Okay- here goes....
First Day of School:
Dillon and Ashlynn started school again on August 22nd. Dillon is now in 3rd grade, his teacher's name is Mr. Earley. Ashlynn started 1st grade, and her teacher's name is Mrs. O'Donell. We have heard nothing but good things about these two teachers and have so far been impressed. Both Dillon and Ashlynn seem to look forward to going to school, and come home happy and excited to share what they have learned. Ashlynn has had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the all day schedule. After the second day of school, she went in her room, layed on her bed, and slept for three hours. Poor thing, she was completely exhausted. Dillon is enjoying having a guy for a teacher this year. He has always had women, which is fine, but I think this will be a good change for him.
Tara and I have been taking a cake decorating class at Michael's. It has really been a lot of fun. I have always been interested in learning how to decorate cakes, just so I could make my own for Birthday's and other special occasions. Tara asked if I wanted to take the class with her, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. We are now on the second course, I think there are 3 in all. Our teacher's name is Shaynee, and she has been fun to get to know. I think I will take all 3 courses. Dustin says that I might as well if it is something I enjoy. I appreciate him watching the kids while I go.
We decided to make a trip to Utah for Labor Day. We were all ready for a break from Vegas. It rained a lot of the time, but it was a welcome change for us. If it rains in Vegas, it is only for like 5 minutes. Gloria, Shalise, and I always try to find time to get away and go to our favorite places: Robert's, and the D.I. I absolutely love going to the D.I., I always find lots of treasures to re-do and decorate with. We also went to the Wood Connection and got stuff to make a Halloween craft with. I always get in such a crafty mood when fall rolls around. The kids all played non-stop outside, yes, even in the rain. Ashlynn especially did not want to spend any time in doors. She was constantly outside riding bikes or jumping on the trampoline. On Monday, we all went out to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. After lunch, it ended up being a beautiful afternoon, so we took all the kids to the park. They all rode bikes and scooters, played on the play ground, and kicked a soccer ball around. Danica showed us all how good she was at swinging on the monkey bars, and Ashlynn made it her ambition for the day to learn how. I tell you, if I could have half that girls ambition......... She tried and tried until she had blisters on her little hands. The next few days, her arms were pretty sore, Geez, my arms were sore from trying it one time! Anyways, it was a great weekend, and fun for everyone.
Samantha's First Day of Pre-School:
Yep, my baby is going to Pre-School. I will admit that it was actually a bitter-sweet day for me. I kind of wanted to cry when I left her. Part of it was not knowing what the heck to do with myself for 2 and 1/2 hours without kids, but it was mostly coming to the realization that Samantha is really not a baby anymore. It has also been a worry for me to leave her because of the issues that she has with seizures. I think that I have kept her quite close to me, I guess just my way of protecting her. I am grateful that her teacher is my good friend Tara, who I trust. Samantha is doing well, and enjoying herself. She has already learned a lot, and has come home with the cutest little projects. She goes to pre-school on Tuesday's and Wednesday's, from 9:30-12:00. I have made it my goal to not waste my precious alone time. I have tried to accomplish as much as possible each day. I think that is why my blog has been lacking lately, because by the end of the day, I am just ready to go to bed. Night time after everyone else goes to bed, has normally been my time to blog. I have just been too tired though.
The Planetarium:
Over this last weekend, we decided to take the kids to the Planetarium. Samantha was kind of a pill through the whole thing, but other than that, it turned out to be very informative and entertaining. After the movie, we were able to go outside and look through the big telescopes. It was pretty awesome... we saw Jupiter, and the moon. It was so neat to see the moon close up, you could really see all the detail of the terrain. Dillon especially enjoyed this, and kept saying, "This is SO AWESOME!" After the Planetarium, we went to a Mexican restaurant called Cozymel's. We loved it! Mexican is all our favorite, we are always wanting to try new restaurant's. What makes it even better is the gift certificate's that I get from Restaurant.com. We totally save so much money when we get certificate's from there. So, any of you who like to eat out should give it a try.
Samantha's 1st Day of Dance:
Another big step for Samantha. I put her in a tap/ballet class. She has the same teacher that Ashlynn has. Her teacher Miss Stephanie said that she did very well, but was quite selective with what she would do. If she didn't want to do something, she would go sit over in the corner or something. Hmmmm.... not like this surprises me, Samantha is definitely stubborn and has to decide for herself whethor or not she does something. Stephanie said that she eventually realized that she was the only one not particpating and decided to join back in. Also, the fact that they don't get a sticker unless they participate helps. I think she will end up enjoying dance because she is such a girly girl, she just takes a while to adjust to things.
Some other events:
-The tornado returned to our house, again, only striking Samantha's room. My solution to the problem: I am boxing up most of her toys and donating them to someone elses problem. ;)
-I passed out and had what we believe to be a seizure, because I swallowed my Diet Pepsi the wrong way. We are pretty certain, at this point, that I have the same thing Samantha has. The other day I kneeled on a stupid toy in the tornado room and almost had the same thing happen again. More to come on this story later.....
-Dustin's company thankfully was able to get another job, offering us job security for the moment, or atleast until we decide what we want to do in life. :)
I'm sure that there is more that I have forgotten, but atleast for now you have been given a little bit of our life in a NUTSHELL!
Bye for now..... ;)
