Times, They Are A'Changin'

We are navigating through some firsts here in our household!  

First, we are now a cat family - my allergy test was negative, and we couldn't think of any more excuses, so we drove to the J-town shelter and fell in love.  Meet Elsie.

Second, we said goodbye to our lovely and loving home daycare, as Adam has moved on to preschool.  A few days before Abby and Adam's last day, Megan biked all the way across town, uphill, to our home toting her own little cutie behind her.  It has been a big adjustment these last few days, and we miss her very much.

Finally, three of us started a new school year this week, and one of us started harvest.  Here is a first-day pic for a very grown-up second grader and a stylin' preschooler who decided to comb his hair to the side for the first time that day.

Adam Stories to Tack On:

My adventure this week has been managing a study hall that exceeds 100 students every other day (only 75 or so on the opposite day).  I told Adam this was hard for me to help him feel better about how switching daycares/preschool is hard for him.  He said seriously, "But, Mom, you don't have that many eyes-ez."  He's right.

Today Jeanne kept the kids for the afternoon so I could catch up at school (all I do during my prep hour is hyperventilate about study hall).  Thanks, Jeanne!  I went out to pick them up and Adam attempted to ride his bike across the lawn to the apple tree in the back yard.  On the way there, he commented, "I am like The Little Engine That Could."  On the way back from the tree, he amended, "I sink - I sink instead I am The Little Engine that Can't."

Love literary allusions.

Big Kid Wheels

Thanks, Aunt Darlene!  We'll return it when these legs grow a little more.

Daddy-Daughter Date Tonight

Teeth and Truth

Last week Abby lost her fifth tooth at the movie theater.  It popped out mid-munch, it seems, and thinking it was a hull, she dropped it in our refillable Catching Fire popcorn tub to be recovered later in the dark with difficulty and glee!

Abby has written several notes to the elusive Tooth Fairy, asking for photos and signatures.  The morning-after this time, though, she walked me into our bedroom and shut the door behind us.  She leveled her big brown eyes at me and asked if there really was a tooth fairy.  "Dad said fairies aren't real," she reasoned, "so how could a tooth fairy be real?"

I answered those solemn eyes honestly.  What's that line from The Great Gatsby when the light on Daisy's dock loses its magic?  " [Her] count of enchanted objects had diminished by one."  Just one, though.  She hasn't generalized the concept to anything else yet.