General Updates

Well, the dog run is still not able to keep Bronx in! Louis said he thinks he came up with a way to keep him in....which will be good since the weather has now turned pretty cold! Bronx would be much warmer in the snug little shelter that Louis built in the dog run. Right now he is tied to the corner of our garage and has to make due with an open, collapsable kennel on the garage floor. I did weave a few blankets through the slats, but Bronx tends to tear pretty much everything apart! Hopefully he will leave it alone long enough that he will still beable to snuggle into the blankets at night....at least until Louis gets the dog run secure. Louis said he will probably work on it today.
Caisha did very well at her recital! She said she was shaking the whole time, but I didn't notice at all. Unfortunately Great Grandma Chloe took a small tumble earlier in the day, so she was unable to make it. She is doing fine. Caisha has now volunteered to play a couple songs at her Sunday School Christmas Program. She just got 2 songs from her teacher, Miss Bohnker. She's not sure she will be ready in time with both songs, so she is leaning towards playing "Away in the Manger" and a song out of her lesson book, "Chime of the Bells", that she already knows. She will also be reading a few lines to introduce the songs that their choir will be singing. Zach also has a few lines in the Christmas program and he is suppose to have his memorized! Their Christmas Program is on the 17th.
For Thanksgiving we headed up to Milford, IA and spent a few days with the kids' Grandpa & Grandma Johnson. We had such beautiful weather! The kids spent a lot of time outside! It was an even better weekend because we had Nala with us. The kids were all a big help to Grandpa and Grandma. The plan is that we will have Nala the next 3 weekends before Christmas. Unfortunately we do not get her for Christmas.
Both Caisha and Zach are doing great in school. Their teachers are proud of them and had very nice things to say about them. Every teacher that Caisha has had says that she always has a smile on her face and is the motivating force in the class. She is always the first to volunteer to help out (teacher and classmates). Caisha is positive that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up and is already loosely planning her future around that. Zach is your typical boy, as he says that he wants to be a professional Football player! But, if he can't do that, he says he would like to be a football coach for a professional football team. He said he would start out coaching the ISU Cyclones football team....to get some experience first...then he would move onto a professional team! I don't ever remember putting that much thought into the things I wanted to be when I was younger! I still had no idea half way through my senior year in high school! Zach is devouring books! Ever since he got a book from his Godmother, Colette, he can't read enough! Thanks Colette!! He is improving on a daily basis. Last year he was struggling a bit with reading and was getting some extra help at school, but he did so well last year that he didn't qualify for the help this year! *yeah* He is still considered "low risk" in comparision to most of his grade, but he is slowly closing the gap and should be right on target, or even slightly above, by the end of the school year.
Christmas is just around the corner! We started putting up the Christmas tree last weekend but never finished it, so that is on our agenda this weekend, along with putting plastic on some more of our windows, and hopefully, finishing up the drapes for the living room! I managed to get one drape done and hung before Thanksgiving and it looks fabulous! Only 3 more to go! Then onto making the curtains for the girls room! When they are all done I will post a few pictures.
If I don't get another post up before Christmas, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Remember that Christ is the reason for the season!