Six months and a day

Yesterday marked our six month stay in Kansas. While I'm not doing cartwheels every day, I am relieved to say I am in a better emotional state than I was about three months ago. I think I hit bottom about three months ago and it's been a slow climb up but I'm confident better days are around the corner...or further up the hill. It sure has helped having a renter in our house. I can go to sleep at night without that worry. What a relief.

Jackson is being a hoot today. He was watching me do Tae Bo and laughing. I asked him if he wanted to do it with me and he said he already has big muscles and that he didn't want to take his shirt off. (I was wearing a sports bra and looking the way only a toddler could love) His favorite thing to do lately is to pile all the pillows and blankets he can find and make a "fountain." I assume he means mountain. Then he sits on the top and yells, "I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!" He said he learned that from Little Bear.

We had a big thunderstorm here yesterday at dinner time. It was just wild - heavy rain and thunder and even a little hail. Today is SO windy. The chimney is just howling. And it's cooled of considerably. I was worried that I had left the beautiful fall colors behind in MN but the leaves here are now just past their peak. They changed later than I was used to but it was stunning! Not as many oak trees as in MN so there's not as much golden yellow, but still gorgeous.

Extreme Home Makeover is going to be about 30 miles from Manhattan some time this month! They are redoing a home in Chapman, KS. Chapman was hit first by the same tornado that hit us, but something like 80% of their town was destroyed. I am hoping to be able to check it out a couple of times.

I think I'm going to make another MN trip next week. Brian will be in Reno for an Entomology Convention and rather than pull my hair out alone for a week, I think I'll head home. The plan is to spend 3-ish days at my mom and dads and then 3-ish days in St. Paul. Hopefully the weather will hold out. This time Roxie will be along for the ride.

That's all for today. The kids are up from naps already.