The First Two Weeks

It's been a whirlwind for Francesca these past two weeks. In fact, I would say she is now officially exhausted. Hopefully the weekend will energize her!

Her favorite Kindergarten rebellion seems to be circling around breakfast in the school cafeteria. She wandered in there one morning between getting off the school bus and heading to her classroom. (She told me that she just had to tell them her last name and they let her have it all FREE! Yeah -- right.) She was wowed by the pancakes and despite my rule that since we eat at home we go straight in -- she appears to still be ducking into the cafeteria. Her big sister is apparently joining her now, too.

Fortunately they are being watched by my little spies...

Hot Dog! Gampy is 29!

A bit of a birthday bash this Sunday evening to celebrate Dad/Gampy/PopPop's birthday. Joe channeled his inner Paula Deen and whipped up a Low Country Shrimp Boil. A few snacks, some hot dogs and pasta, diet beer and a silly cake that looked like a hot dog rounded it all out. He had so much help blowing out the candle we had to light the thing -- I don't know -- 2 or 3 dozen times....

It was just a little teeny, tiny bit noisy with the entire Grandchild brigade inside to escape the "melt you in a second" July heat.



And just so you know, the Birthday Boy got his jam on to the "Camp Rock" soundtrack!

Weekend in Wrightsville

 

It was a quick weekend trip to Wrightsville Beach -- a favorite destination of mine for many years. Joe had a conference there (who says accountants don't know where to have fun???)! We drove through a monsoon to get there but after we arrived the skies cleared and we spent the entire weekend swimming, sunning, running and eating seafood favorites.

My stress meter was pegged before we left (back to school, PTA responsibilities, kid schedule juggling and packing collided...). Once we arrived I let the calming influence of the ocean take over (even though I realized right away the ONE thing I didn't pack was my running shoes). Thanks to free wireless at our motel I found my treasured Mizuno Wave Inspire 4-Women at Dick's in Wilmington and popped in and out with my brand new shoes. Problem solved. Training schedule intact. Stress be gone.

The girls say they are ready to go back to the beach. Me, too!

Kindergarten!

Kindergarten -- Day 1!

We liked it. We made new friends. We thought the playground was great. We remembered where to find our milk money in our new lunch bag.

We waffled a bit on the pre-planned first day of school dress. But after changing a few times we went back to the original choice (again Daddy, thanks for the Lilly!).

Tomorrow is our first day OFF from Kindergarten while the teachers divide the little cherubs into classes. We hit the ground running Monday morning!

Girly Girls

 

We've been celebrating some really girly things this week. Like this outfit. It was supposed to be Sophia's first day of school outfit but since she delights in being contrary it ended up being her second day of school outfit. (Special thanks to Daddy here for treating us all to new Lilly while visiting Ardmore.)

Francesca, meanwhile, relaxed today a her "pre-Kindergarten" manicure. Because it is a "special" occasion, Miss Mimi painted a few small flowers with glittery centers on those tiny little nails. It's a family affair for us with Miss Mimi since she also does Grampy's nails regularly .. but that's probably a subject for another post. One that doesn't begin with "Girly Girls"!

Hello, First Grade....

So we trotted off to first grade this morning. We didn't act like we cared a bit. We did however, try to get started for the bus stop about thirty minutes too early! We were not interested in having Mom go to school with us. Lucky for me I have PTA duty the next three mornings and will be able to very CASUALLY stop by and see first grade in action!

A Festive Fourth

Happy Fourth of July Weekend! I am throwing in the towel on Typepad (since my Internet Browser and my Anti-virus Software formed some kind of deadly alliance that prohibits most photo posting!) and I am back where I began -- on Blogger!

The holiday weekend brings us to the end of our Summer School "Track Out". Monday morning we head to First Grade and Summer Camp. And then on Thursday we dip our toes back into Kindergarten!

This weekend was low-key. I ran the Great Raleigh Road Race on the 4th -- a 2 year tradition for me. I took almost 3 minutes off my time from last year, so I am feeling good about that. Uncle Frankie and Auntie Robin hosted dinner on the 4th. (An affair that has grown so large it now requires two tents on their driveway.)



Frankie cooked up 15 pounds of pork, 2 Cornish Hens and hot dogs on the mid-life crisis grill. A few beers, some bubbles and we were home in time to see some neighborhood fireworks.