I know you don't want to know every detail of everyday, but things have been going well and this is definately a rambling week!

So yesterday I got done with work a little early due to pregame practice. I hurried on over to Isaac's school, where the family was waiting for me. It was parent's day and Isaac was able to show us his school, what he has been working on and just kind of give us a tour. They have been studying the solar system, so he was showing us which ones were gassy and which ones were icey. He was busy getting Zoey a snack and showing us work and their lizard "Blender" and there were puppies there too. With all of the other families there, is was a bit overwhelming. But I did meet parents of Isaac's friends and his teacher said that he is doing well.

Time to hurry home. Its date night and I am not missing that!!! I quick fix the kids some hotdogs and watermelon. The babysitter shows up on time and I give her the general tour. Chris and I take off back to Kalispell to catch a movie. We saw Balls of Fury. Funny yes, good-mabe, but it did have great music --Def Lepard. We left the theater and stopped off at the Blue Moon. I had always thought it was a dive, but it was great. They have a couple of mountain lions and a bob cat (stuffed of course) behind the bar. Then they have a whole wall with bears and mountain sheep. They had live music, a dance floor and pool tables. We even saw someone we knew. Uncle Buck has been taking dance lessons there to learn the rumba. I couldn't get Chris to dance with me for nothin', so I danced with Uncle Buck and had a blast. And just in case you thought that I didn't have an Uncle Buck or any relation in Montana for that matter--Chris played softball with him this last summer. He is about 60 and has a handlebar mustache and was intoduced to us as Uncle Buck. Now I was pretty busy last night. I didn't take my coat off until before we went into the Blue Moon. After I came back from dancing, Chris noticed that I still had my nametag on from work! I had such a good time last night. We decided it was a school night and should get back home. The kids were sleeping and the babysitter was able to walk herself back home. I am excited that I have found a babysitter that lives right next door to me. We don't need to pick her up, her mom is right next door if there is an emergency and she was happy with what we paid her. I was sleeping soundly by 10:30.

Mommy Stuff

Yesterday I was driving into work, there was a light fog. Isaac says "Mom, it is foggy out. We should stay home until it goes away." Don't I wish! But I didn't think my boss would be too excited and I told Isaac his teacher would want him to be at school.

What is Isaac's favorite part of school? My guess was show and tell. Isaac's answer "Everything."

I never noticed that I say "totally" alot. But I think may be I do and Isaac has picked up on that. He is so cute when he says "That is so totally cool!" or "You can totally do that" or "I totally like that"

Isaac has been bringing home new songs from school and Zoey being just like Isaac has learned them as well. Zoey goes around the house singing "We all lib in the Milky Wabe, the Milky Wabe, the Milky Wabe." I am finally starting to let her be more independant. She has been my baby, while Isaac has been my big boy that I forget to let her grow up sometimes. She loves attention for her singing. Unfortunately, she sings like me. Things like ring around the posey, I'm a little tea pot and wheels on the bus are really big hits right now. She is old enough to play some games, like memory and the 123 Diego game.

My kids LOVE projects. Last summer when my kids were 1 and 3 the daycare lady here had them use the glue stick and construction paper. They were given choices of things they wanted to put on their paper like colored dry macaroni, cotton balls, tissue paper, beans. Things with all different colors and textures. Isaac is very conservative with his projects, where as Zoey is very liberal. She uses all the paint, colors and all the space on her paper. I can always pick out which paper belongs to my child by how much is on the paper and sometimes even by design, without even seeing the name on it. My biggest help so far is to purchase items at the dollar store. Things there are much cheaper than even Walmart. I have gone to nickelodeon.com and printed off pages for them to color so that they can have as much spongebob or dora as they want. I have yet to find a really good website for actual projects. We have just been doing ones that I remember from my childhood. I will post the site, though if I find a good one.

Oh, this is a great Rambling day!!

Somedays I really don't know where to start. I had kinda a cruddy week last week, so for the weekend I did mostly nothing. I worked soccer on Saturday, which the weather turned out great. We lost, but had good games. I went home and had a movie night with the kids while Chris went out and hunted. He tried to hunt in the same area as a black bear. Chris gave up and came home. Sunday should be church day. Isaac should be in sunday school. Well as it turns out our church is moving (closer to us by the way). So because we are in the process of moving, sunday school has not officially started yet. But we are sharing our current church with the Four Square congregation that purchased our building, making for one HUGE congregation on sundays. So I opted to stay home and watch the Vikings dwindle away a win, while my husband went hunting. He encountered another bear!

I am so excited a new week is here! What could be better? I can't believe how much energy I had yesterday. I even worked out (am oh so sore today). Now really, I feel bad about how my day ended. It was our 8th anniversary. We were thinking about going to see the late movie, as I always give massages on Monday nights and I didn't make an exception to this one. We are still going out, but decided that another night would be better. Of course we have had these tickets for like a month and haven't had time to use them so who knows. Anyway, on my way home I pick up a card and some beer for the loved one. Get home in time to put the kids to bed and fall asleep in the chair watching the Andy Griffith Show.

