School Days

Summer was extraordinarily busy, and our schedule still hasn't really let up any. We're enjoying it though. We've been finding lots of fun things to do on the weekends as well as occasional trips to the library on weekdays for pajamarama story time. It's just what it sounds like... someone (a father of a couple of the kids who attends) reads a few stories to the kids, and the kids get to come to the library in their pjs. It's a lot of fun.

I've also seen some old friends over the past month or two. I got together with the guys (Mike, Kevin, and Tom) and all our spouses at the end of July at Archie's. We of course drank copious amounts of beer and shouted entirely too much. Mike seems to have that effect on me for some reason. I get extremely loud in his presence.

Here we are! Don't we look awesome?



I also met up with some old friends from high school, Beth and Shannon. We went out for drinks one Tuesday night, and we've decided to make it a monthly thing. We're meeting again October 5th. Good times!

And I met up with my friend, Dawn, who I haven't seen in a couple of years. We used to work together at the mall, and she stuck by me when I was all kinds of messed up in the head back in my 20s (weren't we all?). We went out for drinks and pizza this past Sunday and had a great time. We're hoping to get together with our menfolk soon.

And the biggest and bestest news of the summer... Ellie started Preschool! She's doing awesome. The actual Pre-K program started a couple of weeks ago, and Ellie's learning is off the charts! She's like a sponge. It makes me so happy to see her enjoying learning so much. The first time I saw her write her name, I cried. Leaps and bounds my friends, leaps and bounds.



She's been learning to write all her letters and what sounds they make. I think it's a very real possibility that she may be able to read by the end of this school year. She's crazy over books. We go to the bookstore nearly every week, and she loves taking books out at the library too. She even *gasp* sometimes asks for me to read her a story instead of watching TV. Like whoa.

She's been drawing a lot too. She brings home at least 2 drawings a day it seems. Here's one of our family, Luna the cat included:



Besides all that, we've been going to festivals and fairs and all that good stuff besides. We're planning on hitting 2 country fairs this weekend and an arts and artisans festival next weekend. It's good to get out of the house and get Ellie used to crowds. She's been excellent I must say.

Tomorrow, I'm taking a 1/2 day at work so I can take Ellie to see Teri, our daycare provider. Ellie had to adjust a bit from daycare to preschool, and she misses Teri and her friends there a lot. She asks about them all the time, and I figured I've let enough time pass that we can finally make a visit. I wanted to make sure she understood that we weren't going BACK to Teri's; we're just dropping in to say hi. Fingers crossed she gets it!

That's all folks. Until next time. Peace.