The End of Summer

School starts in a week. Gavin will be in Kindergarten this year. All three kids will be out of the house at the same time. I can't even remember the last time I went grocery shopping alone. It will be very weird. And kinda lonely.

The kids are going to a new school this year. All three will be in the same school so drop off and pick up will be easy. Our commute will be 15-20 minutes versus the 5 minutes of years past. Still, the change is for the best and it took all summer to get it straightened out. Henry was being viciously bullied (physically and verbally) at the other school. The principal did absolutely nothing to help the situation. I finally said I would call the police the next time something happened. I applied for an in-district transfer for all three kids. We are all hopeful that this year and school will be much better.

I am still nervous, though. Gavin will have a huge change since he is used to being alone with me. Our summer did not go as I had hoped, so the tutoring and studying did not happen as much as it should have. We're working on it though.

Not much new beyond the school situation. We did have bats in the house twice in one week a few weeks ago. That was horrifying. Mark did a lot of work trying to find where they were getting in. Lot's of holes filled. I am still paranoid though.

On that note, I am off to organize school supplies for the Meet-the-Teacher night tomorrow!

Summer 2015

 Henry with the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald.

 Miss Irene on her birthday.

 Gavin showing his support of Leonardo from the Ninja Turtles.

 Gavin on the computer while wearing his winter hat in the middle of summer :-)

 Photo proof that Henry and Irene can actually sit next to each other and get along for 5 minutes!

 Cool kids in their cool sunglasses.

And one of Captain snuggling with the basket he has fallen in love with. Yes, he wraps himself around it to sleep.

Another year, another summer. Trying to get into school mode again. Reading and practicing math. Slowly buying supplies and clothes. Gavin starts Kindergarten in the fall. All three will be in school all day this school year. It'll be weird to be home alone!

Happy Holidays!!

 It is near impossible to get all three to look and smile at the camera at the same time.

 Managed to get one where they are all looking at the camera and smiling!

Happy Holidays to you all! And health and happiness to you in 2015!

Halloween 2014

Irene said she didn't smile because she was a devil and they don't smile. Goofy kids :-)

My Kids Are Cuties

School 2014

 Today is the first day of school for the 2014-2015 school year! This year Henry and Irene will be in the same school. Drop off and pick up is a breeze this year. Irene is in second grade and Henry is in third. Gavin is doing a second year of preschool since he won't be five for a couple of months yet.

This year we are doing something different for preschool. Gavin is going to do preschool online at home. Originally I had signed him up for a private preschool that is walking distance from our house. Last year he did preschool through the public school. We still had to pay for it each month as well as volunteer. I hate volunteering. I will send in supplies and cookies and any of that stuff, but (please God!) don't ask me to come in, especially when I am paying for school. Anyway, this new school did not require volunteering and I felt like it was a better fit for Gavin.

 Unfortunately, both public and private preschool cost far above what we can afford right now. I finally made the decision to pull him from it. I about cried when making this decision. I am a real believer in having children get socialization and learn how to work in a group setting. Still, it just wasn't in the cards for us. Instead, Gavin is signed up for 41 weeks of online preschool. It costs us $20 a month. He'll be learning numbers and letters as well as some arts and science.

It about broke my heart this morning while we were doing pictures when he wanted his backpack and wanted to go to his new school. I keep telling him he'll be doing it here with me. Hopefully, after a couple of weeks, we'll be in a got rhythm and he'll love it.

Captain America

 I couple of posts ago I wrote about the death of my beloved Tibetan Spaniel, Chang Po. He died at the age of 12 in August 2013. I was heart broken, but his death was quick and I was able to hold him, tell him I love him and thank him for being my sweet boy since the day he was born.

 We went six months before Gavin started talking about wanting another dog. He and Chang were always having fun together and Gavin wanted another buddy. We checked out Craigslist and finally found a dog we thought might work out well with us.

 Captain America (named by Gavin who is a HUGE Captain America fan) is a shepherd mix and was around 10 months old when we got him. He is very playful and does not realize he is a big dog.

 It took a little bit for LuLu to really accept him into our pack. She has had separation anxiety since Chang passed away and having Captain here for company had helped with that. Captain is so similar to Chang. There are all these little tings that he does that just stop you for a second because it is like having Chang still here. We always used to say that Chang was a big dog in a little dog body and now it is like having that big dog version of him.

Still, Captain is his own dog and has many unique qualities as well. He loves to dig and jump our backyard fence. He is a sweetheart, but likes to chew. Hands/fingers are his favorite things. He gives kisses to your fingers before chomp-chomp-chomp.

Yes, I found him a collar on Etsy.com that has Captain America's shield on it.