So 11pm at night seems to be the only time I have to blog lately, so no promises on how long this will be! Today was Brenden's first day back at school, not sure who was more excited and ready, me or him. All Summer he would wake up and ask if he got to go to school....he missed it like crazy. When Jonathan picked him up, he had an interesting conversation with another parent. Apparently at drop off this morning another little boy asked his mom why Brenden was using a walker. At pick-up, the mom commented to Jonathan how cute Brenden is and then proceeded to tell him about her son's inquiry. She told Jonathan her response to her son was, "He's part transformer." Um, seriously??? Not sure if she thought that would make Jonathan laugh, but he simply walked away. While I realize much of America is ignorant when it comes to kids with special needs, but for real, who says that to their kid?!?!? It's probably a good thing I wasn't there, becauase I'm not so good at biting my tongue. Anyways, he had a great first day. His teachers couldn't believe how far he's come since the end of last year. Last year, remember, he refused to talk to anyone but the little girls in his class. Today, they said he walked all over the room, shaking hands with the kids and introducing himself, asking for everyone's name. That's my guy :)

Madelynn continues to give me gray hair. It's been two weeks now since she "misplaced" Jonathan's keys. I've looked everywhere I can possibly think and still can't find them. I'm convinced she has a secret stash of pens, markers, and crayons somewhere in this house. She can walk into a room and within 2 seconds come out with art work all over her body. Oh, and let me just mention chapstick. I, myself have a slight addiction to chapstick. Like, if I leave home and for some reason don't have any in my purse, I make Jonathan stop and get me some. So maybe she just sees me using it all the time, but today for example, she walked around ALL day with a tube of chapstick, rubbing it on her upper lip/nose ALL day. I take it from her at naptime because, um, choking hazard, and let's just say it's a category 10 screaming fit. (Speaking of category 10, we did have a 5.9 earthquake today, talk about crazy, the house totally shook!)

Marathon training is going GREAT! Well for now anyways....this break from the heat and humidity in the evenings has been wonderful! I find myself running a few extra miles because I don't realize I've already reached my goal. I had to break down and get some new running shoes and whoa, my new ones make a huge difference. I needed some extra support in my ankles, which these provide, so that's made a huge difference, too. We now have our team shirts, too, which means it's really not that far off!!!

For all you locals, don't forget the upcoming fundraisers! Sometime in September we will be making apple dumplings again....they sell FAST so if you want some, let me know ahead of time to make sure you get them. Also, September 25th is the Vera Bradley Bingo. I have tickets so get them now! And if you're not local, you can still donate!! The link to the donation page is at the top of the blog, under the banner picture. Every donation makes a difference....it goes directly to the SBA.

HERE and be sure to choose me as your Marathon Captain!!