Book book, who wants a book?

An Entertainment book that is. Actually it's a streamlined book - smaller and without all the random car rental coupons. It looks like it's only food/ movies/ Safeway/ etc. First fundraiser of the year.

And it's only $12. With $6 going toward the school.

You know you want one.

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten

When you're crossing the parking lot, use the crosswalk. Even if no cars are coming, the crossing guard will still remind you to walk up the sidewalk and cross at the crosswalk.

Making new mom friends isn't really that hard, just introduce yourself, even if you feel like a geek doing it.

Smiles and extra big thank you's will get the school secretary on your side. And she's someone you want on your side. Smiles also work well for teachers.

The first day of kindergarten is always harder on the moms than the kids. Change is hard, but necessary. Lots of goodbye hugs help everyone deal with change.

If you wait until the last minute to leave for school, the parking lot will be jammed. Leave yourself plenty of time to get your work done.

They still say the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the alphabet, and learn the days of the week.

Confidence will get you anywhere you want to be, whether you're a grown up navigating a new school or an almost 5 year old navigating a new classroom.

Thanks Robert Fulghum, for keeping it real.

One more thing

I completely forgot to mention that Wednesday was the day Grant's paci developed a hole in it (with the help of me and a pair of scissors). He sucked on it, looked confused, took it out of his mouth and inspected it, put it back in his mouth, took it out again and declares "Uh oh, paci broke." I agreed it did look broken so he walked to the garbage can and threw it away. And that was the end of his life with a paci.

Thursday at naptime he called me in to ask what he could do with his mouth. And that's the last I've heard of the paci.

Where have you been?

Where HAVE I been this week? It's been a busy week, full of lots of firsts. MOPS is kicking into high gear so that is taking a big chunk of time. Add in Arbonne, house maintenance, and hanging with the kids, and you get one tired mama. But tired in a satisfying sort of way.

Tuesday was Emma's first soccer practice on a team and the day we learned she's got a competitive streak in her. She's in under 6, aka bunch ball. She loves it, and she's loves her assistant coach, Coach Hubs, even more! They are working on dribbling, passing the ball using the inside of their foot instead of their toes, and shooting goals. When they scrimmage Emma has this sly little arm block she uses to keep the other girls away from the ball she's dribbling. Hubs and I were cracking up over it. That should be interesting to watch as she gets older.

Wednesday we learned Grant starts preschool on Sept. 1oth! He's super excited, and is doing a great job of not having potty accidents when we're outside of the house. He's doing so great in fact that he's earned being able to wear big boy underwear now instead of the thick training pants. And while he loved the cars and trucks on the thick underwear, he loves the Sesame Street characters on his big boy underwear even more! We also discovered the books on cd section of the library Wednesday, and Emma picked out two stories to listen too. She loves it, and Grant is getting in on it too. It's perfect for when I need to make a quick phone call or finish a quick chore.

Today, Friday, was Kindergarten classroom visit day. Hubs took the day as a furlough day and joined us while Grant chilled with Grandma at our house. Emma impressed her teacher with her reading (the teacher's jaw literally dropped when she realized Emma was reading the worksheet), we learned where the bathroom and playground are, we found Emma's cubby, and we met some friends (and saw some old ones - a friend from church, a friend from preschool, and a friend of my dad's!). I also learned that the kids need to bring their own snack each day, so I'll be getting some sort of mini lunch box over the weekend. We came home excited for Monday, and with a huge stack of forms to fill out.

We're savoring the last of the summer this weekend with lots of family time and swimming. Monday kicks off a big change in our lives, so we're taking the weekend easy, hanging on to those last days of relative simplicity.

What summer days are made of

School starts in a week. Well, technically 9 days, but whose counting? Anyway, I've been trying to soak in these last few days where we don't have to run out of the house at 7:40am, and we don't have to remember backpacks and school supplies, and we don't have to juggle soccer and homework in the evening.

Today has been one of those days to savor. Saturday means Hubs gets up with the kids. So I slept in a bit, then went for a run. While Hubs took Grant to gymnastics, Emma and I put together a new 100 piece fairy puzzle and played endless games of a critter matching game from her High Five while listening to classical music on the radio. When Hubs got home I headed to the Farmer's Market to buy some mouthwatering tomatoes and peaches. We had lunch as a family, feasting on the fresh produce, and now the kids are resting. This afternoon we're off to swim, and then we're having grilled pizzas for dinner.

Does it get better than this?

Raising a feminist

Emma is obsessed with people's middle names right now. In the car today we went through every friend's middle names that I knew. Then she moved onto grandparents. She giggled as she said each grandparent's full name, then she noticed that Grant's middle name is the same as the last name of my parents and brother.

Emma: Hey, Granny and Grandpa and Uncle G's name is the same as Grant's name. How did that happen?

Me: We made Grant's middle name my maiden name. My last name used to be the same as Granny and Grandpa's last name. When I married Dad I chose to change my last name to his last name. When women get married they get to chose whether to take their husband's last name or not.

Emma: But it's a choice, right? They can choose to change it or not?

Me: That's right, it's a choice.

Be still my feminist heart.

In the mail

It's here! It's here! The IKEA catalog is here!

I love this time of year.