We got thru!!

The first week of school has come and gone....Tyler just left for the bus. It was definately much better than I expected. We went to open house on Tuesday and he got to meet his teacher and see all of his old friends from his other school who will now be at Tyler's school. He has a great teacher from what I have heard about her so things look good so far. Of course it has only been 2 days and now they will be off for Labor Day weekend. Vanna will be starting school on September 16 so only a few weeks left to go. She is very excited...of course she may be singing a different tune when she has to get up so early - school starts at 7:45am for her.

This was also the first week of soccer for both kids. So we are back to soccer 4 nights a week plus Saturdays for games. This year they are playing at the same fields so at least I can be at 2 places at once if I need to since hubby is gone. Tyler is doing much better this year and hopefully will continue to improve. Vanna has really taken off. Her team is all boys with the exception of one other girl who is rather shy. She outruns all but one boy on her team and has really become rather good at dribbling for a 4 yr old. I think she has some natural athletic abilities.

I got my $800 worth of law school books in yesterday - 40lbs worth! I have 10 books and they don't look like fun books either. Each one is the size of an encyclopedia and has itty bitty tiny writing. I even got a free book that shows how to outline a subject - that book is called a roadmap and is 500 pages long. What have I gotten myself into?

Well I will post more as the days go on - the dogs are going crazy outside for whatever reason so I will close. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend and enjoy the BBQ and the weather - unfortunately it is supposed to be rainy, cold and lows in the upper 30's/low 40's so I guess our 3 week summer is officially over :(

Vanna is Headed to School

I finally got the call today.....Vanna will begin school in a few weeks. I am so relieved. We have been on a waiting list for over a year for preschool on post. We go register on Friday and then we will have an orientation at the school and she should start after Labor Day. Wow - having 2 kids in school is a bit frightening because it means time is flying by. What will I do with those few precious hours by myself? I'm sure with law school starting I will have no time for myself but it is okay to dream. Vanna is very excited - we have been working on her numbers and letters so I hope she will do well. I'm not sure if she will have a morning or afternoon class but I guess it doesn't really matter....after waiting so long I will take whatever they give me.

Orientation Awaits

So it has been a bit since my last post but I have been busy finishing up my summer pre-law program. There was not real timeline for it to get done so I pretty much put it off all summer since we were so busy and cracked down a few weeks ago. I finally finished on Friday. I begin a preliminary orientation this week and then a more in depth orientation closer to classes starting which is September 9. I have to say I am a bit nervous about starting law school. I have a feeling it will be more work than I have ever done in my life. I have 4 classes for my first year. I went online to order my books and they were $775 for the first year books and each year after that they go up! I about fainted. I am not the best time manager so hopefully I can get into a routine quickly to get it all done.

Tyler goes back to school next week. I have to say I am ready. The past few days we have been under a heat advisory with temps around 96 degrees. Now I know most of you have been in the hot TX heat but as I have mentioned in other posts WA does not install AC in the houses so needless to say it has been miserable. The poor dogs looked like they were going to hyperventilate from the heat. But since this is washington it did not last long. It is cold and rainy today - back to reality.

Vanna starts soccer next week. She is excited. Tyler is not playing soccer for fall because he did not have a physical prior to registration which changed since last year in which they gave you 30 days to bring in a copy of the physical. So he will wait and play basketball in October. I will probably bring him to the track to run with me so he at least is doing something.

I will post some pics in the next week or so. I haven't taken many since we got back from NY because we have not gone anywhere really. Gas is going down here though....today $3.86!

Words of Wisdom from the Flossing Fairy!

I have to say I feel like the worst mother in the world..... we went to the dentist today for all of us to get our cleanings and xrays and savannah has 2 cavities!!! One of them is really big and she was referred to a childrens dentist to fill it. I am quite upset about this revelation because Savannah is a very good brusher - she brushes faithfully 2x a day with her automatic Hello Kitty toothbrush and uses a kids flouride rinse and yet she still has cavities. I just wanted to cry in the office. My son on the other hand, which takes an act of God to get him to brush the fur off his teeth is perfectly fine. I have to say this irritated me, not because I want him to have cavities but because I struggle with him daily to brush his teeth and yet Savannah does it without being told and still winds up with cavities. I also am semi-careful about the sugar they eat. We buy sugar free soda, syrup, juice etc. If they make it in SF then that is what I usually buy. But the dentist told me it is from not flossing. Now I know I am not the best flosser in the world - in fact I pretty much suck at it. I stick with it for a while after visiting the dentist but it is just not a habit I have stuck with and neither have the kids. So because of that my baby needs a filling or 2. So a word to the wise..... if you don't floss - start and if you don't floss your kid's teeth - start now!

Back to Normal

Our summer fun is finally over and we are starting to get back to "normal" so to speak. Tyler goes back to school in 3 weeks and I am signing them up for fall soccer today. Hopefully Vanna will have a place in preschool by September. She has been on the waiting list for almost a year now. She needs to get out of the house for my sanity. She misses having kids to play with. It was evident when we were in NY because she has a 5 yr old cousin Erin and they played together so well. Erin even called her yesterday and they chit chatted on the cell phone....too cute.

Hard to believe the summer is gone already and this week has been the only week with summer weather - go figure. Donnie is gone as usual but on a purse hunt for me. He enjoys the thrill of wheeling and dealing overseas so who knows what he will come home with. The dogs are doing great together....Jazmine has not eaten Lily yet so I say we are on the right track. They both even jump on my bed during the night to lay in front of the fan. I don't mind but when Donnie comes back we will not have enough room so some of them will have to go.

My classes start on September 9th, so I have a few weeks left to finish my summer program. I need to get back into the swing of things because I definately think law school is going to be a challenge. My books alone for the 1st year are $800! But hopefully it will be worth it in a few years.

After being so busy in the last month I have not been running as much so this week I am getting that back on track as well. There are some races coming up in the fall that I want to run in so I need to get back in gear. I thought the time off would help my achilles tendon, but no such luck....still hurts. My neighbor asked me if I would walk with her at night so we have begun doing that. Last night was the first night. We did not go far, about 1 and a quarter miles. She has heart issues so whatever is good for her is fine. I definately don't want her falling out on one of the trails.

Not much else to report right now. Here are some pics I managed to get in the last couple of weeks. Not many of NY except the ones of the kids on horses since my camera broke.

Donnie with his girls!

This is the famous Pike's Place Fish Market where they throw the huge fish in the air. We actually saw it and it was pretty cool - I wasn't quick enough to get a pic of the fish though.

My nephew Paul after he got his "personal" sundae at Marie Callendar's restaurant. Everybody in the restaurant looked at us when they brought this huge thing to the table.

Vanna eating some roasted corn by the water at Pike's Place Market.

A view from the top of the Space Needle. If the day was clear you could see Mount Rainier in the distance.

Vanna riding on Donnie's sister's horse Razz who is a miniture horse - "Vannasize we call it"

The kids on top of a lesson horse named Monty. She was a bit impatient and would stomp her foot in the ground when she got bored.