Free time?

Since I have a soundly sleeping boy, a girl not home, a husband at work and well the last 2-2.5 hours of peace and quiet, I thought I would do another blog update. I had a conversation this morning with the kids I thought would be funny to put on here, but now I've forgotten it. It was a rather hectic morning this morning, the kids got up at 5:30, apparently the internal clock was off by an hour. I promptly went back into bed and thought, well maybe we'll be early today. The only problem was Gwen didn't put her shoes back in her closet so we spent 10 minutes searching for them. UGH! I have started reading a new parenting book. As I am starting to get out of the fog of the move and adjusting and making new friends, I've realized that I don't like the way my parenting is going. I know that my stress level has been high, but making friends has helped with that, now is the time to focus on my kids and making sure I am a better parent. I think the kids are responding to the new parenting and I think it works nicely with Gwen's school's discipline routine. We'll see how it goes, I need them to listen and follow directions better and I hope this helps.
Nate is such a smart little pistol, it is a great thing for his future, he needs certain amount of attention though and watch out if he is tired or hungry, that is when the trouble begins. This is the toughest part of our new schedule is that it reeks havoc on Nate's schedule. Nate would really like to nap at 12ish. He falls asleep in the car or gets so over tired and then can't get to sleep. Nightmarish. I still put him down for quiet time. But about the time it is time for me to make dinner, he starts to lose it. Today he fell asleep in the car on the way home from Bible study, I had to run into the grocery store, still out cold, then I brought him home, still asleep now...3 hours later! I have to admit, I love his cuddly ways. He likes to sit on the couch read books or watch TV all cuddled up next to you. Eric has about had it at dinner time, his shirts will never be the same from Nate's wanting to snuggle at dinner time.
Gwen seems to be doing well with school, as I mentioned she has had the play date today. She still struggles with being tired and oh my GOSH the whining. "Don't look at me, don't talk to me!" Of course, she is talking to Nate. The other day it was really terrible she was just crying and crying. I knew I had to do something, so we baked muffins. It worked out really well, whinies gone! I don't think I will be able to do that every time, but it was a quick fix, plus we got some yummy treats out of the deal. Gwen tends to get cuddly when Nate is cuddly with Eric, it is the funniest thing.
Eric seems to be doing well, had his first committee meeting and is working along on an idea for his thesis. He is looking into some funding so he has to start the application for that. He seems to be much happier about the whole process now that he has a concrete plan, well as concrete of a plan as you can have in science!
We are gearing up for a trip from Grandma and Halloween, but don't have much else planned. I had a lot of free time today, so I guess just a little vacuuming and laundry and we are ready for Grandma! Have a great weekend.