Schooltime

I actually shed a tear today as I left three kids with their respective teachers on this first day of school. Wilson was defineatly having some anxiety about fifth grade. He reported that his teacher is, "picky, picky, picky!" Cooper was thrilled that this year he will have potential to earn tootsie rolls daily. He and his friends have every recess planned from now until Christmas. By far the most excited was our kindergartener. She marched right into class where her teacher grabbed her for a hug and said, "let me just look at the whole picture!" Eliza could hardly contain her excitement about having "homework," but duly rolled her eyes and sighed heavily when I told her it was time to get it done. It was much easier to get back into our routine this year, which makes me hopeful that we'll be able to maintain the routine and get to school on time. I'm grateful tht my kids go to a school where everything is familiar, even to first time kindergarteners. I love that everyone knew Eliza on her first day of school. I think the familiarity is a blessing to both Cooper and Wilson as well.

I cleaned like a mad woman today. I don't know why I think I can clean a summer's worth of dirt out of my house in a day, but I gave it a valient effort. I'm not sure how long Max is going to last alone with me. He wandered around aimlessly with his pillow asking to go to"BYU." I later figured out he wanted to go to the football field( BYU is heavily associated with football in this house) so Tony took the kids to play after dinner.

Mom and I had such a nice time on our quick trip to Seattle. She had a doctor's appointment there and it made for a wonderful excuse for a girl's getaway. We ate kosher food at a New York deli, authentic Vietnemese noodle bowls and great Mexican beans and rice. We got some good shopping in and especially had fun in IKEA, where we got good ideas for organizing Mom's new house. We did a fair amount of getting lost, but this gave us plenty to laugh about. I'm so different than my Mom, but wish I were like her in more ways, like her compassion, empathy and especially, her attention to detail.

Thank goodness for one last weekend of summer including a couple of days at the lake. It's been such a great summer, I'm having a hard time transitioning to f\Fall.