Update

I guess it's time for another update from the Krause House. We've been doing pretty good around here the last week or so. The highlight of the weekend was the New Mexico State Fair on Saturday. We had promised Madeline we'd go, even though I am not a huge fan of wading through crowds in the heat. We got off to an early start though, thank goodness, and got there at least an hour or two before the truly heinous crowds arrived. Zach and I rode the merry-go-round together, which was fun, even though he's still not willing to actually sit on a horse, but, hey, the cute little swan benches are cool with me. We ate corndogs and Kettle Korn. We watched Madeline win her first trophy ever at the Pee Wee Stampede, which was a super cute mini rodeo for little kids where they kids got to wear cowboy hats and ride rodeo events on their stick horses. She kicked butt in the barrel race, and carried her golden cowgirl trophy around for the rest of the day, telling anyone who would stand still that SHE won. It was a pretty big deal for her because, in her own words, at school the other kids sometimes leave her in the dust.

Sunday marked the beginning of my most current and biggest yet house project. I did some painting, and cleared out the room in preparation for the floor guys to come Monday. Two days later of noise and sawdust, and the new wood floor was in! I think it looks pretty good. I'm making progress on the painting, but need a much bigger ladder to deal with that particular room. I'm getting nervous about my friend who's going to be building in the desk for us. We're ending up investing a pretty good amount (for us) into this room, and I'm concerned that I might be asking a bit much of him. I've been needing to call him and ask him this very question, but I'm putting it off, because I don't want to offend. I might be seeing his girlfriend on Saturday for a ladies night kind of thing that she was sweet enough to invite me to, so I may have to ask her advice first. I'm excited about hanging out with her, but if I think about it too much, I get serious anxiety.

Good news on the potty training front! Finally! I've been avoiding making any official statements about it, because I don't want to jinx anything, but I think Zach is finally officially potty trained. Meaning, we haven't had any accidents in something like 5 days. I don't know what finally clicked with him, but apparently he just needed to decide it was time. I'm SO HAPPY. I was starting to get worried that this was taking a lot longer than it should, and that I was going to be cleaning up stinky messes for the rest of my life. But, no, my brilliant boy has figured out how to poop in the toilet. Praise the potty gods!

Last night was the elementary school balloominaria fund raising thingy. It was pretty fun. We got there right as they were inflating the first of the three big balloons. It was as impressive up close as I thought it would be. The kids had also made really cute luminarias with white paper bags decorated with pictures of hot air balloons. They had them out all around the playground next to the P.E. field where the big balloons were. Madeline's was really cute, and she was very proud of it. We bought her the school t-shirt she'd been wanting (for only $5, which I thought was very reasonable), and a couple bendy glow sticks. It was quite a sight as the sun went down, the luminarias were glowing, and the hot air balloons were glowing, and all the kids were running around with their glow sticks. Good Times. Afterwards, we stopped by Cold Stone for ice cream. They were donating half their profits to the school for the evening, and it was a cool way to wrap up the evening.

Today, I went over to Clark's newest office for the first time. His boss was out of town, but it was nice to meet the other people he works with. I tend to get intimidated around professional people, since I'm "just" a stay at home mom, who's never had a "real" career or anything. I know it's silly, but I can't help it. I think mine and Clark's age difference probably affects that quite a bit too, since I tend to be quite a bit younger than most the people he works with. Both of the women I met have kids and have invited us over for social type things in the past, which we haven't gone to. However, I'm realizing that if I really do want to meet new people here, I have to start showing up to some of these things. Even if it is scary as hell.

Madeline doesn't have school tomorrow, so it'll be a long weekend for her. Unfortunately, it'll be a short weekend for Clark, as he's leaving Sunday morning for Chicago for 4 days. I'm really going to try to not take the downward spiral this time he's out of town. I'm going to call back that sitter I cancelled with last week, and set something up for a yoga class at least. I'm trying to decide whether to try and start a 6 week pranayama course that my fav teacher is teaching Tuesdays. I'd hate to pay for the whole thing and then end up missing a bunch of it, but I'm sure it would be interesting. Pranayama is an aspect of yoga that is much more meditative, and focuses on breathing to encourage the meditative state. I'm not too sure I'm ready for it, physically or emotionally, but it might be time to stretch myself a little.

OK, I hear the kids descending, must be time to wrap it up. I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.