First Day of School! First Day of School!

It's an obscure "Finding Nemo" reference, in case you missed it. If you have seen the movie, let it be known that I am a "Marlin" all the way. "She seems too little to go to school," has been about all I have said lately. Not in front of her though, as I try to keep from being a complete idiot. I have been somewhat taken aback by my level of emotion about my little Kate heading off to kindergarten- I've cried at random, I've worried myself because she doesn't know anyone in her class, I've considered every possible "what if" and worst case scenario. To Kate's credit, she has been incredibly excited; the only momentary moment of panic was when Walmart ran out of glue sticks. So, against my better judgement, Bruce and I dropped her off this morning. I didn't cry. Kate was so happy to be there that I just couldn't do that to her. It would have only confused her as to why I was so sad when she was not.
Some friends in the neighborhood knew I'd need a little distraction this morning, so we rounded up our kids and went to breakfast. Kiki was a little punk. When Kate was getting ready for school Kiki said, "I want go to school. Where my backpack? I want go to school." Then when Bruce left, she said, "I want go to work with Daddy." So I told her, "Kiki, you and I get to go to breakfast!" and she said, "I want stay home."

I had a mini-reunion with my two best friends from high school, Anneliese (left) and Stacie (center). It has been so much fun! I marvel at the many years that have gone by, and we've lived our seperate lives, and yet as we've hung out the last few days we found we still have so much in common. We have laughed and reminisced and just gotten caught up. Anneliese lives far away, but Stacie just moved in close to us, so I'm really excited about that.

Bruce took the girls to a Daddy/Daughter Day at Mutual Dell.

Kiki was WAY into it.

I think Kate had more fun though.

Bruce's parents headed home last week after a fun visit.

Paul and Ruth celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary while they were here. I wish I knew their secret. Of course, I probably won't ever have a 49th wedding anniversary since Bruce would have to live to be, like, 117 or something for that to happen. (Just kidding, babe. Only 92. Don't be mad.)

Janet and I have been canning and canning. We got off to a rough start. We started out making peach slices, but then decided to make peach jam, so we had to switch gears for that, and so 4 hours into our first major canning session we had 4 PINTS of peach jam to show for it. It was a little demoralizing, but we've since got the routine down, and our spirits are back up.

Our batch of jam took 17 1/2 cups of sugar.

I was appalled. No wonder jam is so good.

Here we are at work.

Kiki has exchanged the bikini for these princess pajamas. It's a similar level of obsession but at least we've got a little more coverage. Let's breathe a collective sigh of relief.