school today. They were both very excited (as they were up by 6:30 a.m.) and ready to go. We all walked down together for Lauryn so she should show Robert how easy it was. Robert was the only one on his bus on the way to school so I was able to get on and show him how to put the seat belt on (I didn't think they put seat belts on buses but this one had it) and meet the bus driver. In the afternoon, Robert got home 20 minutes early so he beat Lauryn. Luckily I was almost there when the bus came. We also got to meet some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Everyone seems to be a year off of both the kids, but that's OK. Both the kids had wonderful first days (although Robert got in trouble for talking) and can't wait for tomorrow to come!
L :)

Lauryn's New School

Today we went to Lauryn's orientation. Here is her desk and the front of her room along with her new teacher, Miss Bouboulis. Lauryn is pretty excited now. She met one little girl who is new to the school this year in her class and there was another little boy who came in just after we left so she knows they don't know anyone either. We also got to meet almost all of the specials teachers, gym, music, art, nurse, and reading specialist. Then we came home and the reading specialist (I wish I could remember her name but that's not my strong point) was walking to the place across the street to pick up her kids at her sister-in-laws house.

So now we are set. All the school supplies have been purchased and we have one last weekend before the buses start to come. Lauryn is a little more excited about the bus since her ride will be less than 10 minutes instead of having to catch the bus an hour before school starts.

L :)

Kindergarten

Here is some pictures of Robert's class. We met our teacher (in pink) who's name is Mrs. VanDame. There is a morning class and an afternoon class so that is why there are two names on his desk. We got to put all our school supplies away and see the reading books that he is going to use. He was very happy he easily sound out all the words for their first reader. I think now he's excited that he gets to go to school. We'll see what the first bus ride brings!
Stay tuned for Lauryn. She gets to meet her teacher tomorrow afternoon.

Pictures from the Island

Vacation

Here are some pictures from the island in Canada. I think we can honestly say it's one of the best places on earth. There was lots of swimming, relaxing and just enjoying each other. I'm not sure if we had more fun or the puppies though. Riley couldn't stay out of the water and she was the guarding of the deck. I think the enjoying being outside from the time they woke up until the crawled to bed. The kids didn't mind it so much either. The weather was beautiful when we were there too (despite what the weather channel said!)

However, now is back to real life and moving and getting ready for school. I HATE MOVING! We have a month before we close on the house. We have a good start to most of the stuff going places and are down to the stuff that I feel like just dumping in a dumpster because it's just junk. I know I have just the next couple weeks to be getting up to Danville and deal with it so I have to get in gear.

In the next couple weeks, I will try and do better and getting lots of new things up on here. I have to figure out how to do a slide show too!
Love to all! Lisa

Some Fun

We've been working hard getting the moving process going. The movers came on Wednesday to move the big things to Lansdale. They were great and even chatted with the kids. Anyone who's been around my kids for more than 1 minute knows they will talk your ear off and tell even the smallest details of everything going on.

Yesterday we had friends help us with the big items that were staying in Danville. It was very hot and since it was all big and/or heavy items, it was exhausting. However, it's done. Tomorrow we plan to actually put the apartment together with things in their proper places so that we can continue moving the "junk" over to where it needs to go. Living in limbo and with everything all over has been a challenge. It's driving me nuts that I don't know where everything is or if I do know, it's at a different house. Thank goodness this will be coming to an end. Most mom's look forward to school starting so they can have some freedom from their kids. I'm looking forward to my kids going to be with friends and getting everything in some sort of organized fashion!

Included are some new pictures. The first is of Sophie and Sara. Last week, Sophie challenged Sara for the most favorite, special ball and didn't back down until she got it. It was fun to watch. They were playing and chasing each other and Sophie didn't give in. Sara decided to just lay down and watch Sophie kick the ball and chase after it. When Sophie plays with it, she wants to do it all by herself which is opposite of Sara who would prefer to have to toss it a million times so she can run and get it. I also was able to get Sophie to lay down on command one evening too for the first time. She is actually very good with most commands except for "down" and I can only assume that bad things happened when she would lay down around people when she was a puppy. It's taken us over a year to get most of the way from the petrified, abused puppy to being just another dog so our hope is by next year, no one will be able to tell what a rough start to life she had.

The next two are the kids swimming with friends. We are blessed to have two families we are good friends with that have pools to cool off with. The kids have been having so much fun swimming around and are able to do things on their own in the pool for the most part.

The last picture was taken this morning of the kids watching Berenstein Bears. We're down air mattresses and folding chairs at the house. I'll be happy to sleep in a real bed again but the kids think this is all great fun. So, we continue to try and look on the bright side of things and consider this an adventure instead of just stress and chaos (or at least that's what I keep telling myself!)

Love,
Lisa