Catching Up

It's been a busy week! Trying to soak up the last precious moments of summer, readying our daughter for her first day of second grade! (Tomorrow!) Enjoying one last summer bbq with friends, possibly our first and last sail of the season on Grandpa's boat, enjoying our pool a few more times before it is closed, and tearing apart our living room and kitchen to paint just a few days before Labor Day and a bbq at our house! Good times! ;)

But all is well now -- the furniture is back in place, the curtains are hung (that happened 45 mins before our company arrived on Saturday -- talk about last minute!), my girl's first day of school outfit is hanging in her closet (although if left up to her, it would be hanging on the knob of her dresser, with half of it lying on the floor, waiting for the cat to curl up on it!), her bookbag is packed with all of her new school supplies inside. Everyone's lunch is made and waiting in the fridge, and her father, grandfather, sister and I are all ready to walk her down to the bus tomorrow morning for a big send-off! She's been quite emotional lately, feeling sad about the end of summer and nervous about the start of school. She told me tonight she's not sure that she wants to be in the second grade! (Sorry Charlie -- no turning back now!) I foolishly decided not to take the day off today, to spend her last vacation day with her -- trying to conserve time off, I guess... But almost as soon as I got to work I called and left my boss (who was off) a message saying that I was leaving after lunch! Good thing too -- I thought I was so prepared for her to start school, but realized that the kitchen was not stocked for school lunches (her school does not have a cafeteria). A quick trip to the grocery store rectified that, and I also bought a little cookie cake and had her name written on it -- a sweet treat for our "First Day of School" dinner tomorrow night.

I got home a few hours early and she and I packed her lunch together (although I JUST remembered that I have to do a lunchbox note for her!!), and then I took out some magazines and photos and a large piece of posterboard and set her to work on our annual "End of Summer Collage" which was fun for her and for us to get to reminisce about what a great, busy summer we had this year! I also helped her with putting a collage together for her new school 3-ring binder. I had talked her out of the $8 (or whatever outrageous price) for a "Hannah Montana" 3-ring binder, and talked her into a less expensive "view-binder" that we could decorate ourselves. I did a lot of the hands-on work on this project and she supervised and acted as a creative consultant. Overall we were very happy with the end result! And with the pictures of family and friends (and Webkinz...) that we put in there (and of course, the Jonas Brothers...) hopefully it will lift her spirits everytime she sees it during the day!

So, that's what we've been up to at our house -- what have you been doing to get ready for the new school year?