I'm Still Here!

I know it has been a VERY long time since my last post---okay, it's been over two months. Life has been crazy to say the least. I cannot believe August and September are already gone. Those months were so jam-packed with hecticness (is that a word?) There is so much to catch up on, but I haven't a clue where to begin.

Kaitlin got her first hair cut in July. Yes, she WAS 2 and a half years old before she got her hair cut! We only trimmed it a little. Our sweet and wonderful friend, Kara, cut it for her. Kara is so great...she had Kaitlin hold a sucker while she was cutting her hair. It worked...Kaitlin was the perfect client. Check out her hand in the last picture!

School started the first week of August. It is going well. I have a really great group of kids. I am so glad there are only 21 students this year. (I started out with 24 and have already had three to transfer to other schools.) God is just taking care of me after having had 29-30 for the past two years. This makes it so much easier to work closely with the kids. It also is a big time saver as far as grading papers.

There is a different level of school stress for me this year. I have taken on the role of being a Curricular Leader for my school. I'm glad to be able to represent my school in this way, but this also means more responsibilities and more time away from my classroom. Every teacher knows how hard it is to prepare and catch up when it comes to being out for a day. Between the beginning of the year and some days planned for the rest of October and November, I've already been out of the classroom or am planning to be out eight days. I normally don't even miss that many in a whole year. Three of these days were sick days (not taken for my own sickness). So, I say all that to say that school is crazy just like the rest of life lately.

Mom and I took Kaitlin to her first county fair in August. Yes, it was the Robertson County Fair...Yes, there were lots of interesting people there. The "Carnies" (carnival workers) were among the cleanest people there! I was disappointed that Kaitlin wasn't able to ride very many rides because of her height. I guess we got spoiled at Holiday World where she was allowed to ride tons of rides. She did get to ride the ferris wheel with me, and a worker even sneaked her onto the kiddie train "just this one time". There were pony rides set up for an additional fee, so Kaitlin was able to ride those and loved it. Hopefully she'll grow 2 inches in height between now and next year's fair.

Dance classes started again in August, but we didn't sign up for this go-around. I kind of waited to the last minute to go up to the center to register her. Then, I noticed she would be missing the first two classes because of other things we had planned. Money was also a little tight because of a vacation we have planned for Fall Break. Kaitlin has asked about dance a couple of times, but she seems totally fine with not being there. God worked this one out because we now know what He had in store for the month of September (we might have made it to one class out of eight).

You all know that Scott's brother, Gary Wayne, received his heart transplant on September 11th. He is recovering very well. There are so many things I could say about this miracle, but it's not really my place to tell. Gary Wayne is planning to share his testimony at church when he is able. I will try to post when it will be so you can try to make it. It's definetly worth hearing. Oh, and if you see Kaitlin, ask her what Uncle Wayne got and where he got it.

We went to Scott's ten year reunion at the end of September. It's hard to believe that ten years have gone by. I really dreaded going, but had a good time once I got there. It was nice to catch up with some people we hadn't seen in a while. It's amazing to talk with our old classmates who have children around the same age as Kaitlin. They'll begin going to school together in just 2 years!

Kaitlin was sick last night with a stomach virus. She was sick with this past Monday night as well, but from what I'm hearing from other people this virus seems to go away and then comes right back within a few days. She is still running a low-grade fever, but is playing hard. We stayed home together today. It's been nice to rest and catch up on things around the house.

We have just one more week of school before Fall Break. I really need some time off (and so do my students). We are going to Disney World on Sunday. I'm just hoping everyone is healthy by then so we can enjoy it. It's going to be so much fun to see Kaitlin meet Mickey and friends. If you've been around her much, you know she is in love with Mickey and the whole gang. (She just asked me to turn Mickey on for her on the TV!) We have some really neat things planned, so hopefully I'll post pictures on here in a TIMELY manner.

I hope everything I wrote makes sense! I've covered a lot of ground.

Thanks for reading!!!