Well, the fall has been busy, as usual.  Fox started classes again in late August and it’s been pretty intense ever since.  In early October, he was able to go on a three-day artists’ retreat at the beautiful Laity Lodge, which was a very refreshing and relaxing time for him.  Now he is approaching the end-of-semester crunch, getting projects and papers done.  He just recently found out some of his work was accepted in a show for the Art Director’s Club of Houston, and that one of the pieces won an award, but he doesn’t know yet what kind of award it is - he’ll find out at the awards ceremony on November 15th.  So, that is very exciting stuff!  I am really proud of him, as always.

Ladybug is, well, where to begin?  She is now almost 16 months old.  She has 14 teeth and two more on the way!  Pretty soon she’ll be done!  She runs, not walks.  She is pretty fearless.  She loves the playground and interacting with other kids.  She is talking so much!  For awhile I tried to count her words, but quickly lost track.  The best part is the way her amazing little personality continues to emerge.  She has the greatest smile, and knows exactly how to get us to crack up, chase her, or make us really mad!  One really funny thing she does is when other adults are laughing at something, she will look at us all and then crack up, too.  I guess she wants to feel like she’s part of the group!  She also loves to dance or even just move to the beat of music in the car.  It’s pretty adorable.  At the end of September, we dedicated her in church, and a lot of our family was there, plus a few close friends.  It was a special day.

I’ve been teaching my Musikgarten classes and I think they are going well.  I really enjoy it, which I was pleased to discover.  I have just four students, plus Ladybug, so it’s a nice little class to start with.  I’m going to be doing some more recruiting and marketing soon for the spring semester, so I’m hoping to have a few more students then.

I’ve been wrestling with the news that Fox is not going to be able to graduate when we had originally thought, which was Dec 09.  Now, it looks like it will be May 2010.  This may not sound like a big deal, but it was a really big deal to me - his graduation is the light at the end of my tunnel….. I was already starting to count the days, plan the party, etc…  (I know, it was a bit premature).   So, that news took some adjusting.  But I think I’ve accepted it now.

In October, my sister and her husband came in town from Minneapolis, and my parents came in, too.  We were celebrating my dad’s 60th birthday.  We had such a great time!  It was AWESOME to spend time with my sister - she came in by herself a few days early - and we had a really good time.  It is so hard for me to have her so far away, especially now with Ladybug on the scene.  I miss her so much!

Last week we were all sick - ALL of us!  It’s so hard to care for a baby when you’re sick, too.  It’s even harder when your hubby is sick, as well!  My awesome mom came in town to clean our house, make us Jello and buy us Gatorade, and take care of Ladybug so Fox and I could rest.  It worked!  It’s amazing how much faster your body can recover when it can rest.  Thanks, Momma!  We missed Halloween completely.  Oh, well, it’s not such a loss, huh?

We are working on getting some new pics on our Flickr page.  Check back soon!