I'm still here!

I know, I know...I have been unbelievably lax at blogging over the past two months. Life just has been crazy around here. Eric has been on two business trips, and as those of you who know me, understand that I do MAJOR projects while he's gone. I think that the reason behind this is that if I am freakishly busy I won't dwell on the fact that he's gone. So I repainted the entire basement playroom, and the kitchen. I really love the new look to these rooms!

The kids started school and are doing really well. They are loving their classes and so far are doing great! Another change this year is that afterschool three days a week, Claire's friend Lily walks home with her and stayes here for a while until her mom gets off work. Claire thinks that this is the coolest thing ever. :)

Cade is in 4th grade and is such a good kid. He is polite and randomly comes up to me durning the evenings to ask if there is anything that he can do to help me out...LOVE HIM!!! The one 'fight' I have on my hands is that he won't let me cut his hair...it is really shaggy and he looks like a 'surfer'. It is driving me CRAZY! Finally, last night, he relented and said that he is going to wait until Grammy and Grandpa come to visit (mid-October), an then he'll get it cut. YAY!

Claire is in 2nd grade and happy as a clam. She has lots of friends and is doing quite well...as long as she gets enough sleep! If she does too many activities durnng the week it is a recipe for disaster...a big, tear-filled, whiny disaster! Otherwise she's great!

Jax is in Kindergarten and happy about it roughly 50% of the time! I shouldn't say that...he loves it once he's there, but isn't a morning person so getting out to the bus is a LOT of work. Unfortunately, he got threatened by another kid on the bus last week, so I spent days on the phone with the school and the bus company, and the other boy isn't allowed near Jax. We are working with him on his writing (lots of backwards letters), and he is loving an educational website called Starfall.

Finn is now in preschool 2 days a week. He really likes it! He looks so cute walking into class with his big-boy backpack and then loves to tell me all about his day once I pick him up. I think that I need another refrigerator for all the art/projects that he is bringing home! Finnegan is such a cutie and will randomly come up to me to say the he loves me. AWWWWW...now, if I could just get him out of Eric and my bed! :)

Griffin is a cute, cuddly, little Mama's Boy! He is happy and content to be anywhere I am. He's not talking as much as I would like, but that is completely our fault. When you have 2 parents and 4 older siblings who know what you want and don't make you ask for it (in order to save time) how are you supposed to learn the words??? So, thanks to a friend, we are now using some tricks to getting him to be more verbal. His newest accomplishment is screaming at the top of his lungs if he doesn't get his way, and not just screaming... the sound is one step down from what only dogs can hear!

Eric and I are doing great...It's nice to have a set schedule, as opposed to summer when everything is up in the air. Eric works hard and is Cade's Cub Scout Leader. I am taking care of the little ones, the house, the dogs, but am taking an hour a week to go to a ZUMBA class...SOOOOOOOOO FUN! I highly reccomend it to anyone out there!
So, now you are caught up!