Well we have some good news... Our offer on our house was accepted tonight, so if everything goes right the next couple of weeks we should be in a house by thanksgiving. It is the house that we have been looking at for the last several months, and we finally got everything to line up and make it work. I guess that means we will be living the American Dream owning a house and in debt up to our ears - that is the American dream isn't it. We are really excited as we are now on top of each other in our little place. I think we migh try and have Thanksgiving there, so anyone who can make it is welcome.

With Halloween this week and us cleaning up our house I came across a bag that had the costumes made for us growing up. There is a clown, tigger, dalmation, indian, and maybe a couple more. I don't know what sizes they are, but if anyone has an interest in them let me know and we will get them to you. We don't plan on throwing them away, or getting rid of them, but if anyone else wanted to have them for their kids, I can send them.

What did you say? More health issues with Landon

So we discovered another possible side affect from Landon's prematurity. There is a possibility that the inside of his ears did not develop correctly. They did hearing test at school a couple of weeks ago and Landon failed his test. They sent us to the district hearing test office, and they ran some different test and found out that he has had some damage to his hearing. From what they told Nicole and Nicole told me (so I could be telling this all wrong), Landon can't pop his ears the way most people do to equalize the pressure on his eardrum, so there is a build up of negative pressure on his ears. We have an appointment with and ear, nose and throught doctor on Weds. (the same one that took his tonsels out) to see if he can see if it is just from a cold, or if it is something that can be solved by putting tubes in, and or how permanent/bad the damage is to his hearing. We will keep you updated. I'm guessing that Nicole will probably post a blog that has the truth about all this, but I think that I got the jest of it right.

Daddy's Day Off

So I talked Nicole into going out shooting on my day off. I got a new .22 rifle and so I had something that doesn't hurt to shoot. It doesn't hurt physically or it doesn't hurt $ either. I can get about 1,000 rounds for the cost of 50 rounds of my .45. We had a good time. Carter also loved shhoting the .22. There was a story in the news up here about a Grandpa that took his 4 and 6 year old grandsons out shooting, and he was helping the 6 year old when the 4 year old picked up a differnet gun and shot the 6 year old in the back. I told Nicole that story and was scared she wouldn't let me take the boys and Afton our shooting (someday), but I was taken back when her reply was not "They shouldn't have been doing that" , but "Why was there a loaded gun that the 4 year old could get?" I think she is starting to understand that when properly trained and used it is a lot fun and relaxing. Landon was in school, and missed out on the day, but someday in the future he will get to come with us. Carter started goofing around while we were out and found a piece of wood that he wanted to "surf" on down a hill, so he spent an hour trying to surf on a little piece of wood (That explains one of the pictures). The reason I wanted to go shoot is beause I want to take a hunter education class so I can maybe do some hunting next year. Part of the class is shooting at targets and you have to shoot 50% of your 30 shots in the kill zone of a squirrel target and a rabbit target from the prone, kneeling, and standing postion. The last thing I want is to get schooled by some 12 year old, and not be able to hit any of the targets. Without any sort of a scope I was able to get at least a passing score, so we will see what happens, if I do get to do the class.

The Kids are getting big

I thought I would put some pictures of the boys up also, because I still like them and they deserve some credit also. Landon has lost 3 teeth now. This is after he lost his last one. He is glad to be back in school, but has been having a hard time. He loves his new cowboy boots and wears them every day he can. Landon loves working hard and working with his dad. The other day we went and helped move lots of dirt at Derek and Candie's house and Carter liked playing with his cousins, but Landon was right there with his own shovel and a pair of gloves helping move the dirt. A time or two he would get in the way, but for the most part he lifted lots of dirt and was a big helper.

Carter is in pre-school and is loving it. He has lots of friends and this last week had two playdates with his friends from school. He has become quite the social butterfly and is already working his magic with the girls. We had two families tell us that all they heard about all summer long was Carter and how they couldn't wait to get back to pre-school with Carter. He is learning his letters and is going a really good job of figuring out what letter different words start out with.

OK I had to put another picture of Afton in too. This one is becoming a favorite of mine. I love her smile!

Wrapped around my finger

So last Sunday I painted Afton's fingernails after church. You can't see them very well, but she was really cute. It was funny to watch her after because she would sit and stair at her fingers and try and figure out what was different and how it ogt there. Didn't last long - they way she has been sucking on her hands lately - it was off in a couple of days. I don't like her at all ;o )