What family photos?!?

Hey everyone! It has been awhile. I hope that everyone hasn't abandoned me yet. Right now, I'm sitting at my breakfast bar ALONE! It ha been awhile since I've has alone time in my own house. It is 8:05am and I can hear Madelyn stirring in her room but she hasn't come out yet. Greyson is sleeping, as is Ben. I'm sure that things will start buzzing with kids soon, but for this moment it is nice to have some quiet. Quiet is something we don't get much of these days. Ben goes between calling Madelyn a freight train and an elephant. The girl just doesn't have a volume knob - it is all or nothing with that girl! Greyson gets the short end of that deal because while he wants to take his morning nap, Madelyn has trouble remembering to keep it down. However, he and Madelyn take their afternoon naps at the same time so that is good. I am so glad that she is such a happy and active girl though. At school (daycare), she was just moved up to the Preschool class. This mixes her with the other 3 and 4 year olds. She *loves* it!! It is amazing how excited she gets about going and how happy she is when she comes home. I love that she loves it. Being a part of this class, the teachers ask that we bring in a small list of specific things. They are all reasonable and somewhat cute. One of these things is a a framed family picture. They send this 4x6 sized wooden frame home to decorate and provide a family picture for. Awesome idea!...but.... I can't find a recent family picture.... I know we took one at Christmas time, but come on, that was almost a year ago! And I can find *loads* of pictures of one of us parents with one or both kids but none with both Ben and I in it. Oh well, I guess that will be something that I will have to get this weekend. Maybe we will set the camera up on the tripod tonight so that we can take a quick picture before church tomorrow morning.

Ben and the kids after his table saw arrived.

About this new class thing, though, I'm wondering if I'm setting us up for a fall. You see, I love this class that she is in right now. It is *so* organized and you can tell that the teachers have put a lot of thought into their approach with the kids. The issue is that in two weeks I'm going to pull her out of this class. Why you ask? On November 1st I will be starting the kids in a new daycare that is actually located in the building that I work in. My work group moved to a new building that my company just built and they built a daycare in too. That will be very convenient but.... I have nagging concerns about moving Madelyn. She seems so happy in this new classroom and then to, first of all, pull her out of it and, second, move her to a class that hasn't really had time to get settled and figure out what they are doing. It seems like we could be trading having Madelyn in the better learning/fun atmosphere for convenience. But I think I've made a decision. I am going to stick with my plans and keep Madelyn in the new center until at least Christmas time (about two months). That will make Madelyn, Ben, and I give this new room a chance. Then, we'll re-evaluate and maybe move Madelyn back if we feel like the trade-off isn't worth it. I'm pretty sure that we can get her back in the first class at that time.....

By the way, I'm not worried about Greyson because I know his new teacher. She was Madelyn's 1-yr-old teacher and I love her! She moved over to the new center and I'm so glad that she did!

Aunt Liz came to visit last weekend - Yea!

If you did the math or looked at the calendar, you probably noticed that I left out about a three week gap between taking the kids out of old classes and starting them in the new classes. I'll be taking vacation and it will be me and the kids at home. I'm so excited! I've got a few projects lined up and can't wait to spend the extended time with them!