7 Quick Takes

1. Riley, our 6 year old with special needs, can write an "R" all by herself!  I'm so proud of her.  Her vision and fine motor skills are both extremely poor, so I was quite surprised.  I can't say enough how much I love her school and how wonderful they've been for her.
2. Speaking of Riley, she had eye surgery October 14th to correct her strabismus (eye turning out).  The first day of surgery was really hard on her, but by the next morning she was pretty much her old self.  It's been about two and a half weeks now, and her eye looks great, so nice and straight!
3. While we're on a Riley roll, I might as well add in that putting her on Strattera for her ADHD is probably one of the best decisions we've ever made.  It's been absolutely wonderful for her, and she has made significant academic progress since starting it.  Her personality is exactly the same (no "zombification" at all), she's just able to stay relatively calm and focus and listen.
4. Other news- We closed on our house!  Yay!  No more dealing with grumpy underwriters and appraisers!  We still have about 12 more days before we can move in (she asked for up to 2 weeks after closing to get all her stuff out) but at least there's an end in sight!  I can't wait to move in :)
5. We are blessed to live near the historic Tippecanoe Battlefield, a site that was pivotal in the fighting between Natives and settlers.  My husbands parents (now deceased) were history buffs and re-enactors, and late 18th/early 19th century is the era they portrayed (my family and his sister's family try to carry this on!)  Anyway, there used to be many re-enactments out there that their family participated in, and this weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Tippecanoe.  There's going to be a re-enactment in honor of the battle, so that's where you'll find us this Saturday!  Possible in our period clothing, if I can find it buried in our storage unit :)
6. I am having a Demarle at Home party at the new house November 21!  If anyone local is interested, I need your address to send out invitations.
7. Because of my awful carb addiction, I've been eating low-carb for the last two weeks, and have lost 9 pounds so far!  Many more to go, but it's a start!