Noodle Soup

You know the week is off to a good start when…

…you wake up to this:

Well, what I actually woke up to was thunder and lightning while it was still dark, but when the sun came up, this was right outside my bedroom window.

Hope your week is off to an equally colorful start! :)

Full spectrum

Yikes, this month is getting away from me! I still have some fun things on deck to blog about, just very little time to gather my thoughts these past couple of weeks. I hate when my intentions exceed reality.

So while I’m finding my fall groove, check out this cool color IQ test that my oldest son sent me. My life spectrum is feeling as varied and disorganized as those colors right now. I did get a perfect score on the color test, though. I’m hoping for similar results on getting my daily life aligned! Let me know how you do on the test…and if you have any great tips for organizing all the different shades of ‘stuff’ in your house and in your life, tell me about that, too!

So long, summertime

It’s that time of year again – time to say so long to summer and usher in fall, with all its jam-packed glory.

One of my favorite annual traditions is our end-of-summer corn roast, hosted by Charise & Bill. As much as I hate for the freedom of the summer season to end, gathering with good friends at the beach makes welcoming fall a milestone I look forward to.

Not to mention, it really is the best corn EVER.

This year, Matt brought his metal detector along, and amazed and enthralled the kids with his treasure hunting prowess.

The man is a genius for thinking to fill his pockets with change first! Everyone got a share of the loot…and Matt’s mad pirate skillz earned him a little booty, too.

Coins, of course. What did you think I meant? ;)

A last first

Today was my last 1^st day of preschool. Justin started at Country Village 18 years ago (and so did I, as a teacher). Three of my four kids have gone there, and Taite is the end of the line.

She was so excited to go to school today in her new outfit, which, I must add, she picked out herself at GapKids. The hat was definitely the deciding factor here – she rarely wears anything but dresses and skirts, but can’t resist some snazzy accessorizing.

 

 

It didn’t take her long to get settled in. She and her new friends were already making playdough cookies when I kissed her goodbye.

I thought I would be a wreck this morning with the realization that I was at the end of my first-day-of-preschool era, but I was only a little teary. I came home to my blissfully quiet house, brazenly ate some chocolate out in the open (where anyone could have seen me and asked for a bite), and then got to work on my to-do list. I love having my little chatterbox sidekick around, but it's amazing how much I can get checked off my list when she's at school.

Deep waters

The topic of moving has come up a few times recently.  Not in a serious, house-on-the-market sort of way. It’s just that every now and then Matt and I go through a spurt of looking and what-iffing. Apparently, our perceptive little Taite has caught wind of it though, and it has her worried. I’ve gotten several comments about how good our house is and how she never wants to leave it. There have been questions about whether people take this or that with them when they move to a new house. I’ve reassured her that we have no plans to move anytime soon and if we ever do, all of her Littlest Pet Shops and other prized possessions will absolutely come along with us. But this morning it hit me how hard she has really been thinking about this.

She asked me, “Mommy, when you touch a new house, is it cold like jumping in the pool for the first time?” Wow. I wasn’t sure how to respond, but after a few clarifying questions I realized that what she was wondering was whether new houses are cold at first because you’re not used to them.

Talk about deeper than the deep end of the pool. This kid never ceases to amaze me with her insights.

Happy Back to School!

(thanks for the video linkage, Lois!)

Today was the first day of Kendra’s senior year – holy Trapper Keeper, how the heck did that happen?? It seems like just yesterday that I was walking her to the kindergarten classroom. In fact, I plan to pull that first day of kindergarten photo later today and scrap it with these photos from this morning.

(That's her, driving herself off to school.)

Reece started 3^rd grade today.

The desks in his classroom look so much bigger than last year! And look at all those books we will have to cover. So glad I picked up a bunch of those stretchy fabric book covers at Target last week.

Taite officially starts on Monday, but today was preschool orientation day. She met her teacher and has already made some new friends. On the way there, she told me her tummy had "a nervous-happyish feeling”. I totally get what you mean, kiddo!

I finished that skirt around 11:00 last night, by the way. Gotta love the way a deadline gets things done in a hurry…I’ve had that fabric for over a month.

Oh, and I guess I can rest assured that I have Taite well trained in germ avoidance. Unbeknownst to me, she brought along a mini bottle of hand sanitizer, and was encouraging her new friends to use it, too. Maybe we’ll stave off that beginning of the school year cold by an extra week or so.