Shoes, Glorious Shoes!

Ever since Erin has had friends come over to play (I truly detest the term "playdate!"), I've for some reason really enjoyed looking at their little shoes lined up together. (OK, so these days, the shoes aren't that little, but I digress...) I can't even begin to explain why. They usually just look so, well, happy, especially at the beginning of the school year when they're clean and new! I wish they could tell stories about all the fun things they've done with their owners... the playtime, school time, girl drama, all of it. Today, Erin had two friends come home with her after school, and when I saw their shoes all lined up on the stairs, I just had to capture them. If only these shoes could talk!

A New Beginning, and New Chuckles

TGIF! When we came downstairs, we were greeted with a stunning sunrise through the tree tops. I love mornings like this, when it's just cloudy enough to make the sunrise interesting. (Or, heck! When there is a sunrise, instead of being socked in by fog.) Anyway, I ran to get my camera, jumped outside, and snapped away trying to catch it's beauty.

After my early morning shutter-bugging, I started dealing with our normal morning breakfast routine, and Jim made his morning oatmeal. I've mentioned this in other posts as well, but our pets get to share in the oatmeal leftovers each morning. Molly gets to lick out the bowl, and Mia gets to enjoy the spoon. This has caused Mia to become quite the begging kitty (she's worse than the dog!), and she'll sit quietly by the table, hoping to get a piece of something yummy. Breakfast remains her favorite meal of the day though, and she puts on quite a show for us while she licks that little spoon clean!

And So It Begins...

Day Two of school means that the year has officially begun, and the first homework starts coming home. Like most kids, Erin's not too fond of it, but I have to give her credit - she's gotten much better in the past year about doing it and getting it over with. Today, for example, she had to write a 5-paragraph essay about one of her favorite memories from the summer, and she attacked it like nobody's business. When she was finished, she proudly stood up by the table and read it to me, even making sure to make eye contact with her audience while she read. I have to admit, I was quite proud of what she'd written, as well as her dedication in getting it done. I can only hope that the rest of the year's assignments go this smoothly.

Leaving a Legacy (con't)

Back in June, I posted about the project that Erin's school did in allowing students to create tiles to be affixed to the walls of the school. Erin was very excited to be there during the year that they did it, and couldn't wait to see the new tiles up on the wall. Yesterday was the big PTA event at school (the day the kids found out who their teachers would be), and we thrilled to see that the new tiles had been put up! It took us a while, but we found Erin's tile, right in the middle of the group. It's great to know that it will be there long after she's moved on to her next schools (which will be next year! Yikes!).

Today, though, was even more exciting... The first day of school! For Erin, this is a big year. She's in fifth grade, so it's her last year in elementary school. Oddly enough, we woke up this morning to, of all things, rain. I couldn't believe it. That's so completely out of character for this time of year here! But it didn't stop Erin from putting on her new clothes (and she even got to wear her new school sweatshirt that we weren't expecting to break out until much later), and we walked to school with umbrellas. My grandmother used to say that rain on a big event was good luck. I'll stick to that thinking, because I think this is going to be a GREAT year!!!