Yet again a ridiculous amount of time between posts. We are waking the kids up in 5 hours (4:30 AM) to get on a plane to California to see grandma and Uncle Jason and nothing is packed yet except for the big kids' stuff. Ahhh, some things never change. So, I am avoiding totally by doing something totally unhelpful and irrelevant. I think Erica has this disease as well.

Bullet points:

D was chosen to be a Dalmation Puppy in the elementary school production of 101 Dalmations. Close to 200 kids auditioned for 80 parts so she was pretty ecstatic.

D also received her yellow with a green stripe belt in Tae Kwon Do last month. Lots of hard work paid off.

D rides the bus to and from school! I understand her excitement as I never had the opportunity to ride a school bus and always wanted to. Those who spent their childhoods on school buses report however, that many terrible things occur and are overheard on school buses and that she (or we) will soon learn to hate it. First example: Fellow bus stop compadre "Mikey" reports to the other children after they all notice an old lady sitting in a chair in a nearby driveway receive help from a paramedic that she had been "shot" and "robbed" and he "saw it all happen last night." Curious children have lots of questions and Mikey has answers for them all. Did he see the person shoot her? Well, he and his family go for a walk every night and they saw a guy with a knife look like he was going to rob someone and go near a house. Oh yeah...and that same lady was there. Did he call for the ambulance that theoretically is now attending to the woman 12 hours later? Well, he and his family "tried" to call the cops, but they told them they "couldn't help with that." D was hooked. I asked her to think about why the story didn't make sense. J asked her why Mikey might have said what he did. Very PC mom replies, "tell Mikey your mom thinks he full of crap." Can anyone one tell that I haven't slept much lately?

E and I started another fall season of soccer. First practice tonight was smooth - but we only have one sub for every game. Looks like we are going to get some exercise.

E declares he likes pumpkin now that he has tried the homemade cider mill pumpkin donut. J has made a resolution to go to said cider mill on a minimum weekly basis to get fresh donuts cider and a bushel of apples. We are all going to town on the apples!

L is walking, talking, signing, growing, biting and changing by the minute. She has learned to "drive a motorized Jeep which she rams into toys and furniture. She has also perfected her Evil Knievel driving method of standing on the seat and then revving up the engine for the ride.

J put baby locks on ever cabinet, but she squeezes her little arm into the small area where the lock opens just enough for a big person to disengage it. She enjoys unraveling yards of paper towel from this position as well as attacking the "treat cupboard" by wiggling each thing out by the tips of her fingers.

L can now throw a pretty good tantrum. Face to the carpet, squat down, screaming, and often biting the nearest piece of flesh which tries to approach her. Oh man.

OK, more to say, but I must pack.