Back to School Week in Review

By Da Mama

This back to school week went pretty dern well. After starting out as a nervous birds, Bella (and her mommy) quickly settled calmly into the new routine. Daddy and Iris kept doing what they do and by the end of the week we are all back in a good rhythm.

1st Day Jitters / Pride

Bella loves her new teacher, the classroom pets (although "Fluffy" the hamster is under the weather - we think he is allergic to 1st graders), and she has a new best friend already. Now that she is back to acting like her normal self, it's clear how nervous Bella was leading into this new school year. We are relieved so see her settled so quickly and to have our happy little yippy yapping sprite back in action.

Todd has some flexibility in his work schedule with the new job and so he goes to work early every Wednesday and can pick Bella up right from school and then Iris early from daycare that day at 3:00pm. I do the same on Thursday and Friday - so that leaves just two "long" days each school week for the girls (Bella takes a bus to daycare on Mo & Tu) and the family - a pretty good balance for us. That extra 2 hours in the afternoon of at least one adult home with the kids to unwind and start dinner makes all the difference.

Grandma Susan visited for the day today. She's doing okay, but grieving after the death of her long time friend and companion, Floyd the cat, but we hope a day with the Grand kids cheered her up. She had special time with Iris Ruthie - playing at McDonalds and then at home, then the rest of the girls came home for the afternoon.

Swinging Beauty

After Grandma left, the girls helped me make dinner and then I took some fun photos of Iris on the swing. She knows how to "pump" herself - learned from her big sister - and she loves to be out on the swing, flying through the wind. Bella finally overcame her fear of the bees in our backyard and was outside playing quite a bit. We even managed to eat dinner outside on the back deck and she was proud of being brave - at least until a couple of aggressive bees sent us all back inside. We walked into town for ice cream and a little playing in the park this evening. Ruthie could barely keep her eyes open on the way back and wanted to "get into bed to warm up" before putting on jammies and brushing her teeth.

Much love to you all!

Angel Iris Art