I am pretty sure that the extra energy I had yesterday was stolen from today. It is taking a bit to get going. Notice I am blogging instead of working out. I have volleyball tonight, massage (to give)tomorrow, parents night at Isaac's school and a possible date on Thursday and football on Friday. My days are busy and while I am glad for that, I do miss having my tuesday and thurday mornings off to catch up on things.

I was at the dollar store earlier and they of course have Christmas stuff out already. I actually started to get that warm fuzzy, christmas time gives you, and it felt so good. But then I realized that it is only September and I need to stay focused! I still have a birthday to plan and halloween costumes to figure out in the next couple of weeks. I haven't asked the kids yet what they want to be. Sometimes I am tempted to just use costumes from last year. Even though Zoey didn't wear her Elmo outfit more than five minutes for halloween last year, she wears it all over the house now.

Random side note: I noticed my friend Meg mentioned National talk like a pirate day on her blog. We were on the way to daycare/school and the radio station announced that it was talk like a pirate day. I thought--Oh, Isaac will love that! So I told him and I started talking like a pirate while driving to our desination. He totally did not believe me. He didn't even talk like a pirate while we were in the car. Nope. Just me. I was the only Soost to have fun with talk like a pirate day. Which is odd, cuz Ike watches Sponge Bob and knows how and usually does talk like a pirate.

Just Food For Thought

Obviously, these are not my quotes, just passin' em on.

• No one can gain inner peace by pouncing on it.
• There is never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
• I've got dreams hidden in places and extra smiles for when I am blue.
• I think the pillow should be the peace symbol, not the dove. The pillow has more feathers than the dove and it doesn't have a beak to peck you with. (Jack Handey)

Repeat

I was just watching Isaac's video. And I am 100% amazed at how fast and how much my kids have grown and changed. We moved here one year ago. I brought with me a three year old and a one year old. We still had our house in Gillette. How does that song go?--Livin' life in fast forward, now going to rewind real slow. or something like that. I don't mean to get so darn sappy, but you don't see them change until you look back. I miss my babies and am excited, and proud of the kids they are turning into.

It smells like fall at my house. I LOVE fall here in MT. Wyoming didn't have distinct seasons, but Montana does and I really like that. The leaves are just starting to turn colors. Chris saw a deer in our back yard the other night. It is starting to get cool here too.

I am finally starting to get some rhythm back into my life. I don't know why I was so whiny about going back to work. I suppose it was just because I hadn't been in so long. I like taking care of the house, the kids and cooking, but luckily I have a hubby that is helping out in the evenings when I am not home. This past weekend I was feeling energetic so I froze a bunch of meals for Chris to make for supper. It just makes everything go faster and smoother. But I think I am starting to catch up on everything. It just seemed that I would go to work and go to sleep and nothing was getting attention, but I think things are much better now. No news, just a new season and a beautiful one at that. I think this year I will have to remember to keep my camera close by.

SMILEBOXES SENDING SMILES

So Grandma Dixie is sending me SMILE BOXES. I love them and am trying to post them because they are great. One is of Isaac and the other is of Zoey. Grandma Dixie you are the scrapbooking Queen! Hope you don't mind my sharing.

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5449774e7a63334f5877784f5445304d5463310d0a&sb=1

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5449774e7a55334e5877784f5445304d5463310d0a&sb=1

• Isaac falls asleep every day in the truck after Chris picks him up from school. However, when asked about it he promptly says "No, I didn't"
• We were eating supper the other night and I can't remember exactly what we were talking about but Isaac says to Chris "You can do that when you are old?"
• Isaac is already singing songs about the universe and the Milky Way, that he learned in school.

A quick hello

Well, I have to admit that I like to be busy. This weekend I had a couple of football games last night and a couple of soccer games today. I was actually running yesterday due to all of the busyness! In the mean time my husband is playing host to his grandparents who have driven out to visit us. I hope I get the chance to say hi to them before they go.

They did bring out a bike for Zoey. Her first big girl bike. She is very excited about it, just like Ike was when he got his. Now we just have to wait for her to be ready for the bike, I think she should grow into it by the time she is about three and half or four so just another year or two. But she is up on Isaac, as he couldn't pedal at her age nor did he want to. She at least rides her trike and likes it.

