The last few weeks...

Have been a blur.

Case in point is this blog post.  I started it on September 8 and saved it with the thought I'd come back to it later that day or even the next day to wrap it up and post it. 

Obviously that didn't happen. 

Not by a long shot of a week and a half.

Classes are in full swing.  It's been crazy in the office for me and in the classroom for Travis.  Trav has even had the first exam in his classes.

Travis is teaching six sections this fall.  That is a very heavy teaching load.  Four of the classes are face-to-face and two are online.  Thankfully his face-to-face classes are all on Tuesday and Thursday so even though those are long, busy days for him, it is a great schedule.  When he's not teaching, he's grading papers for his two online courses.

I've been short-handed a staff person at work.  My new person started last week and I'm so excited!  I have a great staff of four people (our office has 24 people total) - I'm so blessed to work with such talented individuals.  It's been a crazy start to the fall semester though...with some challenges.  I think it has been the most stressful start to fall semester I've experienced.  Some of the stress is stress I enjoy (that may be a bit warped, but I love to troubleshoot).  Not all stress is bad, after all.  There have been some challenging students and parents though, which make things a bit more interesting.  Hopefully traffic will be at a 'dull roar' soon.

Let's see...what else have we been up to in the past nearly two months (but if I leave the title of this post as 'weeks' I don't feel so guilty)?  Here are some of the very random things...

• We had the year-end BBQ for the kids' horse therapy program - they both did a great job and we were on one of the local stations for a segment on the therapy program.  A cameraman followed Grace into the arena and while she rode.  The best moment was when she came out of the arena; Carson lifted her up in a big hug and said "Good job!  I'm so proud of you, Grace!". 
• Opening weekend at NDSU - all of the students moving into the Residence Halls - I directed traffic and loved it.  :-)
• Dealt with a staffing shortage for Carson as his staff goes back to college and he wasn't in school yet.
• Dealt with Grace's pre-school being closed for 1 1/2 weeks.
• Both of these were at the start of classes for us - as we juggled kids in the parking lots of NDSU we felt like a little three-ringed circus going on.
• But we survived!
• Wally the wart (on Carson's foot) is almost officially gone.  Very slight remnants of him remain.  YEAH!!!!!
• We loved our visit from Nana Jane and Papa Ron a few weeks ago.  We had a great visit with them and were so happy to go to LSS's Annual Adoption picnic with them.  (LSS was our adoption agency.)  Grace is still talking about when Nana and Papa are going to come again!
• We stopped at Maple Hills Orchard on the way home from the adoption picnic.  I had read about a great orchard near Detroit Lakes- Maple Hills Orchard.  The plan was for me to run in and grab a bunch of sweet corn and be back out in just a few minutes.  Well, several hours later, we were on our way home.  Turns out this orchard is owned not only by an NDSU faculty member and his wife, but this faculty member is Travis' department chair!  We had known they had an orchard but had no idea it was to the extent that it is.  Gary had a great time showing us around and taking all of us on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch (it was too early to pick yet), enjoy some raspberry and corn picking, and take in the scenery of their beautiful orchard.
• Carson had a sleep over with a buddy.  They had a great time.  Perhaps too much of a great time.  Got them into bed at 11 p.m. after a night of swimming.  They were still sleeping downstairs at 12:30 a.m. when I checked on them.  I heard something at 6:00 a.m. in the kitchen.  They were down there making snacks and had reportedly been up since 1:00 a.m. (buddy) and 1:45 a.m. (Carson) and had played Wii for four hours until 6 a.m. when they realized they were hungry.  Needless to say, Carson fell asleep very early that next night and slept for nearly 15 hours.
• We've been enjoying all of the goodies coming out of the garden.  And there have been lots of goodies thanks to Travis' hard work this summer.
• We bought a pressure cooker, which I love.  It is an amazing contraption.  I read the directions three times front to back and got two canning cookbooks.  Trav and I had several late nights of canning after the kids went to bed.  It was a lot of fun and there is just nothing like the sound of those lids popping as the jars seal!  We've canned 40+ quarts of tomatoes, 50+ pints of rhubarb/raspberry freezer jam, 40+ quarts of frozen cream style corn (you know...the low-cal kind with cream), made several dozen apple turnovers to freeze...I feel like I'm missing something, but can't remember right now!  :)
• We had a great time in Duluth over Labor Day weekend.  It was a perfect get-away (despite the fact we came inches from hitting a deer on the way to Duluth).  We packed a lot in but still know there is so much more to see in that beautiful region.  We stopped in at Nana Jane and Papa Ron's cabin on the way back to Moorhead - it was right along the way.  It was fun to see them again with our two sleepy kiddos in tow, although it was too short of a visit!
• Both kids have settled into a school routine.  The start of the new academic year is going well for both of them.  Carson has a lot more homework this year...homework he needs to be responsible for bringing home.  We love the fact that he has a planner (and I think he likes his planner quite a bit too).
• 'Papa Dip' (Papa Chip, but Grace calls him 'Papa Dip' and now that's what we all seem to call him) was here for a week and half.  He had a comprehensive doctor appt. with a new doctor that he and I love and was here for the Ag Show, Big Iron.  His friend, Loni, joined him near the end of his stay and they trekked to the Cities for a few days to see her daughter and son-in-law. 
• Grammy traveled to Pittsburgh for nearly a week this past week to spend time with my brother Chris, his wife, Hilary and their little guy, Jack.  They live just outside of Pittsburgh.  Grammy had a great time playing with Jack.  Jack will be a big brother about the end of January.  :-)  While Mom was gone, we watched in on Grandma a bit and had her here most of Sunday afternoon.  As always, she is a hoot!
• Carson started Sunday School again a week ago Sunday.  We've moved to the 10:30 church/Sunday School timeframe and I think it'll be a year with Sunday mornings just a little more relaxed (we have been going to the 9:00 a.m. service/Sunday School).
• We met up with Grace's "Tummy Mommy", Grandma and half sister this past Saturday afternoon.  We met at a park in their local town.  It was a great meeting and full of special memories.  I might be able to post some pics - I need to visit with Tummy Mommy first.  :-)
• We stopped at our new fav apple orchard on the way home to pick up apples, pumpkins, gourds, etc.  I have to snap pics of the popcorn pumpkin and green pumpkin we have...they are naturally the way we bought them!  Not only did we make a bunch of apple turnovers to freeze but we also made caramel apples.  YUMMY!
• The kids both have their Halloween costumes.  Yes, in September (we've had them for a week so even before mid-September).  It's not that I'm organized about this holiday.  Carson would have bought his last December had they been on the rack in Target.  Carson will be Darth Vader and Grace will be Minnie Mouse.  They can hardly wait.  Meanwhile, we are dealing with a light sabre and sparkly red shoes all over the house for the next six weeks.  Lovely.

There.

It only took me about two weeks to write this post.

Talk about fast.  Perhaps I should be some sort of lightning speed blogger for Halloween.  I don't think I saw that costume at Target...

Thanks for your patience.  More updates coming soon!