Um. . .Hello again

Sorry about the incredibly lengthy blog break.  My life has been going a thousand miles an hour.  I have literally had no down time since July.  This summer was spent traveling to Utah, back to Kansas, then to New York and back.  In between those trips, I was interviewed and hired at a new school.  When I got back from New York I had just enough time to set up my new classroom before school started.  

I have spent the last several months working, sewing my sister's wedding dress, and coaching volleyball.  The first quarter is over, the wedding is over, and the volleyball season is almost over.  I can almost breathe again!  I have another wedding dress to complete in the next three weeks and then my life will once again be my own.  I can't wait!

In the midst of all that craziness, we got a new dog.  Our beagle had a hard time this summer, with us traveling so much, and my long work hours weren't making things better.  To try to help her feel more secure (and head off some terrible habits she was forming) we got a companion for her.  Napoleon is a young dachshund.  He is such a good dog and he and Penelope have become fast friends.  His crazy-long body makes me laugh.  He tries to walk under Penleope sometimes and she gets stuck on him--hilarious!  (It obviously doesn't take much to make me laugh).

S. is turning into such a big kid!  I can hardly believe that he is almost two.  He talks so much and is so independent.  He has started picking out his own clothes.  Last week, he was wearing grey socks and I had to change them because he wanted to wear red ones instead.  Today, we had to change his jeans for a pair of overalls, and he wanted to wear those darn red socks again.  They are almost too small and I can't find a replacement pair anywhere!  He is constantly bossing the dogs around, telling them to get down and yelling "no!" at them.  He loves to help me cook (he helped make pancakes today), and loves to snuggle and read.  

He had so much fun playing with his cousins at Libby's wedding.  S. is such a gregarious, warm-hearted child.  I