I guess this is the "once a month" blog, and not the "once a day" blog. I keep saying that I will sit down and just write a bit, but it has really been busy here. Over the last month, we have started school/work and all the craziness that goes along with that, soccer, we've been sick with colds/stomach flu/and most likely h1n1 (Tom and I were tag teaming over about 2 weeks of sick kids, one day everyone was home but Nicholas, the only one who didn't get sick enough to stay home.) Although being back to work has been wonderful, it does mean that I am up at 5:45 to walk the dog, get everyone up and ready for school and at work by 7:30 so that I can leave by 3:15 to meet the kids when they get off the bus. I feel like I can finally take a breath when I sit down at my desk and have a quick chat with some co-workers. The day flies by (work is as crazy as home most days!) I have been in this position for about 1 1/2 years and finally feel like I know what I am doing most of the time. I work with the best group of people, I can't imagine having a more perfect position. Many of the women I work with have been here for over 25 years. LOVE IT!

So, I think I will give the "emma" update. She has really changed over the last month. (in a good way!) She got off the bus the first day and had a dreamy look on her face. She LOVES her teacher, this woman is PERFECT for Emma. The classroom is just what you would think of when you think of the word zen. "Mrs. Richardson doesn't have rules, she has expectations." Emma said this as if it were poetry. She keeps me laughing at very unexpected times. Like today at church. She insisted that she wear this headband she made at girl scouts the day before. Well, this "headband" is one that is wrapped in brightly colored pipe cleaners with two "antennae" with googly eyes glued on two pipe cleaners extending out from the headband. We finally compromised that she could wear the headband minus the googly eye pipe cleaners. Well, at church, she put this on in different positions, very subtly, of course. She whispered "mom, look, I am a draon." She had the headband going from her forehead to the nape of her neck and as she twitched her forehead, the headband wiggled up and down. I wanted to laugh out loud.

Yesterday, she and I were driving somewhere and she asked me, "Mom, which do you like worst of Dad's characteristics, his hygeine habits or his looks?" I laughed (outloud this time) and tried to change the subject and she said, "Wait a second, you didn't answer my question!" A few minutes later, she asked me if I read a book about how to give people really good insults when I was a kid. I said no, and she said, "I think I may just write one someday." She went on for about 30 seconds with this string of insults that was so funny, spontaneous and clever that I couldn't help but laugh.

Emma loves listening to RadioDisney. The singers are interview for short clips that are played during the day. Today, one of Emma's favorite singers said, "I LOVED school, what a great place to be challenged!" Emma paused and I thought she was going to say something nice. Well, not Emma, she said, "I am GUESSING that someone PAID her to say that!" Emma is just the most clever and spontaneous kid. I am hoping that she uses this power for good and not evil!

Nicholas is just as quick, except his humor is incredibly dry, like his daddy! Today, my mission was to organize winter stuff, you know, coats, hats, boots etc. (It is supposed to snow 2-4 inches tonight!) I never do a thorough job of getting things put away in the spring, thus I have to hunt in the fall. Well, after about 4 hours of hunting, off and on, I located most of our things. I came upstairs triumphantly saying that I found all the coats and Nicholas said, "Did you find your THREE pair of boots too?" He and Tom did their "guy-fist bump" in agreement, WHATEVER! (I found the BEST deal on a pair of Uggs this summer, 1/2 PRICE! I couldn't pass them up. Nicholas just couldn't understand how great a deal this was. He kept saying very innocently (with a bit of sarcasm), "But mom, they look JUST like the boots you have at home!" He has the "practical and thrifty" gene that is a clone of his dad's. His dad just knows to keep his mouth shut and smile when his wife buys a pair of boots that were just the BEST deal, even though they may look somewhat like a pair she already has at home. The end.

I spent the other 1/2 of the day cleaning out the garage so that I could park my car in it tonight, we are going to get more snow, maybe 2-4 inches. Ick. So, that is probably only about 1% of the actual goings-on at the Wallisch house, but I surely won't bore you with the other 99%.