O.K, so we're a month or so late posting these, but as I mentioned we've been busy! They don't have to wear uniforms for the first two weeks, and we hadn't picked our new uniforms up yet. Logan was obsessed with his new Scooby-Doo light-up shoes, which is why he is holding them up in some of the pics.

Logan did really great the first two days of school (he goes Tues. and Thurs. mornings), but cried for a month after that when George dropped him off. The teachers said he calmed down once George left. Now he can't wait to get to school - he has a friend, Dhruvie (short for Dhruvak), that he talks about all the time. I am room parent for Logan's class and spent the better part of this weekend shopping for, planning, and making things for his class Halloween party. Luckily, he only has 8 kids in his class. His teacher, Ms. Melanie, is awesome - she is from Germany and also speaks French (she teaches Kayleigh French once a week). She loves to take pictures of the kids and made a website for all the parents of her class to see their kids - she really goes above and beyond!

Kayleigh is doing great in school - she has lots of friends and a really great teacher, Ms. Kimberly (Ms. Kim's daughter is in Logan's class). She has spelling lists every week and a spelling test every Friday - two perfect tests so far! There are 14 kids in her class (that is great for first grade)! I am co-room parent with another mom in Kayleigh's class and also have been planning her party - having another mom to share the burden has really helped! I had to do some shopping for her party this weekend as well - last weekend was spent making the kid's Halloween costumes. George has been busy completing his final exam for his accounting class - it is take-home, but extremely lengthy and involved. With the two of us so busy, I won't even tell you what our house looks like!

At our house the first day of school:













Kayleigh was a little nervous once we got there - it was hard to get her to smile.




Logan (and George) jumped right in and started playing!

Well, you probably missed all the pics of the kids anyway, so I will catch you up on everything you missed in August. I forgot how busy the back to school season is. This year, not only was Kayleigh going back to school, but Logan is going two mornings a week in the preschool program, plus George and Farrah are finally going back to school to finish up our degrees - we each go an evening a week. Not to mention all the parties and back to school nights and volunteering at the kid's school, plus work and two dogs and I could keep going. Anyway, heres the pics:

Some pics of the pond and our gardens:









This is one of my all-time favorite pics of the kids:


Logan accompanied George and I to a recycling equipment show in PA, where one of our excavators was being used for demonstrations.


He was exhausted afterwards:


George took Kayleigh to the Raven Simone concert at the state fair, and afterward they rode a couple rides!

... and Never Forgive. I do not like the trend of Americans forgetting the horrors of 9/11 and bowing to the politically and islamically correct groups and individuals who wish to open our borders to the threat of terrorism, dismantle the government's ability to spy on terrorists (I don't get the people who freak out over the Patriot Act - if you're not doing anything wrong, nobody will bother you, and I sleep better at night knowing we are keeping tabs on the bad guys), forbid racial profiling for terrorists, and those that would like to cut and run from our war on terror.

Remember the innocent children who thought they were going on vacation, but instead were sent to their deaths. Remember the workers who were earning a living for themselves and their families. Remember those at the Pentagon who died in service to this country. Remember the widows and children and families who were left without their loved ones, who were left to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to go on. Remember the people in the towers who jumped to their deaths rather than be trapped in a burning inferno. Remember the first responders who rushed into the towers and perished there, selflessly helping others. And also remember the hordes of people who volunteered to do search and rescue, who lined up to give blood, who handed out water to rescue workers, and the construction workers who rebuilt the pentagon in record time. Remember those who have died in service to our country in Afghanistan and Iraq. Remember the bad and the good. And most importantly, remember who and what it was that carried out the 9/11 attacks. And vow to yourself to never let it happen again.

I don't mean to politicize a tragedy by reminding everyone about voting. But it is important. The candidates we choose will help shape the future direction of this country. The economy, the environment, and all the other issues are important. But they will mean nothing if there is no America as we know it left. And they will mean nothing if we can't sleep at night for fear of being attacked. Vote with your head, but also your heart. And don't forget what happened 5 years ago when you are standing at the poll booth.

