Grange Fair

About a week ago we went to the local Grange Fair. This is the biggest deal in the whole county. Locals actually take all of their vacation for the year to camp at the fair. The fair itself was nothing special, but it was remarkable to see that the fairgounds were only about 1/4 of the fair. The rest was literally people camping in army like tents, trailers, rvs, and trucks. People actually bring things like fridges, beds, sofas, etc to live there for just over a week. Crazy. There was also more than enough fried food to cause heart disease to the whole country. I only induldged in a gyro. How could I not? As you can see C and H had a blast on rides which only ran just over $3.00 for all of us for 45 minutes. More than enough time for all of us! Gotta love the fair.

Toad Friends

Last week we were in the backyard and H started screaming "Mom come here! HURRY!" When I walked over to him he had a toad to show me. Mistakenly he called it a frog at first, but I took photos to prove just how cool it was. C was completely frightened and would not go near it at all.

PSU begins

Well, I think many of you may be wondering how school is going. Frankly it is hard to say at this point. I am still in the first week of classes, so I will know more about my duties, work load, etc by the end of the week. For now I can tell that I am going to need to wear my glasses nonstop because I will be reading all the time. The level of text is going to be quite a challenge, and it has been putting me to sleep nightly. Also I can tell you I have no idea what my assistantship will look like since the prof I am working with didn't even know I need to work with him for 20 hours - he thought I needed 10 and he was barely going to have that. He is VERY laid back, which is fine, but I have a feeling that if he doesn't have enough and others find out I will be penalized later with an onslaught of work all when I am super busy with class papers, etc. So, I am trying to sort all of that out now. I don't mind working less, but not being paid could pose a problem. It looks like I will be able to work M-Th and possibly work from home one or two of those days a week. For that I am grateful.
For those of you who are football fans I get to (yes get to) park at Beaver stadium everyday and take the bus to my bldg on campus. I have already made best friends with good ol' (and I mean OLD) Joe Paterno. We meet for lunch at least a couple times a week to discuss his football strategy for the upcoming season. He tells me I am the only one who really understands his take on the game. Ok, so maybe we aren't that close. Actually I have only seen him on the news, but I can tell you that he is the topic of conversation all over the county. Seems like people would have better things to discuss, but I guess not.

School Troubles

So school hasn't even started for H and already we are having troubles. For those of you who are lucky enough to be in districts that allow you to choose the school to attend...count your blessings. Unfortunately H will be a school hopper, something I desperately wanted to avoid with this move. We are currently living within the school boundaries of BL Elementary School. We requested a boundary exemption to BN Elementary School which is in the area we are building our home. When I went to register him I had to complete a boundary exemption form, complete with a notary fee, etc. It took us 2 days to track down all the right information to get this done. When J dropped off the form they called the school and they said it was no big deal he should be approved. Well, today I got a letter in the mail telling us otherwise. Basically they are claiming that the kindergarten is too full and even though we own a lot we cannot have our child go to school there. Does anyone else find this bizarre? So for now it appears that we will have him attend one school either for the year or until our home is done. The only good news is he can ride the bus now - which will be nice. I hope this isn't hard on him :( Oh, and as a side note John plans on complaining about the whole process (well his words were a bit different), misinformation, etc. and remember he is a distict employee (as the middle school soccer coach) - oh boy this could get interesting.

Yoda

Just thought some of you might not have seen our awesome dog. So may I introduce Master Yoda Douglas. He is now 2 years old. Happy Birthday and may your secret - and not so secret birthday wishes (fatherhood) come true. We are working on it!

Going Blind?

Today I went in to get a new driver's licence. After presenting an enormous amount of paperwork I took the vision test. I read the third line as requested, then the guy said - read the rest. Honestly I didn't even see the last part of the line to read. I am that blind in my right eye! The last whole section was not even visible until I looked harder. Then I tried to read it and he said- "I think you need your glasses". Wow! Am I already so old that I have to wear glasses to drive? The answer is an unfortunate yes. Good thing we have vision coverage now. Hope you all like my new look!

Big Girl Bed

This has been a bit of a struggle, but C seems to be adapting ok. Bedtime is not as smooth, but H has been a big helper often "snuggling" C when she is having a hard time. The photo with the book is her first night in the big girl bed - the photo was not set up - this is acutally how I found her.

Potty Time

Here is the success I described. Sorry if you are grossed out, but as you can see C is very proud of herself.

Face of an Angel

Sometimes I catch C in just the right mood in photos. These are a few I took recently.

Home

Here is what we call home. The kids like the rocks in the back the best. H spends a lot of time climbing them - his own personal rock wall.

Saying goodbye to family

So in preparation for our move we said goodbye - temporarily - to family. Here are some photos.