James has a stuffy nose, quite probably due to allergies and/or crazy changing of the weather this week. Tonight before our family prayer he asked me to pray that he would "RECOVER from his ILLNESS." dramatic much? (and I don't know where he gets all his words?)

First day of kinder, postlude

So Schmoo got on the bus at 8:30 this morning and I wandered around the apartment thinking, "so now what do I do?" (well, I am in the middle of a job hunt, so I'm guessing that feeling won't last too long.) Anyway, he was gone all day and was supposed to be home at 4:00.

Due to first day of school chaos, he didn't get home til 4:30. He came in, asked for a snack, sat down and said, "So, mommy, do we have any plans for today?" I told him, "yeah, it's called dinner and bedtime!" Good grief, 8 hours of school aint good enough for ya, kid?

We asked what his favorite part was and he answered, "lunch". He said his least favorite part was being the last one on the bus (which he wasn't so I don't know what that's about.) He had fun in gym and didn't complain about anything, so I'll call that good though I know the honeymoon won't last forever :)

First Day of School!

Today is the first day of school! How in the world did it get here so fast? We were just celebrating the end of Pre-K and next thing you know, we're packing lunch and sending him off on the big yellow bus to the first day of kindergarten! I've spent the last several days hiding tears, but thankfully he is so ready and happy to go. I don't know if I would call it "excited". He's pretty nonchalant, just like his dad!

We went to see his classroom and meet his teacher last Friday. His school is only for kinder and first grade but it has 15 classes of each grade!!!! He got an outstanding teacher and I am hopeful that she will know what to do with his big brain and propensity to get upset if he doesn't do something perfectly or know the answer (or know it all, for that matter.)

He's been WAITING SO LONG to wear his new school clothes and use his new school gear.





Waiting outside for the bus.

He just lost his second tooth last week:

Going...


Going....
Gone.


I've spent so much time being sad about it over the past couple of weeks that I was really surprised that when the bus pulled away I didn't sob like a big baby. Maybe I'm still in shock.

Going out with a bang

Summer's ending so this week has been sort of a "let's do it all one more time before school starts." We went used our passes one more time at Storybook land, went bouncing at Bounce U, and took Schmoo for a night out on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Since we've already done pics at the other places, it was time for photos on the Boardwalk.

The best pizza ever! You can see my dh waiting in line in the pic. It actually moves fast, but we had to eat out on the boardwalk because sitting inside was impossible.

Little baby bird still wants to be fed his pizza by hand if he can't have a fork :)


This is approx one second before the seagulls pooped on his head. He was a good sport about it. Much better sport than I would have been, that's for sure!



Schmoo didn't want to ride any rides, he wanted to play mini golf. Since there are so many options for mini golf on the boardwalk, we had to check all of them out before he decided. He settled on the Pirate ship one.


I love this pic because they are walking in sync with their clubs held exactly the same.


On the pirate ship hole


Both guys got a hole in one at the lighthouse.


Sunset in Ocean City



Frozen custard before heading home

Strangest week ever

I'm fairly certain that everyone who lives up and down the east coast just experienced the strangest week ever. My own personal part of that was certain medical procedures I had done followed by what everyone else experienced: earthquake and hurricane on the east coast in the same week. The earthquake was no big deal...I was lying on the couch and then wiggle wiggle wiggle. I thought I had lost my mind but then realized what happened. The only other time I had felt one was in Panama. My dh didn't feel it as he was driving at the time, but Schmoo felt it at his playdate. Strange!

It wasn't until I turned on the weather channel to check out the earthquake info that I realized that we were in the path of Irene. I called honey and asked him to pick up some provisions at sam's club just in case. Sure enough it became clear that we would be hit. We were not in the mandatory evac area and since it didn't look like it was going to be worse than a Cat 1 we just prepared and stayed where we were.

Here was the prep:

the junky food part of the supplies


bathtubs full of water, just in case.


spent two days cooking and eating the fridge food

moved all the patio plants in


Here comes the storm...


Then it hit. It wasn't bad at all. Bout 24 hours of wind and rain. We lost power for 8 hours. We are so thankful that that was all that happened.

The "aftermath": a bit of flooding in our community


And a downed tree or two.

We were so blessed. It could have been a lot worse, but it was very mild. Thank you for your prayers in our behalf :)

Schmoo says...

I was opening something in the kitchen and Schmoo, just like a pet, came running. He says from around the corner, "Whatever it is, I like it and I want some!" Too bad it was pasta.

******

We were trying to explain some to the kid who knows it all. He replies, "ONCE AGAIN, I am FIVE YEARS OLD and I know EVERYTHING!"

******

Today he got a letter in the mail from his soon to be kindergarten teacher. It was a nice little welcome letter that included a coupon for a free hug. He read it and said, "Mommy, that is one coupon that I am NEVER going to turn in!"

Summer is coming to an end...

We did a lot of fun stuff this summer but sadly it is winding down this week.

Swimming at our community pool

Lots of beach Saturdays

One sad pic from dad's work party at the aquarium

Making yummy treats and blueberry pies

Participating in the summer reading program at the local library

This picture reminds me SO MUCH of a pic of my honey when he was a kid!

Although he likes to check out books, read, and get the prizes, this is how he feels about storytime at the library:

Swim lessons at the elementary school

We had a lot of fun! Stay tuned for my certain boo-hooing over the beginning of kindergarten!