Just In Case You Were Wondering

So is Isaac really in school?? He is only 4. Missed the cut off date for kindergarten and is enrolled in Pre-K. Pre-K? You mean preschool? Nope. Not so much. Last year Isaac was in preschool. The day care lady took two hours out of each morning to teach numbers, letters, and listening skills. It was a 32 point program that was very beneficial to Isaac. This year, however, Isaac is in Pre-K. He is enrolled in a school called Individualized Education Center. It is in the same building as our current daycare, but in a separate area. Even when he needs care before and after school-he will not be at the daycare, but downstairs at school. He will be attending 4 days a week from 9am to 3pm with a Montessori teaching system and licensed school teacher. This school only teaches Pre-K, Kindergarten and First grade, but they are taught together in the same room. He will be learning math, reading, language, Spanish (I think) and other skills. The Montessori learning system is very different for me, but it should be a good program for Isaac and I have been told that they integrate pretty well into the public school system. So in a nutshell that is the difference between last year in preschool and this year in pre-k. I will let you form your own decision if he is going to school or not this year.

Today I got the kids immunized. What a mess that gets to be. I decided to take them to the county health department. I didn't have their current records with me, I just brought the paper the daycare gave me, showing which ones needed to be updated. Zoey was in the computer with her name miss spelled and the date of her last shots posted on month before she was born. Isaac was not in the computer. After fixing all that, we wondered if Isaac needed more shots. He is old enough for them, so what the heck, he needs them at least before kindergarten if nothing else. Zoey got one, Isaac got four. Both cried for the poke, but were very good. Especially after getting cookies, stickers, books and a free ice cream from McDonald's. Not sure they even remembered the shots after all that.

Zoey and Isaac had a day of imagination on Monday. Isaac did a lot of surf boarding while Zoey was snowboarding. She was wearing the fireman's outfit that day saying" I'm wearing a costume."

Isaac's favorite part of today--"I didn't have to take a nap." said in the tone of ha ha mommy wanted me to and I didn't.

Conversation on the way home tonight--

Isaac tomorrow is show and tell. You need to bring

something that reminds you of your grandparents.

Isaac" Like my special magic flying rocks?"

Me " They fly?"

Isaac "I haven't seen them fly, but I think they do."

The First Day Of School

I am probably twice as excited as Isaac! He did well getting ready to go today. We get there, and figure out the new routine and find where things are. Then I make Isaac put his back pack back on so that I can take a picture of him in his class room for his first day of school. I have already called his teacher today. Yes, I will be one of THOSE moms. Actually, Isaac has been out of speech therapy for a year now, mostly due to the stress of the move last year and my inability to find proper services. So I gave the teacher a call to see what she had to say about her program and how it might help Isaac. She is going to screen him and will be able to have someone else do an assessment if there are any flags. If he still needs therapy someone will come to the school and work with him. I wish it had been that easy last year. But anyway we are back on top of things now. Plus, she let me know that he is doing fine today and shows "with it" skills (following directions and whatnot). I do feel good that I did not cry. I know so many Moms that cry when their kids go off to school. But here I am with two kids. I can feed them and dress them, but now I fear there is much more to it than that. I have to remember show and tell. And the teacher is specific. Tomorrow is something grandparent related. I have to remember this every week. I barely remember my own stuff to bring! I hope there is not much homework. We all know in the years to come I can't help him with chemistry!

Poor Zoey lost in the mess. She has to be exactly like Isaac and I haven't gotten to the point where I just automatically do everything in 2s yet. When I did Ik's pictures, I did hers also, but I made her wait on the slippers and plant. Oh--she does not like to be left out!

I have recently taken many pictures of the kids, so they will be soon to come. I usually don't have a problem taking pictures of Ike so I didn't take very many. Zoey on the other hand is a stinker so I took about 50! I used Dixie's technique to just keep pushing the button and eventually you will get something good. And I bet out of the 50 I got about 4 good ones!

I keep forgetting

An eerie feeling--when it feels like rain, but you don't know if it is cloudy or not. It hasn't been quite that smokey recently, but its spookey. Last night we went to the football game and left at half time. By the time we got home and kids in jams it was pouring. This morning there was water standing in our lawn furniture. How absolutely wonderful.

I almost forgot--I have made it here a year! I look back at what I was doing a year ago and it makes me feel bored, or that I should be doing more. Between finding a house, daycare, packing for the kids, running around picking them up and dropping them off and ususally taking them to work with me. Life is a lot less hectic now.

But--A whole new time is upon us. I picked up the kids from daycare yesterday and Isaac had his blanky. I asked if it was time to wash it again. He said no, but I am not going to daycare anymore, I have school. He was right. The next time I drop him off it willl be at school and not upstairs at the daycare. Holy Cow, how did this day come so fast. I have been working for a few weeks now, so I knew it was coming, but already? We have to get him a hair cut, new slippers and probably some pants that don't make him look like he is waiting for a flood. I can't believe how much he has grown too. I haven't measured my kids in over a year. I used to do it in their room about every six months or so (whenever it looked like they grew). But I did it right on the wall not realizing that 4 years later I wouldn't be able to pack it in my car on the move to MT. I still have the urge to mark it on the wall, but am waiting until I get a paper one that can be saved in their baby books or something.