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For Halloween we went with a theme... Toy Story. We had Logan as Woody riding Bullseye, Adrienne as Jessie the Cowgirl, and Lanie as the alien toy from the 'claw machine'. We went to the church I work at for the Fall Carnival they were having and played lots of fun games and got a good start on filling up their candy bags. Then we went trick or treating and had so much candy that Adrienne couldn't carry her bag. Lanie was eating it faster than she was collecting it, and Logan was rushing through trying to hit as many houses as possible.

It has been a busy week here. Nothing big and exciting to announce or anything, but busy none the less. Most recently, Adrienne got her first bad black eye. She was being sassy and talking back and earned herself a spanking. She got spanked on the bottom and pulled the 'won't breathe because she is so upset' move and ended up running into the TV armoire. She had an instant black eye.

Logan has his Parent/Teacher conference and got a glowing report from his teacher. He is already reading past the level they want 1st graders to be at by the end of the year and will probably reach the 3rd grade reading level before
Christmas. He is a smart kid.









Lanie has discovered coffee. In liquid and solid form. When I make it in the morning, I give her some, mostly milk and sugar, it is a special moment we share and enjoy before she turns into the angry two year old that gives mommy grief. She found the canister of coffee that was still on the counter the other morning and helped herself to a big heaping spoonful. YUCK! If you ask her if she wants coffee now, she says 'yechk! No!' She still likes her morning cup though. We also put Lanie in her big girl bed. We took the crib down for the last time!



On a personal note, I found my old high school friend Craig. (Hi Craig) He was one of my best friends and was a 'soft place to land' when I was living with my dad. My dad and I lived in a one bedroom apartment (he took the bedroom), I didn't even have a bed. Just a mattress pad and a sleeping bag on the floor, there was seldom food to eat - not because he couldn't afford it - but because he never thought to get any. He would often come home drunk and confide in me how he never wanted to be a father and that I was not planned and basically ruined his life. I can only assume that was his way of apologizing for being a terrible parent. There is so much more that I just can't bring myself to think of right now because the pain is too great... but Craig was ALWAYS there. He bought me bean burritos at Taco Bell which were sometimes the only thing I had to eat that day, paid my way at the movies, and was usually game for just about anything - as long as it was on the city bus route :) He never questioned why I wouldn't let him into our apartment or why we didn't have a phone like my other friends did. He was a great friend.

Another week has flown by. Not much to report. Logan is doing GREAT in school. We got a mid quarterly report and the lowest score on the whole report card was a 96. He is staying on green and is a couple days away from earning a new video game. We told him that if he could stay on green for 20 days he could have any game he wanted.



Adrienne is doing good. She has really matured in the past couple of weeks. Her fit throwing has dramatically reduced. Mostly because Ms. Danelle said that she couldn't throw fits in her classroom. Geez, why didn't I think of that? :)





Lanie.... well, she is lucky she is cute. We are in the throws of being 2. She is really hard to handle right now. Lots of screaming, crying, hitting... and that is just me. HA! No, really, she is just awful right now. I remember when Adrienne went through this and I thought I was going to kill her. Plus when she went through it, I had a new baby to take care of... so this should seem easier, right?

Goodness, did we fall off the face of the earth or what? It has been a BUSY couple of weeks. Logan started 1st grade on August 27th and is doing great! He has come home on 'green' every day since school started (that means that he hasn't gotten into trouble) and is reading up a storm. He has his first spelling test this Friday. His word list includes man, can, big, cat, sat, the and more like that. We worked on them last night and he already knew how to spell them all. He gets a weeks worth of homework on Monday that is due on Friday and you can choose how much you want to do daily but have to have it all done by the end of the week. Well, he finished the whole thing last night without breaking a sweat. He is so smart!

Adrienne started Pre-K at Bible Bears (the preschool I work at) last week and is the only child in all three classes that can spell and write her own name. That's quite an accomplishment considering she has a hard name to spell! It's funny, she got put in the advanced class and before the class even started, her teachers expressed concern for her age and size and argued that she could not keep up. I was VERY upset that they had already underestimated her and was hurt. These are people I work with and because of that, I guess they felt like they had the right to say such a thing to a parent. It is the director's job to decide class placement, not the teachers. The director felt very strongly that Adrienne would not only keep up, but excel in the advanced class based on the last two years she has seen her grow and that Logan went though the program and did very well. Well, I decided to move her to another classroom with a different teacher even though the director said she could stay where she was if I wanted her to. I didn't feel like those teachers would ever give her a chance and the first time she failed at something would say 'see, I told you she couldn't do it'... blah blah blah. It all really turned out for the best, her new teacher Danelle (Da-nell) is wonderful and knows how to handle her and LOVES her and Adrienne LOVES her right back.

Lanie is in Ms. Jeanah's 2 year old class at Bible Bears. She is the same teacher Adrienne had when she was 2 and Jeanah and I have grown a very strong friendship over the past couple years. Lanie is having trouble seeing her as Ms. Jeanah the teacher and not 'Dina' mommy's friend who has known her since she was 2 months old and is wrapped around Lanie's little finger. She'll get it. One of these days.

I got my class last week, I am in the 2's and have the hardest class out of all the teachers. The majority of my class are crying at any given moment and the other half are trying to start fires and robbing gas stations while I am tending to the criers. It has been a tough couple of weeks and I am wondering if we are going to make it to May when I can't even say for sure that we are going to survive until the end of September!

What a week. Instead of a family vacation on the road we decided to 'vacation' at home. We have been taking the kids everywhere and they are having a great time! We have gone to the water park, to a couple of movies, mini golfing, go karts, arcade, and the best yet... the circus! I haven't been to a circus since I was 10 years old and my Dad took me and my brother on one of our weekend visits with him. The kids loved it! Lanie was so good, she sat on my lap the whole time (it was easily a two hour show) Adrienne loved the trained kitties and puppies, and Logan was all about the sphere of death -or whatever it was called. The round cage that seven motorcycles spin around in. I think this will be something that the two older ones will remember for a while.

We are getting ready for school. It starts in one week. We have all our school supplies ready to go and are eagerly anticipating Monday the 27th. I start back at Bible Bears (my preschool) on the 28th with the first official day of school for Adrienne and Lanie being September 4th. Lots to do!

Adrienne finished swimming lessons today. This girl is a natural swimmer and had no trouble passing Level 1. We have been having fun with lots of swimming and meeting friends at McDonalds for lunch dates.

Lanie has been hanging out with my friend Deshee in the mornings while Adrienne had swimming lessons. She LOVES 'Ma-Shee' and has been having so much fun with her.

A little sidebar here, I feel so lucky to have such great friends! Jeanah has the sweetest soul you will ever meet. Brandi is so funny and loves my kids. Deshee is so generous and has such a special connection with my girls. And Jill (and her family) has become my family. All these women are my sisters. Sisters in parenthood, sisters in Christ, sisters in the craziness I call my life. I love each and every one of them and thank God everyday they are in my life.