Hi...'member me?

Yeah, so, I've been a bit busy.  Love it at Morgan Stanley and am currently studying for the Series 7. It's a 250-question test that will allow me to enter trades for clients (and possibly make the big bucks!).  I've really come to love the people I'm working with and for--it really is a collaborative environment, and I feel like I've got a long future ahead of me there.  The Series 7 is, to put it mildly, not a fun test.  I'm almost done with the book--24 chapters talking about such exiting topics as options and calls and puts! (I'm sure by test time I'll have a firm grasp on it all!)

Noah's in his 2nd year at Wellford and is really excelling. He started off the year in the 99%ile in Reading (which we figured--that boy is a READER!) and in the 67%ile in Math. He's ending the year 93%ile in Reading (which we figure is due to his not always reading the question and/or not always paying attention to the questions being read aloud), and...drum roll, please!

91%ile in MATH!

We are so proud of him....he's really been working hard.  I think having a teacher that respects him and enjoys having him in her class has been the factor.

I've tried to volunteer for the PTO at his school as much as I can--they've given us our boy back, so I feel the least I can do is give them some of my time!

I honestly can't remember when I posted last...I could be proactive and look at the date, but I'm already here in the "crest new post" box and I really don't want to save this draft, so I will just assume I'm not repeating myself!

Mouse died, and we took a year off from kitties. But then, in January 2013, we spotted a kitty that called to me--a big, blue-eyed Siamese mix named "Chewie." Noah said, "Like Chewbacca!" So...we made him ours. It quickly became obvious why his name was "Chewie." Somewhere in that kitty brain, biting (never in anger or with any indications of being upset--no tail lashing or ears being laid back) = "hey, I like you!" So...we just have to watch out for bare toes lest he take a nibble!

It seemed like Chewbacca was getting lonely, so again, we found ourselves in a position of getting a cat for our cat.  Noah and I wandered through the Humane Society a few times and thought we'd settled on a few contenders. We went with Patrick to see which one we thought would be best, and a frisky orange kitten stole our hearts.  We took Charlie (named in part for my grandfather who had passed away very shortly before we adopted Charlie, and partly because the name just fits her) home, and have had a happy kitty home.

It's funny--I've never had a more cat-like cat than Charlie. She plays with kitty toys and everything! Chewbacca, if he had his druthers, would just lie on the floor, feet stretched out behind him, napping. Charlie? Well, when she's not balancing on the tops of doors (seriously--on the TOP of the door), she's chasing toes under the covers, or dust motes or just getting into all sorts of mischief.

Noah loves his kitties and it's his responsibility to feed them, which is fine by me since they get soft food in the morning and at night. We'll start thinking about cat box duty soon....

Speaking of the boy, I can't believe he's going to be EIGHT in less than a month...he's lost teeth, has had growth spurts, is in his 2nd year of karate, is swimming (that skill is helped by grandma and grandpa's pool!), rides a bike (though we need to get back to that...) and comes up with the most amazing jokes and stories!  He truly is amazing!

Hopefully I can keep this blog a little more updated, and keep y'all posted on the Wonders of Series 7!