It's Great to be Eight!

Jack had a great birthday! Sunday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came over to celebrate. The brought a birthday cookie for him. Unfortunately, my goal to get a picture of the grandparents and Jack did not happen. They are often on the back side of the camera.

Monday, after school, Jack had a few friends over. Daddy took the guys bowling and then they came back here for dinner and cake. From left to right: Sam P., Isaac, Jack, and Sam J..

Jack wanted a Hot Wheels cake. I was happy with how it turned out so was Jack!

We finally have some family pictures with all 6 of us. It's been a very long time since we've had a family picture. Our friend, Jill is a wonderful photographer (hoping to one day make it her career) so she generously took our family pictures. We went in the woods on a beautiful fall morning.







It's not easy to get 4 kids to all look at the camera and to smile. Ella Jane saw a chipmunk and no longer had any interest in pictures. Despite challenging subjects, I think Jill did a great job photographing our family.

It's a Girl!

Just when we thought our family was complete a new little girl came into our life. Her name is Nessa. She is a 2 month old blue-point Siamese (probably a little tabby in her too). She's a sweet cat.



I found Nessa in a nearby parking lot. I tried getting her one night with no luck, went back a second night with no luck. But, the third time was a charm! She was skiddish at first, but got over that as soon as she was inside a warm house with good food, no more eating out of the Taco Bell dumpster!

For those of you wondering where the name comes from it's a Character from the Book/Musical "Wicked". Nessa is the sister of the main character. Actually, Nessa is the Wicked Witch of the East (you know, the one who had the house dropped on her -- but she was deeply misunderstood).


As you can imagine the kids are thrilled! Isabelle keeps saying, "I can't believe I have a kitten". Isabelle has been calling all her friends to come meet Nessa.


She's very playful. But, all that playing can wear one out. On the left she had fallen asleep right in the middle of chasing that string. The kids give her a good workout. She is the perfect balance of cuddly and playful.


Nessa is unbelievably tolerant. She lets the kids pick her up, carry her around, and generally just obsess over her. I think she's going to fit well into our crazy household.

Oh, and isn't she adorable!

New School Year = Changes

Fourth grade has been a big deal for Isabelle. It means science projects, geometry, long division, and BAND! Isabelle is now a flute player. She's just thrilled to have her new instrument. It's just the start but I'm sure there will be some out-of-tune concerts in our future!


Poor Patrick has had a rough adjustment to afternoon pre-school. At least a couple times a week I find him sleeping somewhere around the house before 6:30 p.m. This particular day he pulled pillows and blankets off my bed and crashed. I woke him only to get his jammies on him and put him in bed. His eyes hardly opened. But, aside from being a little sleepy he's having a wonderful school year. His teacher and all of his therapists have seen big improvement and big changes in him!