What Am I Doing Instead of Blogging?

I keep meaning to write a new blog post to keep you readers up to date. But, there's this new thing I've been doing. Reading! Well, I've always been reading but I downloaded The Help by Kathryn Stockett, last week and I can't stop. It's sucking up all my free time! It will end in a couple hundred more pages and I'll be back to blogging more regularly, but until then go buy, borrow, or download this fantastic novel!

Oh, since I'm sitting here and the camera isn't far away I'll include a couple of fun photos from our dinner out with friends on Saturday night. We feasted on delightful Thai cuisine!

And, if you must know, while I waited for the photos to upload, I read my book. :)

Fabulous First Day

It was hard getting out of bed this morning, and her new shoes felt a little stiff, but D has begun first grade!

En route.

Beside the bulletin board.

With Mrs. Hardman.

 And, who's hot stuff this year getting to hang the big playground before the bell rings? First graders!

The report from D this afternoon- She could tell me the names of all the kids who sit at her table. The best thing was seeing a familiar friend when she went to Spanish class and the worst thing was that her new Spanish teacher isn't as funny as her old Spanish teacher. Not too bad! She did come out of the classroom this afternoon frowning and declaring, "MOM! I have HOMEWORK!" (This was her biggest concern with starting 1st grade.) She is thoroughly enjoying her "homework," searching the house for 5 things that tell about her.

It's going to be another great year!

Play Date

Tomorrow is the first day of 1st grade. So, today D had her friend Jeah over for one last summer play date. Jeah is a great kid who has appeared in previous posts. Delightful to have around because she is funny, polite, and she and D have a great time together. Once she was asking us if we had ever seen "those machines that grab animals with their claws...and you can keep the animal. Some people call them money-wasters." I thought that was hilarious and showed one of the best things about sweet Jeah, she has no idea how funny she is!

C was at school so the girls had the toys to themselves. They played Littlest Pet Shops, read a book, admired the rabbit, and then consoled each other for a bit over not being in the same class this year. Each was reassuring the other that they would still see each other around the playground and at lunch. And they could still have play dates and sleepovers.

We then decided to watch a movie and have an indoor picnic lunch.

Another thing that cracks me up when Jeah comes to play...

the girls are convinced that Thumper will fall in love with this stuffed toy rabbit. I let them keep trying. It's hilarious. Once they petted Thumper and then rubbed their hands all over the stuffed rabbit to spread Thumper's "scent." Ha Ha!

Finally, we wrapped up this last summer play date with a tea party. We made real tea and put sugar in the little sugar dish and served little biscuits on the picnic rug outside. Happy girls shared their snack and said good-bye to summer.



Final Week of Summer Break

D is having a fun and busy week, her last week before the school year begins. We've shopped,

and we've baked and lunched and today, we focused on riding that bike, with just 2 wheels.

D has been very much against this but it really is time. I raised her training wheels a few months back hoping she would smoothly transition to balancing on the 2 wheels in the middle. But she instead transitioned to pedaling along, completely tilted to one side. Backfire!

So today, off came the training wheels, and the pedals, and we're working on coasting on 2 wheels. We watched a youtube video together about it and she was excited about the plan. It's working, slowly.

We were lucky to have a beautiful evening last night before bed and we took Thumper outside and the kids played together on the playset. I was hoping to make that our new evening routine after dinner. Tonight, however, it's storming and very wet outside. But no worries! Plan B is a disco party in the living room!

Rock star dress? Check!

Kidz Bop? Check!

Light up Disco Spinning Heart? Check!

Microphone with Amp? Check!

 We're rocking over here!

Cool Day!

C was ready to go this morning. First day back to preschool. We packed his new Toy Story backpack, hopped on the bike, and pedaled off to school. He was excited to show off the new backpack and see his friends.

I really thought a few tears were a possibility after a lovely summer with lots of togetherness. But, all I heard on the ride there was:

     "Cool day, cool day, I yove cool days!"

     (That's school day, school day, I love school days)

 He posed for photos, kissed me good-bye, and joined his friends. Awesome- but I missed him so much!

The Week's Highlights

I am starting to get caught up around here. And I hope to return to regular blogging. Until then, I thought I'd share some highlights from our first full week back in Thailand.

I emailed our landlord with 3 (reasonable) issues that needed discussion/resolution. Renting is one of the things I strongly dislike about our life abroad, but we make it work. We've had some terrible, uncooperative, cheap landlords. It's especially difficult because we too are landlords back in KC and we consider ourselves good, reasonable people to rent from.

Our landlord here is excellent! She emailed me back within a couple of hours having already taken care of 1 issue and made an appointment for Wednesday to resolve the other 2 issues. She was right on time on Wednesday, took care of the remaining 2 issues, and brought us cake!!! Seriously! Cake!!!

Today was the first day we were able to go on campus to purchase new school uniforms and school supplies. What I remember being such a fun task in school is now simplified to going to the bookstore window, asking for the grade 1 supply pack, paying for it, and going home.

Since acquiring Thumper, I've felt guilty because he is not spending much time outside of his cage. It's tricky because he chews cords and rugs and needs close supervision. Oh, and he's terrified of C's happy squealing and jumping. We bought him a harness and leash but our one experiment taking him outside back in May didn't go so well. We tried again the last couple of days and it seems to be growing on him. Yay! Entertainment for D and less guilt for me!

C starts school on Monday. Will be sure to post some photos.