As you may have guessed by my lack of posting, things have been quite busy around here! The summer - or what was supposed to be summer, but mostly consisted of temps in the 70s - has flown by and here we are at the (almost) end of August. I have tons of pics, many memories, and a LOT on my plate. I am happy as can be, but, admittedly, exhausted! :)
I am trying to recap all the tales since my sister and her kiddos left. That was SUCH a fun-filled three weeks! There was a great trip to Indianapolis complete with a wonderful visit with old friends and me also getting the chance to work at Theta HQ for a day or two. We had a visit from one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world, Erin Fech, along with her wonderful fiance, Joe. That weekend was so much fun that my sides hurt from laughing for days. There have been loads of outings with the kids, a visit from my parents' friends from the Dominican Republic, a visit this weekend from my college buddy, Drew, and so much more. Nick has been very busy with work but managed to get in some great personal time practicing his golf swing and hitting the golf course now and then. He also is in a fun Darts league here in the Twin Cities, and gets some good time in with some fantstic down to earth people throwin' darts and chatting. He is pretty darn great, if I may say so! I am glad he is doing something other than work because he is so good at his job and there is so much to do (not to mention the fact that he has one of the strongest work ethics of anyone I know) that he could easily sleep at work if he wanted to! :)
Oh. And somewhere in the midst of all this, I started back up with classes after a short 6 week break. So....phew!
The kids are getting ready to start school in September. Kate is SO excited. She will be in Kindergarten (!!!!!). Last week we went and got all of her school uniforms. She looks so adorable. I cannot wait to take pics of her on her first day! She is very excited. She got her haircut - at her request - and says she feels like a big girl ready for school! She certainly IS ready. She is reading up a STORM. She is plowing through chapter books and loves to read aloud to Liam, too. She is helpful and bright and sassy. A dream.
Liam is a ball of energy. Whoever coined "terrible twos" had no flippin' clue what they were talking about. "Insane Threes" is more like it. He is very much asserting his independence right now. Which is great. It is just not that great when we need to get out of the house and he insists on dressing himself, putting everything on backwards and inside out with shoes on the wrong feet and has a meltdown when I try to encourage him to maybe NOT wear his underwear backwards. *sigh* Sharing is hard, not having the same skill level as his sister is frustrating, and the only food groups as far as he is concerned really should be popsicles and yogurt. It is a joy. :-) I have had a lot more days lately when I REALLY wish he napped! :)
That said, he is a delight. When he is not being Mr. Stubborn, he is the lovey-est, sweetest, funniest boy. He is SO smart, too. One of his favorite things to do is workbooks and at 3 years, he can write all his letters, knows their sounds and spell a few words. He really does not have a care in the world for television, which is a-ok with me. He plays and plays and plays. Cars are the preferred toy. He loves to help me, too! Unloading the dishwasher, folding laundry....he is a helper. Except when it is time for him to clean up his toys on his own - then he is suddenly striken with a bout of paralysis and becomes spontaneously deaf as well.
I am wondering how he will take it when he is apart from Kate so much once school starts. He has class twice a week, but Kate is full day, every day. He will miss his best buddy. Luckily we have all sorts of fun activities planned. Liam will be taking swim lessons, chinese lessons, and go to an open gym with all sorts of sports and activities. Kate will be doing swimming, ballet, and chinese on top of kindergarten. Possibly piano - but not sure yet on that one.
I will continue to do Masters program, thesis work, Theta work, and Ever After Gowns, all while I gulp sanity saving cups of coffee and zip around in the minivan. Nick will be working and working, no doubt, with his Darts league going strong and his basketball group picking back up in the fall. We all stay busy and happy, and dinner time together is all the sweeter for it. Lots of travel coming up in the fall both professional and personal, but I will try to keep things updated more regularly!
Pics to come!
