Getting back in our groove.

Or at least, we're starting to.

Last week was our first full week of school, and things seem to be going smoothly. Before Nick left, he was walking up to the bus with the girls and the dogs in the morning, and I was driving in by myself. The dogs always try to follow the girls on to the bus, and it's just adorable. Then generally they've been walking over to the high school after school, and we've been finishing up the day together before heading home some time after 3.

On Tuesday, the girls and I took Nick to Portland to get the bus to Austria. We had some dinner at Appleby's and got back home at around 9. Tuesday was quite a busy day!

On Wednesday I took Maggie to get 2 more cavities filled, and again that went fantastically. She just puts her headphones on, watches a movie, and has a great time. She has no idea yet that she's gotten shots of novocaine, and I intend to keep it that way. The dentist puts a local on there first and hides the needle inside a case thing. She massages Maggie's cheek to distract her and does the injection really, really slowly (it takes nearly a minute). By going so slow, Maggie can't feel anything (turns out it's the novocaine going in more than the actual needle going in that's painful! If you do that really slow, it's not painful).

Today, the girls and I went apple picking at Biscay orchard. Fun! Usually we don't go apple picking until the end of the season and most of the apples are gone. Biscay just opened on Thursday though, so there were TONS of big, juicy apples. They're still ripening that last little bit, so they're a tiny bit on the tart side, so we didn't get a ton (only 20 lbs). We'll go back in another week or two though! I'm sure we'll be ready for another 20 lbs by then!

Now 2 of Nina's friends are over for a sleepover (cross your fingers for me!), and the girls are upstairs playing with their American Girl dolls and the dogs and I are hanging out on the couch, blogging. Not a bad day!