New York, NY

I'm headed to Manhattan early tomorrow morning to spend the weekend with my sister. It's my first time being there... a lot to do in a weekend! See you next week!

Pets I can handle... (Updated)

...but not literally. On Saturday, Ben suggested we get some fish. I said, "As long as I don't have to take care of them." So we borrowed an aquarium and aerator from a friend and went to wallie-world to get fish and fish food.

Greyson picked out a black finned goldfish and named it "Black Boots". I guess you could said that he is living out his pirate dreams right now. He has a fascination right now with pirates and has told us that he wants to be one for Halloween. I guess I'm gonna have to start thinking on that one.

I picked a calico fantail and, with Ben's help, named it "Calista". You see, I'm the WORST about naming things. You can tell from most of the kids stuffed animals' names - Pinkie, Blue Bear, and Dollie, to name a few. Madelyn tried to encourage me by saying that I picked a great name for her, but unfortunately I can't take credit for her name either, that was all Ben too!

Madelyn picked a white goldfish with a big read dot on its head and named her "Redhead". She seems to have inherited my naming dysfunction. But she does have an eye for pretty things!

And Ben? He picked a run-of-the-mill all gold goldfish and named it Bubba. Unfortunately, Bubba didn't make it 24 hours. It is a good thing that we warned the kids on the way home that one or more of the fish may die by accident....

I have a feeling that the fish could be a source for good entertainment in the days to come!

UPDATE:
On 9/22/2009, Black Boots also passed on.... but the kids didn't even notice! Yet anyway. Note to self - get our next batch of fish from a pet store instead of wallie-world.

"Baby Isaac's come out!"

Greyson has been calling Isaac out of his Aunt Christina's belly for about a week now. Well, as of 12:30am today, Isaac Aiden Ritter made his first appearance, weighing in at 8 lb 4 oz and roughly 21 inches in length. WooHoo! We love you, Aunt Christina, Uncle Brandon, and Isaac!

Your State Fair "Tord"

Greyson, isn't this a sweet picture?  You and your most beloved things - your fuzzy blanket, blue bear, and your new "tord" from the state fair.  I guess reading about a prince with a sword wasn't enough, you had to be one!

Closet Framing

Tonight Ben and I will be building a closet in our guest room (which is currently a sea of tools, concrete floor, and studs). We weren't sure exactly how to go about it but I found this url today and I think it will help quite a bit! Bob Vila's the greatest!

UPDATE (9/21/09):
It took us a week longer to finish getting the closet framed than we expected but now it is done! Getting the framing done was actually quite simple. The hold-up was getting a bunch of prep work done around the closet framing, like placing studs for the upcoming sheetrock job (which we are NOT doing!). Here are before pictures (post-demo) and after pictures (taken this morning). We think the room is ready for sheetrockers now and we're hoping to get that part done in the next couple of weeks. We have a another window and a door to install, then the floor (woodlike snap-together laminate) and trim work will be next. When this is all done, I might like it so much that it might become the master bedroom instead of the guest bedroom!

First Day of Kindergarten

Madelyn had her first day of kindergarten today! She had been apprehensive for the last couple of weeks, but today she was only excited. PTL! Madelyn got up and did her "Four" with only a couple of reminders, ate her breakfast, and had 20 MINUTES left before her bus was supposed to come. WOW! I'm hoping and praying the upcoming mornings run as smoothly... As for me and my getting ready this morning, it went very well too. I'm hoping and praying that I do as well in the upcoming mornings as well...



We went outside to watch Madelyn's bus to make sure we knew which one it was. Good thing we did too! If we had wanted to put her on it, she would have missed it! We didn't know this was it until it had picked up an older boy and gone on it's way! (Take note of Ben's look - "Is this her bus?") She will ride it tomorrow though.



When we got to school, Madelyn stood outside in a line of kindergarten and 1st graders until the school bell rang and then she led us to her classroom (which she learned at the Open House). Her teacher, Ms.H, met her in the hallway and they both happy to see each other.



The obligatory teacher/student picture... Ms.H seems to have a very organized and structured room, which I appreciate VERY much! She hit it off very well with Madelyn at the Open House too and that made the transition this morning much easier!



Madelyn signing her name on the attendance list.



We took Madelyn to school, but she got to ride home on the bus! And she came off with a smile! I was so excited to see her and hear all about her day!



Grandpa was also excited to greet her home for her first day of kindergarten. It was so special to have GaGa and Grandpa here for this special day!



When I asked Madelyn what her favorite part of the day was, her answer, "Recess time."

Time with Family

Additional State Fair Outing 2009

This is a Saturday outing to the State Fair and was ONLY done out of love for family! Too CrAzY for us! We did have fun though (and all took naps when we got home!).

PS - we were also able to meet Liz's boyfriend's parents and godparents during this trip to the fair. They were a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to potentially spending more time with them in the future.

Madelyn's Trip to Duluth with GaGa and Grandpa

Kindergarten

Madelyn will be starting kindergarten in one short week. I think she is ready. I have a couple of reservations about it, none of which is her social or academic ability. However, I'm confident that with God's help we can work through the kinks without much issue. The last couple of weeks I have been a bit of worry-wart over the whole thing though. Regardless, I am excited for Madelyn and this new chapter of life that she is about to embark on.

We will be going to her class's open house tomorrow evening. There we will meet her teacher and see her classroom. I just can't believe that the time for her to start kindergarten is here already! Madelyn has been practicing getting her "Four" done in the morning - make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair (I can't tell you how many times I've said these four things in the past two weeks...) It will be my turn to practice tomorrow, Friday, and Tuesday. I'll be practicing getting up early enough to get myself ready, get Madelyn up and working on her Four, getting her fed, and out the door by 7:20am. Seeing that we, as a family, normally start rolling out of bed at 7:30ish, this could be an interesting change of events. In my case, it is going to take enormous amounts of willpower. :) I will be sure to post a first day picture of the schoolgirl.

State Fair 2009

This year we went to the State Fair on our usual day, The Tuesday before Labor Day, when it isn't SO crowded and we are able to get our usual things done. However, this was one the days that Madelyn was gone to Duluth with GaGa and Grandpa. So Greyson got a day out alone with Mom and Dad. He LOVED it! (As you'll see, we took another trip to the state fair several days later that Madelyn enjoyed too.)