Catching up

Sorry, I've been on an extended blog-vacation. No reason, just got addicted to Facebook and now spend most of my computer time on there. The rest of that time is spent on extremely interesting things like online bill paying and household budgeting. Such a freak!

What's been going on with us:

Abby can ride her bike without training wheels, too. She actually learned two weekends after Ryley did. The girls also spend a lot of time using their SmartCar as a street luge. Our house is on a corner, and the lot slopes down from the front corner, making a really nice street luge course out of our sidewalk. It's scary to watch, but nobody's been turned into hamburger yet.

The girls spent most of their summer hanging out with Granny and Papa, with some intermittent time at Nana & Papaw's and in Harrisburg with Papa. It went by entirely too fast, and I cannot believe that fall is here already. I'm still wondering where April went.

Hannah started the fourth grade. She's close to five feet tall. She's headed swiftly into the age of braces on the teeth (probably next year), boys (hopefully not), and caring what other people think about her. I'm seeing some pre-PMS behavior too. Yikes. She's going to be a level 6 gymnast this year, which means more flips and more practices. She's still got abs of steel.

Ryley started Kindergarten. She was so excited, asked to go every day from the moment we registered her in June... made it a whole week before she decided going to school every day wasn't as cool as she thought, because now she can't have Granny days. She lost her first tooth a few weeks ago, and is very close to losing another one. She will likely change from recreational gymnastics to competitive this year (developmental team - level 4). She's also huge. I forget that she's only five (almost 6) a LOT.

Abigail has entered a new stage of her life - life without Ryley. She's flying solo at preschool now, and honestly it was pretty hard on her for a week or two. Granted, those two are only 15 months apart, and have been together virtually 24/7 since she was born. I did think it was rather funny since those two bicker most of the time they're together anyway. She still remains the most likely one of our children to be featured on a "COPS" episode at some point in her adult life. She is a busy, sneaky, wiley little girl. Earlier this week, her trifling let to the third call to Poison Control in our parenting history after she (likely) ingested seven children's cold and cough medicine dissolving strips and hid the evidence under the (cool) iron in our bathroom. Scary part is we didn't find them until the next day. Apparently seven is well within an acceptable range of cold and cough strips. I then question why the dosage on the back says one strip for her weight??

Mike and I have been working, mostly, and chasing the girls around. We're home about three hours a day during the week, during which time homework, supper, and baths must be scrunched. That really is about all we do. Weekends are reserved for the highly entertaining tasks of laundry, general cleaning, and/or sleeping. We're a fascinating bunch, I know.

Next up: Adult trip to New Orleans, just for the heck of it. Should be exhausting, but a lot of fun!