Monthly Archive for August, 2011

The First Day of Kindergarten

Published on Monday, August 22, 2011 in Claire, Milestones and School. 3 Comments

Here is Claire on her First Day of Kindergarten!  She and Baby Rose found a matching outfit to celebrate the big day.  This is a day that Claire has been begging to happen for YEARS now.  Her years in Preschool were awesome, but finally the “When can I go to Kindergarten!?” question has been answered!

Today!  Early today.  Our schedule will shift a bit as we get up and get out the door earlier than we ever have, but today went REALLY well.

The drive, parking, and drop-off were a breeze!  I didn’t linger in the classroom, as she is really pretty independent, and I was afraid if I made too much direct eye contact with the teacher, I’d make a spectacle of myself.  Baby Rose and I walked back to the car, and I didn’t get teary until I was a couple blocks from the school.  But, that’s because the sun was in my eyes.  (Yeah, that’s it.)

As I’m writing this, the house is quiet.  Too quiet.  Like the kind of quiet it gets when someone is plotting a dastardly plan.  It’s making me twitch.  I wonder how long this phase will last?

I’ll have 3.5 hours to myself every week day now.  I’ve been waiting for this.  Longing for this.  I plan to use as much of this time writing as I can.  Today, of course, is an exception (unless you count this post…).  Today’s time has been spent fielding texts and calls from my friends, just checking to see if I’m okay.  This is supposed to be Claire’s big day, but those in the know realize that it’s going to be more a transition for me than it is for Claire.

Am I ok?  I am.  I’m more than okay.  Today is a great day.

What are the Prairie Dogs trying to hide?

Published on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 in Random Thoughts. 2 Comments Tags: .

Claire and I went on a super-secret mission today.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones.

Click image for more detail.

I’m not sure what the Prairie Dogs are up to, but they’ve shredded all the evidence.  Yes, these are their homes with shredded paper spilling from the thresholds.

You’d think the Prairie Dogs would know that using a cross-cut shredder is more efficient in destroying evidence.

Amateurs.

One Year Ago Today…

Published on Monday, August 15, 2011 in Letterboxing. Closed Tags: .

One year ago today, I posted this as my FB status: “First Letterboxing Adventure a HUGE success & even more so when Momma remembered how to read a compass. Can’t wait to find the next one!!”

Isn’t it handy that it tells me that?

Today has been on our radar for a while now…our One Year Anniversary for Letterboxing. When we started, I was just happy to find one. I thought finding 50 seemed really far off.

Today, we wrapped our yearly total at 130. (We’ve planted a dozen!)

That’s a lot of adventures.

I’ve shared some of those stories, and I plan to share some more. With school starting on Monday, we’ll go back to our “finding only one or so a month” routine. I wonder what kinds of adventures the next year will bring?

One More Week of Summer

Published on Sunday, August 14, 2011 in Claire and Milestones. 1 Comment

Yes, yes, I know that Summer doesn’t really end until September…but realistically? Summer ends on August 22nd around here.

I can’t believe it will be Claire’s First Day of School!

We’re ready. The supplies have been purchased. (We squeaked in under $100, not counting clothes and backpack, at $98.08. Yes, for Kindergarten. No, I don’t get it either.) The fees have been paid. I giggle when I pay for “free” things, but I’m so thankful that she got it at our first choice! The first day clothes are picked out and all ready to go.

It will be nice to get back to a routine, but it will be a painful adjustment getting up and getting out of here earlier than we’ve ever had to with Claire on a regular basis. Painful for ME. Claire will be fine. I can’t believe I used to have a job that required me to get up at 4:30 in the morning. I can barely remember a time when I was up before the crack of dawn…but I did it…for years. Compared to that, the new schedule will be easy-peasy, but I’ve certainly been spoiled by my late-sleeper over the last five years.

The uninterrupted time I’ll gain to focus on my writing during the week, however, will be worth the crimp in my style.

School starts at 8am. There is major construction on the way there, but I think I’ve found a ninja route that will get us to the school relatively unscathed. This week, we’ll take it for a test drive to see how long it takes, factoring in the morning rush of a School Day.

Back to School Night is on Thursday, and then the Big Day is on Monday.

Just like that, we’ve got a Kindergartener living here.

Weird.

The Root of the Problem

Published on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 in Photos. 1 Comment

A week or so ago, we were working on the path on the east side of our house.  This was a path we built last summer and are just now getting the final touches put on before putting the gravel down.

My husband was leveling off an area when his shovel hit something.  Because of all the rain we’ve had, we weren’t surprised to see the tippy top of a root.  Thinking we’d just shave it off, he got to work.  Then, upon further investigation, we realized it was a bigger problem than that.  If left to regrow, we’d be right back where we started, only it would be harder to fix the path.

So, we decided to remove the root entirely.  I mean, how big could it be?  Almost two hours later…

Click photo to enlarge...if you dare.

The fact that he put on his best redneck mechanic voice and said, “Well, THAT’s yer problem!” made it all worthwhile.