Finally....

The Eilering girls at college. Have already heard a report that the younger one sleeps earlier than the older one. :o) Have fun girls.

Today is the day Blake will hopefully get his license so he can drive like all the other juniors. He was 16 on June 1, but his class got caught in the new regulation, so everyone is behind getting their driving privileges. So I will watch the daycare, and Momma Carrie and Baby Blake (oops I said I was not going to call him that again) will be off around 1:30 to take the driving part. If he gets that right, he's on the road alone, folks. And since he has been driving the family van with family in tow, for about 9 months now, I think he is ready. If there is ever really such a thing as that. So go for it Blake!

Nolan is going to preschool this week--Thursday and Friday mornings. Looking forward to watching this unfold. Just hope he doesn't take anybody down on the playground or in the classroom when he feels a certain injustice occurring....like somebody taking their turn BEFORE it's their turn! He is a strong, tall, powerful 3 year-old, and I do think being in preschool will be a great experience for him. Carrie has been teaching him how to spell his name, as well as some vital statistics you'd want every little one to know if they are going to be out of your care....like where do you live, who are your parents, when is your birthday, etc. I thought I'd be helpful by reviewing the info with him. When I got to "When is your birthday?", he answered, "Which one?" Of course sister Hannah was at the ready to instruct her brother that he only has ONE birthday, and it is on October 13. So heads up Blessed Sacrament....the Nolan train is comin' through. :o)

Mario has begun school as a sophomore religion teacher and loves it so far. He still has one freshman Spanish class, but the rest of the day is devoted to spiritual matters. The students do seem responsive from what he has told me. And the ISD job is in full swing too.

I am doing some work at church--making a small presentation along with another parishioner to the parish leadership on Thursday. So I will be preparing for that in the next few days. This kind of word makes me happy.

My big achievement for the weekend was getting the toy/computer room reorganized so there is room to walk and play and pull out the trundle without having to move half the things out of the room. The floor closet has become a big toy box, and when they are through, they can just shove everything back in there! That should make clean-up easy!

I watched two movies over the weekend that I enjoyed: Doubt with Meryl Streep and 2 other talented actors, and the film made about Harvey Milk played by Sean Penn. It is called "Milk." Both films are well cast and acted, and they raise consciousness about a couple of important issues.

Chico gets his last shots tomorrow and then should be good for a romp in the fenced dog park. They have two sections, one for the big dogs and one for the little ones. We have not been able to let Chico run without the leash because he is so fast and will run as fast as he can in the opposite direction. I can't catch him, and Mario has to use his best tricks to get him to come back. So for now at least, he stays on the leash and runs only as fast as we can keep up. He does get in a fair amouny of running around the house. I believe the term for it is "the Bichon Blitz." He does that plenty of times to get his energy out. Then he sleeps like a baby for a couple of hours. Still fun and makes us laugh and laugh.