Welcome Fall

Fall has occasionally been in the air...giving us a little taste of what's to come.  The cooler weather has been a welcome change from the summer heat wave of 2011.  I'm missing our long afternoons at the pool, I have to admit.  However, it is nice not to melt into a Katie puddle 2.3 seconds after stepping out into what was the consistently record-setting, hot sunshine.  How pleasant it is to have some relief. 

The boys sure love school.  Their first day was in mid-August, & both have amazing teachers.  Grateful!  

J is officially a pro bus rider.  Once home, I love to hear all the details he shares about his mornings in kindergarten.  He has this excitement & an eagerness that make me smile.  School is a good fit for this kid.  Oh, and he learned how to tie shoes, this week.  He could have learned sooner, if his parents had made it a priority.  In their defense, they kept remembering & then got side-tracked with summer activities, vacations, etc.  Anyway, he did this happy dance, once he started getting the hang of it.  A little fine-tuning, & he'll be able to tie as fast as a calf-roping cowboy.  

L is off to a great start in 2nd grade!  It's just hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he is the age of kids I used to teach.  Many of those kids are either now in high school, in college or in the working world.  This means L will be a teenager by the end of next week, graduating high school by Thanksgiving & moving away to college by Christmas.  ;)  Currently, I love, love hearing him read!  He also continues to show such curiosity about life, a trait I really admire about him.

Labor Day weekend, and the week before it, we spent time with our Nevada family members.  After not being able to ALL be in one place for at least two years, it was incredibly special to all gather for several days.  The cousins played/swam until they couldn't keep their eyes open at night; the grown-ups shared some good chats & laughs.  Chad, his brothers, his dad, & our sis-in-law Jen even attended KSU's college football season opener.  It's safe to say that we all had our fill of delicious food.  My mom-in-law cooked & baked up a storm, before & during this reunion.  She even made the family's traditional Christmas breakfast.  Other family favorites:  chocolate chip cookies, tortilla chips & homemade salsa, & Fresca (some chose Coke Zero)...items my body came to believe were three of the four food groups.