Fall Overview

Today is the first day of Fall.  It's my very favorite season.  I just love the chill in the air, the cozy feeling of a sweater in the morning, the availability of pumpkin spiced coffee, the changing leaves.  I don't enjoy the shorter days or the hectic schedule that comes with the back to school scene. 

This year both girls are in full-time school.  Julia started third grade and she is getting so very mature.  She is turning into a bookworm and devouring books at an astonishing rate.  It makes my heart sing to catch her cuddled up on the couch with a book in her hand or have her beg to stay up a few more minutes so she can read just a little bit more.  She still has a silly side and is allowing that to come out in public more often.  It's nice that she is letting the world see a bit more of her captivating personality instead of saving it for home.  This year she continues her Irish dancing and is adding in violin lessons at school.  Seeing her leave two mornings a week with her backpack and her violin makes me smile - it's a seriously cute site!

Emma is in first grade at our local elementary school.  She has a great team helping her succeed in a mainstream setting.  Some days are going great, some days she isn't interested in participating.  That is our Emma.  With the exception of her speech therapist her entire team is new.  Emma takes a LONG time to adjust to new people.  I'm praying that she starts to settle in soon and show them what she knows.

I continue to focus on getting myself in the best shape of my life and that means I've been running and taking classes at my gym more often than not.  With the girls back in school it leaves me some free time each day to get in a workout.  I'm even strongly considering doing a triathalon with Emma in May.  That gives me more than enough time to prepare.  Emma loves joining me in my workout sessions.  She is a great little motivator when it would be easier to cut a workout short.  I also have a neighbor who joins me for the evening and weekend workouts.  I love having a partner to workout with as it pushes us both to go a bit further or faster or workout on a day we would rather skip.  

We purchased a new bike trailer for Emma and she loves it!  I'll do a review on it soon, but for those who are wondering it is the Chariot Cougar I and a link for it is here:  http://www.rei.com/product/867690/thule-chariot-cougar-1-stroller-with-strolling-kit. The verdict is still out on how long it will be before she outgrows it, but it is working for now.  I'm planning on doing a 20 mile bike ride to fund raise for Cystic Fibrosis in a few weeks and was hoping to trail her behind me but the lawyers associated with the even aren't keen on that idea.  Luckily, the triathalon I'm training for is all ability friendly.  For more information on it, check the details out here:  http://gotthenerve.org/race-information/

With the girls back in school and *mostly* settled in, I've decided to look for a part-time job with flexible hours so I can still be available to drive Emma to appointments and therapy sessions and consult at school as necessary.  I found a few positions that really interested me but I might not have interested them enough.  I am confident that when the time is right a job will come along.  We are also still navigating the real estate market.  We put our house up for sale a few months ago when our tenants moved out but so far we haven't had any offers.  We will likely put it up for rent again if we don't get any offers soon. 

And I'll leave you with a photo I snapped last week after Emma's horse lesson.  This was at the end of the half hour session.  She did the best riding I have ever seen last week and after a full day of first grade at that!  My girl never ceases to amaze me.