The Buckles Family

O.k., I really am going to try to do a quick update.  Maybe a list would work best.  Here goes:

1.  Erin is still slowly recovering.  She sounds much better, but she's not 100% yet.

2.  Jade now sounds like Erin did, although she has a much stronger cough than her twin.  She's had a fever for the past 2 days.

3.  I started my new job last week.  I am working part time as a paraprofessional with the Math Specialist at the girls' school.  While working has added quite a bit more stress to our lives, I am thrilled to be at their school, and I'm even happier to be contributing (a very small amount) to our finances.  I love the staff and administration at the school, and I feel very lucky to join their ranks.

4.  We took Erin to the Pulmonologist last week.  Together we came up with a good plan for Erin, and we hope this will keep her out of trouble in the future.

5.  We all got our flu shots.  Taylor was a cool cat, Jade was not thrilled, and Erin was actually excited about the fact that she couldn't feel the injection in her leg. 

6.  School is going wonderfully.  All three girls love it, and they're doing extremely well. 

7.  K.J. is doing great!  He just got a fantastic grade on an English paper, and we're so proud of him!

8.  We will get to see SOLOMON on October 8th, when he will meet us at school for the first time (with students present). 

9.  SOLOMON'S graduation date is November 14th!!  We can't wait!!!

10.  Our Make A Wish trip is planned and booked.  A real vacation with the entire family!!!  Yay!

O.k., I also have to tell you about two amusing things that have happened in the past few days.  Yesterday I was helping in Erin and Jade's classroom at the end of the day.  A little boy was wandering around looking for something.  Here is our exchange:

Me:  Hey N!  What are you looking for?

N:  My water bottle.

Me:  Well, I'll help you look for it.  What does it look like?

N:  Ummm, it's a bottle... and it has water in it.

Me:  Oh, o.k. good.  That was helpful.  Let's go find it!

I had an extremely difficult time not lauging out loud at that one, but he was just so serious.

This one was not amusing when it happened, but I can see the humor in it now.  Jade and I went to get gas today in our van.  I put the nozzle in the tank, started pumping and set the lever so it would pump and shut off by itself.  I was standing right next to it as itpumped, but I was not paying attention to it at all.  All of a sudden gas was gushing out and spraying everywhere, and I was scrambling to shut the pump off.  I was angry that I was covered in gas, but I was also angry at the money I just wasted on the gas all over the van, ground and me.  I grabbed Jade and we went into the station to complain about the malfunctioning pump.  I mean, it's SUPPOSED to turn off by itself!  As I explained to the MAN inside, he proceeded to tell me that the nozzle has two sensors.  He calmly explained, as if he was talking to Jade, that I must not have had the nozzle all the way inside the tank.  O.k., right, because it was, of course, my very FIRST time pumping gas!!  He came out to look at all of the gas on the ground and apologized (although you could tell he didn't really mean it, as he truly thought it was my fault). 

All right, I'm off to bed.  Oh, check out the new photos I posted on our other site.  These are from our trip to the beach.  I also posted pics from the first day of school.  Another cool thing you should check out is another video about our family on the Baltimore Ronald McDonald House website. 

Good night!