Tonight's the big night - Trick or Treating! We're going with our friends the Earleys (who we went with last year) over in their neighborhood. Both kids are going to dress up as pirates, which should be pretty cute. That is, as long as Audrey's allowed to go. She's made her nice clean room into a disaster area in the last hour while she was supposed to be napping. Right now she's lying on her bed singing Happy Birthday to herself.

Things have finally calmed down some with our activities. Soccer and swim lessons are now over and all we have during the week (aside from our Thursday group) are karate lessons right after school on Thursdays until 4:15. Conner wanted to go, but when I've gotten there to pick him up all I see is him goofing around with the boys he's next to. I told him that if he wants to continue karate after this 4-week session is over then he has to start listening to the instructors and stop messing with everyone. We'll see how that goes!

He brought home his first kindergarten interim report yesterday. He got satisfactory marks in all of his subjects (language, mathematics, science, social studies) but "Other" was checked for needs help to progress and she'd made a note next to it: Classroom Behavior. These were her remarks at the bottom of the page:

"Conner is a bright and happy little boy. He knows all but 2 letter sounds in the alphabet - a most impressive accomplishment. He knows all of the sight words we have worked on and is beginning to put together sounds to read words. Conner's math skills are on target. Conner needs to work on sitting nicely at meeting and keeping his hands to himself. I am proud of Conner's efforts."

At least he's consistant! A box at the bottom of the page was marked: "A conference is requested by the teacher." I'd already scheduled for a conference (for Monday the 9th) but now I'm wondering what she's going to say! I told Conner last night that I was going to ask Mrs. Hale to put him on the colored squares when he's misbehaving (which is her way of punishing)... he said he's never been there before. (It seems as though he hasn't gotten in trouble since that first week in music class, at least according to him!)

Audrey's still goofy... I was trying to brush her hair the other morning when she was eating her cereal before school and she told me, "Leave me alone! I'm trying to eat!" Wow.

I went to see the show Rent Thursday night with some friends; Eric called as we were on our way and told me that he'd just found Audrey. He said he'd been calling and looking all over the house and couldn't find her anywhere. She finally came walking in the front door carrying her pants and panties and told him that she'd "peed down the hill" outside. She'd seen Conner doing it when we got home from school and thought she'd give it a try!

To finish up, here's a video of Conner swimming at his last lesson:

Friday mornings are a nice "break" for me. Usually Eric is home so I don't have to get the kids up, fed, and ready to head out the door at 7:30. I sleep in half an hour later than my normal 6:00 wake-up, get ready for school, then have a chance to sit and read the paper while I eat my cereal before leaving for school. It definitely makes for a nicer end of the week!

Sometimes the kids wake up before I leave, sometimes they're still snoozing. Today Conner and Audrey both came downstairs as I was sitting at the kitchen table. Aud had panties and jeans on and was carrying her (Dora) t-shirt; Conner was still in his pj's. I guess she'd woken up, took off her pj's and diaper, and gotten her panties on. Conner said he'd helped her button her jeans (but apparently she put those on by herself, too!). Says Conner, "I'm so proud of her!" Very cute.

A whole month since my last post?! I'm ashamed of myself. If it helps, though, this is a picture of our calendar from September... we definitely haven't just been sitting around!


Conner's really been enjoying school, though it takes some heavy questioning to figure out what he does all day! I've found that I have to be pretty specific with my questions and he has to be in the right mood to answer. He's started bringing home homework on Mondays that he has all week to do; Monday has typically been the only night we don't have anything, so we've gotten into a pretty good habit of doing it then.








Audrey's definitely a terrible two - she has a mind of her own and no matter how many threats or spanks she gets on her bottom, she continues to do her own thing! I guess it's good that she has some independence, but I wish she would listen better! Her most recent frustrating activity has been at bedtime. Both kids go upstairs around 8:00 to get ready for bed; lately when I've gone up to go to bed at 10:00 or later she's still awake! Last night I laid down with her, but it was probably around 11:00 before she fell asleep. It was a difficult job waking her (and Conner, for that matter!) this morning.


We had a busy weekend, especially Saturday! Conner had a soccer game at 10 (they won 2-0) then went to a friend's birthday party at 1:00. It was his first party for a school friend, which was awesome for Conner but a little boring for Mommy! After we got home found Aud sleeping on the floor in the family room (see the above picture); she woke up just about as soon as we walked in the door! After Eric did a little running around we all jumped in the car and headed to the Brown County Fair (and you have to say that with a country drawl). There were a few animals (which freaked Audrey out - she likes the idea of animals but doesn't want to get too close!) and some rides. After enjoying an elephant ear (yum!) we went over to watch the tractor pull. Conner thought it was really cool (but loud). We didn't leave the fair until after 10 and got home around 11 - Conner was sacked out in his seat in the back, but I'm sure you can imagine who was wide awake when we got there... and stayed up for a little while even after that!





We went for lunch Sunday after church to a new diner in Amelia - it just opened up. It's modeled after a 50s-style diner and is very cute!