Joiner

I realize that I don't write here often enough, so I'm joining the 7 quick takes bandwagon for this random Friday to jot a few things down.

1. Olivia still loves school. She continues to dazzle her teacher with her ability to get along with others and follow directions and be helpful at school. She continues to befuddle her parents with her inability to do any of the above things at home. Transitions, man. They kind of suck.

2. Martin has developed an excited Pavlovian response to the appearance of any yellow bus. He thinks they are all Olivia's bus. He's excited to watch her get on in the morning and get off in the afternoon. It is adorable.

3. Speaking of Martin, he is quite the little comedian. He is just so funny. And he knows he's funny. And he gears his timing toward making himself even funnier. He may be a comic genius.

4. I kind of love school uniforms. Like, a lot. They are SO EASY. We never, ever fight about what to wear in the morning. Uniforms = da bomb

5. Also, I love our school. Catholic school, y'all. It is something else. I mean, Olivia comes home talking about what she learned in reading and math and religion. In kindergarten! I was a public school kid, so this is kind of foreign to me, but awesome.

6. In that same vein, I love that I can send Olivia on the bus and she doesn't come off with bad habits learned on the bus. Or at school, for that matter. The kids, the teachers, the bus driver...they all foster values and an attitude of respect. I know some of the kids who ride the bus she would ride if she went to public school, and based on that I'm certain that we'd be fighting some newly-learned bad habits if she were in that environment.

7. This is kind of perfect.

Kindergarten. No big thing.

So, Olivia started kindergarten on Monday. She woke up WAY early and then fell back asleep on the couch and then popped up when I said it was time to put on her uniform. Soon, she was ready to go out into the wide, wide world of big kid-dom.

I know this is something of a milestone for most kids (parents). For her, it was no big thing. She was in preschool at the same school for the past two years, all day, 2-3 days a week. She simply moved one classroom over to start kindergarten.

When we walked in, she went immediately to the lockers, found the one with her name on it, hung up her bag and went to play with the other kids. "Wait a minute, I need a picture." Sighing heavily like a teenager embarrassed by her camera-happy Mom, she obligingly moved over to stand in front of her locker for a snapshot.

She managed to put on an excited smile, though.

She was ready. Today is the third day, and she's still popping out of bed, eager to choose a uniform color and get dressed for school. (I love that, by the way. Uniforms rock. SO EASY.)

Today, I am shopping online for a sweatshirt or cardigan that is uniform-appropriate because we had some (very welcome) unseasonably cool weather this mornings. I wasn't expecting that in MID-AUGUST, but we'll take it.

We are still early in this 5-days-a-week school process, but so far it has been good. I am almost as excited about this school year as she is.

OK, family, finish with your pictures already and get out of here. It's school time!

Time's up

Summer, my friends. It is nearly at an end. At least the break-from-school part of it. School starts on Monday, so we've used this week to squeeze all of the fun that we could out of the last moments of summer break.

This week we went to Local Theme Park's Waterpark, during the day, twice. That is TWO times. That's a lot. I mean, we go several times a week, but we almost never go until after 4 p.m., when the crowds die down and the sun loses its burn-you-to-a-crisp power. I had to put sunscreen on the kids. TWICE! I hate putting sunscreen on the kids (or myself). Which is a big part of the reason why we never go until after 4 p.m.

But earlier this week we had friends coming into town...people without season passes who were paying for their day at the park and wanted to get their money's worth. So we screened up and went. And had a fabulous time. And got burnt to a crisp despite the aforementioned sunscreen. (OK, I got burnt. Olivia got a little red on her shoulders and cheeks. Martin didn't even realize we were in the sun all day. Melanin. Powerful stuff, that.)

Olivia and her friend soaking up summer.

We went back today, early again so that we could take the cousins. The kids had SUCH a good time. Martin has become quite the little waterbug. He played so hard that he just spontaneously fell asleep on my shoulder while I was talking to another mom at the pool. Poor little tired guy.

Pictured: Not yet exhausted, but getting there.

Let's see...we went to a movie this week. We went to a "back-to-school" pool party. We went "to town" to visit friends. It was an eventful week.

And now I'm exhausted!

On Monday, Olivia starts Kindergarten, which doesn't seem like a big thing since she was at preschool at the same school last year. But she was only there 3 days a week. This will be 5 days a week, every week. That is kind of huge. Right? I'm sure it will be a big transition for her. But she is ready. And I think even I'm ready. I think. Maybe.