Ugh.

Oh, where to begin...  The first two weeks of school were insane, of course.  But I could feel all the prayers (thank you!!), especially on that first day!  On top of that, a furry member of our family said goodbye to this world and went on to Kitty Heaven.  It was a horrible decision to make and the vet made me feel awful ("Don't you want to do x-rays? We have medicine that can fix that..." etc.  Yeah...because I want to extend his misery longer than 12 yrs!), but I truly think it was the right thing to do for Samson and for our family.  He was pretty pitiful on his last day, so it was honestly a relief.  It felt like I was at the vet for an eternity--at least three hours--but when I came back to reality with an empty carrier, I looked at the clock in my car and somehow I'd only been inside for 45 minutes.  Talk about emotionally draining!  And then the first thing Reid said when I came home was, "Mommy home!  Samson home!"  Sorry, kiddo, it's the end of an era.

 Since then, Dixie has received the full brunt of Reid's "attention."  We have had a little trouble getting Reid to walk (rather than run full force) toward the cats, to use a quiet voice (he insists on screaming this annoying high-pitched shriek), and to be gentle.  So understandably, Dixie is not Reid's biggest fan.  Samson put up with it pretty well until the last two weeks...  Other than that, Dixie has been extra friendly and demands a lap to sit on anytime Reid is not in sight.

School is finally settling into a groove this week.  It is nice to not have morning duty, lunch duty, recess duty, AND after school duty every. single. day.  And we finally started work stations, so our day is more "normal".  I am overall impressed so far...I have some great kiddos, nice group of parents who volunteer and donate needed items, and have been pleasantly surprised with things that are usually awful...like our first trip to the computer lab on Friday--normally a complete nightmare (think logging kindergarteners in with a six digit username and 'redfish' as the password--twice--just to get to Istation!!) but I was so proud of them!  And my little friend this year with no arms, just born with a "nubbie" (1/3 of her upper arm), has amazed me.  She can write and color with her feet/toes.  I have a feeling we will all learn as much from her as she learns from me :)  I haven't been able to help her nearly enough with 17 other little bodies to help, but I'm hoping for more help one of these days, especially since we've now totally delved into academic stuff and even have progress reports coming out already next week!

On top of all of this, Reid is sick.  Not sure if it's a cold, virus, croup, beginnings of something else...Holli had to call me at school to let me know his temperature was headed up and the coughing was awful.  I have survived on an average of 2-3 hours of sleep for the past 3 nights, so part of me is kind of relieved that we will both be home tomorrow.  Getting sub plans ready so fast was not relieving, though, and I have no idea who my sub will be--always a scary thought in kindergarten.  That's one of the worst parts about teaching.  When you have to be out, it takes waaaay more planning than if you're actually there :(

On Sunday, I wanted to make a cute, special picture to send all the grandparents via email or Facebook, but SOMEone didn't feel like obliging.  This was the best we could do after two hours, and yes...not exactly anywhere near what I had in mind. 

 Reid was awful that afternoon and totally wore us out.  So it's more of a happy belated Grandparent's Day, but I hope you at least enjoy some of the pics.  We love you, Grandma Penny, Papa, Mamere, Grammy, and Grumpy!  Reid prayed for each one of you that night and we are thankful for your love!!

Most of the attempted pictures were blurry from being unintentional action shots, but this one was pretty darn cute.  He kept at that speed for a full two hours.  Jason and I realized that we are very out of shape!

 A rare moment where he actually stood still...

 And then it was off to other fun things like stripping leaves off of the trees...

Or inspecting crab apples...

And Daddy finally convinced him to hold hands while we hiked back to find the stroller.

Is this really our two year old??  I know he was in the 97th percentile in height at his two year checkup, but he looks more like most three year olds!  Growing way too fast, but we are very thankful.

 But a happy note in the past couple of weeks would be our first family visit to Marble Slab.  Reid was soooo excited about the "candies" (he loves M&M's) that he didn't mind the ice cream too much.  And he even enjoyed pieces of my waffle bowl (dipped in chocolate, of course!).  We all had a yummy treat and loved watching Reid run around and look at all the cakes, ice cream, and mix-ins.  Next time, we'll have to try gelato ;)