Good 9/11 links:

Michelle Malkin remembers and always gets it right.

Here is an unusual and powerful tribute.

Peggy Noonan has a powerful piece.

This is for all the moonbat conspiracy theorists out there.

Is there a waiting list yet? I love this - I hope it's real and not just talk of bringing it back. I had two camaros in my "teens" and would love another one. Even though I drive a Scion XB, I still love cars. I only got rid of my Prelude because I was tired of putting money into it and never driving it, oh and being screwed over by everyone who ever worked on it. This camaro won't need any work or modifications though. And Logan will be able to get in and out of his carseat on his own, so that won't be an issue ... yeah, my heart is already set on this!

We had just gotten Niche and Pumpkin (they were just baby kittens), Kayleigh was only 2 (and considerably less mouthy), and I had not started getting Pebbles clipped yet, and her long hair looks beautiful! Here's pics of Kayleigh, Pebbles, and Niche napping in June 2002; Pumpkin was in bed somewhere, but she's not in the pic.







And here is a pic of Kayleigh from October 2002 - I can't believe how much she's grown!

The koi has gotten huge! We have only had him for a year. We have had our "original" goldfish (Kayleigh won him at a carnival when she was 2) for 4 years; the koi has far surpassed him in size. He/She's really pretty too! We also have baby goldfish this year (we suspect that we have had them before, but they probably got eaten - the pond has had alot of algae this year because of the heat, so they probably had good places to hide). We can count about 7-8, but we're not sure. Most are just orange, but a couple are orange/red and black. We like our pond; there is always something going on in there.

Ha Ha! Another Kayleigh pic.

George and Kayleigh went on a field trip with her camp (she's doing Summer Adventures Learning Camp through her school this summer) last Thursday to "Pirate Adventures on the Chesapeake." It was part of their Disney Voyage theme, which mainly focused on the Pirates of the Carribean movie. Friday, George and Kayleigh went to see the movie. They both love really scary movies, and Kayleigh asked if she could see Lady In The Water. Here are some pics from the field trip:

Logan recently enjoyed his morning doughnut, in bed of course, while he watched his cartoons (no - we don't feed them doughnuts in bed everyday).

There was a fire over the weekend here in Eburg. Two people (a elderly man and his adult son) died in the fire. First, they didn't have a working smoke detector, which is terribly stupid. Second, there was so much stuff in the house (they were pack-rats) that it made the fire spread quicker and made it very difficult for firefighters to get to the victims - by the time they pulled them out, it was too late. Most people that know me know how I feel about clutter - I hate it! I do not like knick-knacks everywhere or saving things because someone gave them to you or because they belonged to a dead relative. Most people put all these "special" items in the basement, or under piles of stuff somewhere. If it is not "special" enough for you to use and display, what's the point of keeping it? And other people seem to like to give these "clutter collectors" more of the same (usually cheap and tacky) crap. Or, other people tend to unload things they no longer want onto clutter hounds. I mean, getting rid of most of my Mom's stuff wasn't easy, but I was happy to donate it or give it to someone who could use it. Even now, 9 years since she died, I will find something I kept of hers, realize I haven't used it, or it's just not my style, and decide to give it a way. It's even hard for me to go through all of Kayleigh's artwork and toss it, but if I kept everything she did, we would have a fire hazard. I don't really get the whole keeping greeting cards forever thing either. I only keep ones from my kids or from George, and even they are accumulating quicker than I like. The point is, you keep a FEW special items and donate / give away / toss the rest. After reading about that fire, it made me wonder if people who keep all that crap really ever think about the problems it can cause.

Everyone who has been to our house has surely seen Kayleigh's pink and purple "princess" bedroom - because she insists on giving everyone the tour.






Well, you may also remember that she had sort-of an improvised closet, because we lost the closet in her bedroom when we did the upstairs bath remodel. She really needed an actual closet.

Logans room was painted two shades of blue, with a castle mural on one wall. Logan likes trucks, train, airplanes, and anything with wheels. Not super-crazy about castles. Also, the light blue that was on most of the walls was just too babyish now that he's a "big boy."

