Other news

Some other things that have been happening lately:  Last weekend we had a pretty big wind storm. The playground that Joe had just put up in the Spring, blew over.  We were able to put back up the slide and ladder part, but the swing part has bent metal and torn apart pieces of wood. 
  Nathan had Columbus day off of school, so I took the three kids to Port Farms.  They have a corn box, huge slides, hay bales to climb on and a corn maze.  The kids had so much fun and Nathan found out his class at school will be going there for a field trip at the end of the month.  I might even take the younger two back sometime too.  Even Isabella enjoyed going down the slides! And they both get in for free since they are under 3.  That makes it even better.
  Nathan has been doing really well at school. He says he still likes it.  He told me all the bones in the body last week and he is learning Spanish.  He already knows his letters and numbers, but doesn't seem to mind reviewing.  He also has made some friends too, which is really good.  When we went to his Open House, a bunch of boys said hi to him.  He is still having trouble telling his teachers when he needs to use the bathroom and has come home wet a few times.  I'm not sure what else we can do about that.  He needs a little more self confidence.
  Isaac's potty training hasn't been going much better.  If he could fit in diapers, we probably would have gone back to using them. The only time he tells us when he needs to go potty is when he doesn't want to go to sleep at night - so that is his excuse for why he is coming downstairs.  Isaac is still a wild man - I thought he would calm down by now.  He still steps/climbs on everything.  He chews on corners of books, swallows peanuts whole and eats his boogies!  I still can't understand how he can be so smart and so much like a baby at the same time.  We quizzed him on his upper case letters and he only missed 3.  He can rhyme all the words for Nathan's homework.  Maybe he will grow up - in 15 years. :)  It is a good thing he is cute.
  Isabella is very similar to Isaac.  She also picks her nose!  And when you tell her to stop, she takes it out and puts it slowly back in while she watches for you to say something.  She really loves music right now.  So she will go over to the CD player, turn in on and then start dancing.  It is a constant battle to keep her out of the music and TV.  She is walking holding on to two fingers.  Sometimes she can hold on to one hand, but she is a little unstable.  Whenever she can grab a crayon, she likes to color.  We try to keep her away from them, but she can reach most of our tables.
  Concerning us - Joe is not enjoying work right now - but it is a job and it pays our increasing food bill. :) Joe started helping with a new kids program at our church called Surge.  He is the game director.  Nathan is old enough to go which is nice. Of course, Isaac is sad every time they leave without him.  We are almost done with our garden for the year.  There are a few more beans, tomatoes, and peppers.  We haven't gotten a frost yet, but it should happen soon.  We always see a few snowflakes in October.  The grapes around our house were finally picked, so Isaac and I went out on Monday to see if there were any they missed.  There were very few except two vines that were white grapes instead of concord.  They didn't pick them at all because they must have planted the wrong type.  So last night we made concord grape juice and tonight we will make white grape juice.
  I guess that is all for now since Isaac is now on my lap and Isabella just turned off the music. :)