Fall is here!

Rachel started preschool last week and seems to love it. It's hard to get details out of her though. I'll ask her if she had fun. "Yeah." What did you do? "Nothing." Back-to-School Night is next week, so I guess I'll find out then. She did tell me that she wants a uniform like the older girls. Already, she wants to grow up too fast!

She also started her 2nd year of dance (ballet & tap). I finally found a studio that focuses more on traditional dance instruction rather than jumping around to Barney tapes. She hated the other classes but loves her new studio. She's learning all the ballet poses and terminology. Pretty cool.

Rachel began her 2nd year of speech therapy. Her speech pathologist said she is now at the level she should be for her age. But to be sure that she doesn't fall behind, she'll continue having sessions twice a week. She's working on Kindergarten-level sounds and is mentoring a three-year-old boy who is having the same articulation problems she had when she started speech.

All of the sudden Lauren is really starting to grow up. She still looks like my little baby but she talks...a lot! She's constantly asking questions or making demands. "Where mommy at?" "Where Rachel at?" "Want milk, Mommy." "Let's go!" "Shoe-shoes, go bye-bye." "Diaper, mommy." She also insists on helping me with everything; from buckling my belt in the morning to opening and closing doors and carrying groceries to the kitchen. It's still cute at this point, but I feel the terrible twos coming.

It's official, Jason has signed his year-long contract for the Catastrophe Corp and is currently on week 3 of his most recent deployment. He loves that he's being kept busy and seems to be on a roll. The girls and I have adjusted but we can't wait for the contract to end.

Well, this coming week will be birthday week for us. Rachel will have a small party in her preschool classroom on Thursday. Aunt Maggie takes her out to lunch and shopping on Friday. Saturday is the family birthday party. And Sunday, her actual birthday, we'll spend with Grandma and Grandpa Ott who have traveled from Ohio to spend the weekend with us. She's so excited!!! And an added bonus (she doesn't know yet) Jason should be home that weekend, too!