Hello from MN

Greetings all. I just finished a delightful 4 day weekend with the kids. Cole was out of school for the state teacher's convention. Everyone was happy and cooperative for 4 days so it really doesn't get any better than that. Both kids are doing very well with their reading skills. Cole, being the unconventional learner that he is, is learning to read by using the Hardy Boys books. Ella, being a bit more traditional, is souding out the words on my weekend "to do" list. On Saturday she sounded out "Sat" which I had written on top of my daily to do list.

Fenton is growing every day. He also remains delightful and laid back. I just wish he would stop peeing every 30 minutes or so. It is so fun to watch him discover life. It is fascinating to imagine what he is thinking as he sits and watches his first fire, watches leaves fall from the trees and watches the garage door opener make noise and then turn his head to watch the garage door go down. While I remain dedicated to my sighthounds, I will say Fenton is certainly smarter and easier to train. We had our doubts at first -- when he couldn't figure out which side of the door he needed to stand on to get in the house -- but he seems to be a bit more with it now.

With the weekend over, I'm back in the busy rush of life. A busy day in the office today. Tomorrow I'm driving to Rochester to see clients. Wednesday is filled with meetings and Thursday I have to leave the office mid-day to go to Cole's school to read to his first grade class at "Book Nook" time.

Halloween -- huge at our house -- is rapidly approaching.

I enjoyed Marty & Dan's picture. I'll try to get a few of our recent photos posted this week.

Melinda