Kayleigh likes castles, and she is OK with light blue. So we switched them. We painted Kayleigh's old room "relaxed khaki" for Logan. We basically kept his old room the same for her, but added lots of pink and puple accessories and integrating a fairy theme (she's starting to phase out the Disney Princess stuff). I will update the mural to make the castle look less gray and boy-ish. Her off-white furniture looks really good with the light blue paint. When both rooms are completely finished, I will post photos. Right now, I am still waiting on window treatments for Logan's room, and still need to add more accessories to both rooms.

This just proves that the world is going to hell. Can you imagine asking around the office or asking family members to sponsor you for this?

Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary (wonder if anyone has lost a bet). So, I thought some photo flashbacks were in order. Lets go back to July 17th, 1999 ...

I still miss Bam-Bam, even after 4 years. Pebbles of course has one ear folded back as always. I seriously considered putting them in the wedding. Dad looks great!



I love this picture. It's hard to believe Karen (my sister) is no longer with us. Anyway, I don't think I have any adult pics of Karen and I outside of the wedding pics.



Georgie looked so handsome. And his mom looked beautiful.



Ace was still young and frisky when we got married and he had a great time running around (and continually stepping on my dress train). All day and evening you could hear calls of "can someone get the dog?"



We looked hot (and we actually were hot - it was around 98 degrees)!


I loved that cake (made for me by Aunt Faye) with the fresh flowers. The cake topper still has a little smudge of chocolate on it from the chocolate cake!


More kissing.


The wedding party. From left to right: Jessica - don't know what happened to her. Mandy - Georgie's cousin, doing great just finished her master's degree. My cousin Diana - doing good, just saw her the other day. My sister Karen - dead, murdered just over 2 years ago. Gretchen - my best friend from high school, doing great, curator at Mt. Vernon. You know how Georgie and I are. Jeremy - Married for one year, just bought a house in PA. Ben - married for two years, just had a baby girl! My brother Al - doing great, see him almost every day at work. Forrest's orange hair sort-of jumps out at you - we don't talk to him anymore. Tony - divorced, four-year old daughter, climbing the Kinko's IT ladder. My dad, of course is doing well. All the kids are good, I can't believe how cute and little they are here!


I love this pic, but Jer seems a little angry - maybe he was just nervous about his upcoming toast, which he pulled off brilliantly. The term "oratorical fireworks" comes to mind.



Blair took his duty to put on the garter very seriously. We had to tell the little kids to look away.


Megan, Carley, and Gretchen. For some reason the photographer mostly took pics of the young attractive female guests. None of Georgie's friends.


It was definitely not a traditional wedding - no church, I didn't ride in the limo there (Dad drove me in his corvette), full tuxes in 90 degree weather outside in the sun, crazy doberman running around, many guests ended up fully clothed in the pool / many guests ended up naked in the pool, the keg ended up in the pool, and fireworks. It was cool though, and I wouldn't change much except that I would have chosen my photographer better, would have remembered the damn guest book, and would have remembered to use the napkins I had ordered (we will definitely be having a anniversary party one year so we can use those napkins - I still have two boxes full). Oh, and it would have been nice if my mom was there, but unfortunately, I couldn't change that no matter how much I would want to. A lot of people say "she was looking down that day" If so, I hope she didn't see all the drunk, naked people in the pool - she definitely would not have approved :)

If anybody has anything cool they remember that day, please email me - if it's ok, I will post the story. There was so much going on, that I am sure there are details I can't remember, and some things I never got to see or hear!

Kayleigh loves all holidays and we try to match her outfits to them. This is the dress she generally wears for memorial day, the 4th, and labor day. As you can see, Logan was not happy - we had just left Granddad's farm, and he was pretty mad about it, and overly tired. He cheered up pretty quickly, though. His outfit was the best I could find for him in a patriotic theme. They have come a long way with boy's outfits, but there is hardly any selection for the fourth, while there is tons of girl outfits in patriotic themes. At least he doesn't seem to care what he is wearing most of the time. He has started to point out to me that certain clothing items are "cool".