Kindergarten

Leo is now a Kindergartner! Today was the first day of Kindergarten - yes, before Labor Day. What they do here in Lexington is get 3 half-days in before Labor Day to ease the kids back into school mode, then start full time after Labor Day.

I guess I was a little anxious this morning. Since Leo was with his mom, I got to school and waited for them to arrive. And when they did, Daniel wanted me to carry him, so I wasn't really able to talk to Leo and ask him how he felt. We were able to find his new classroom on our own, and Leo was very curious as he spent a good deal of time looking around the room. Other children started filing in, and eventually the teacher, Mrs. Barker. She immediately took control of the situation, getting all of the children to sit in a circle on the rug - then ordering the parents to quickly say our goodbyes so she could get to work. After we left the classroom, Daniel had a meltdown in the parking lot because he wanted to leave with me instead of his mother - and she was mad because the morning drop-off time at school will not allow her to get to work by 9:00. She said, "You had to pick a school that was the most inconvenient for me, didn't you." I'm sure she would have preferred I let her have her way - which means Leo would be attending a $30,000 a year private school where they teach in French!

I saw Leo later in the day as there was an open house at 5:00 at the school for the after-school program he is enrolled in. He told me his morning was "good". We then met the teachers that run the after-school program. Lexington's kindergarten is "full-day", which is 8:45-3:15. I was able to get Leo enrolled in Lextended Day, which takes the kids at 3:15 and has outdoor playtime when the weather is nice along with arts&crafts projects until parents can pick the kids up between 5 and 6. My neighbor across the street didn't get their child enrolled in time and he is on a waiting list (which the teacher there said he probably won't get into the program at all this year). So, I'm glad I was proactive in getting the house here and getting Leo enrolled.

And I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to pick Leo up from his 2nd day in Kindergarten!

Fast Summer

Wow, its hard to believe the summer is almost over. We missed out on a lot as I had to spend too much time dealing with selling the other house and getting moved. But as we're settling into the new house, we've been able to get out and have some fun. Last week we went blueberry picking and enjoyed a hayride at Wards Berry Farm, and the week before we spent a great day at Nantasket Beach. (Pictures below)

At night I've been unpacking boxes and am very happy to say that every box has been unpacked! There are a quite a few stacks of belongings in the basement and a lot of organizing yet to do down there, but my goal was to get every box (except the Christmas stuff) unpacked so I wouldn't have anything in boxes. This has allowed me to pitch a lot of unwanted stuff. Over the last few days I've been hanging pictures. I don't have anywhere near as much wall space as I did in the other house, so some nice pictures and paintings are being relegated to the basement. But I'm determined to get everything ready for the big housewarming party on the 20th, and I'm just about there.

I've got a few more things to add to the Home Depot list. After installing new wall sconces in the dining room (to match the chandelier I moved from the old house), I found out there is a short in the dimmer switch, so I need to get a new one of those. I also need bathrobe hooks for the boys, an edge guard for the kitchen (where the new refrigerator door swings into a cabinet!), and lastly, for now, I need a new lawnmower. The old one I had used for almost 10 years so it had served me well, but the handle snapped as I was mowing my weeds at the new house. Yes, I said weeds. The previous owners of this house didn't take care of the lawn or any of the gardens (which I found out had been meticulously designed by the owners before them), and so everything is overgrown with weeds. I'll save that work for next spring - summer is almost over and it looks like its going to be a very busy fall.