Family Highlights From Late-Summer On; aka, Time To Catch Up On The Blog

We're a little behind on this whole blogging thing. I think we'll try to keep it short & simple, stick up tons of pictures of our cute kids, and plow through the last few months for the benefit of those who may care what's going on in our lives...

As many of you may know, Lorelai started kindergarten this year. She was admitted into a local charter school here in Sahuarita called Great Expectations Academy--we decided to try it out mainly because of the smaller class sizes (attendance cap: 20), since we thought that would keep Lorelai from being overwhelmed or overlooked. The school year started EARLY, too...as of July 21 (about 3 1/2 weeks before Lorelai's 5th birthday!!), she began school.

Not surprisingly, Lorelai loves school (even if it still tires her out some days). This picture was taken on her very first day; when other kids were crying around her and being peeled off their parents' legs, Lorelai was all smiles, tackling her blocks and ready to go. She even told me to "go away now"!

Surprisingly, I haven't burst into tears myself yet--almost 5 months later (yes, this blog is reeeally late). Maybe because she was so happy to be a student, and I was happy for her; however, I will admit I've gotten misty-eyed on several occasions, dropping her off at school and watching her walk away from me, towards whatever adventure that day holds. She's not my baby anymore (although, 2 more babies later, I guess I knew that already), but there's also a part of her that is exclusively hers now, that I'll never fully be a part of. That knowledge makes this control-freak momma a little bummed.

This melancholy, however, is more than made up for by seeing the joy Lorelai gets from school, and how excited she is to learn things. Her creativity has gone to a new level since school started--she always wants to work on a new picture, or transcribe one of her books now that she knows her letters, or make her own puzzle/word search/etc. I have loved her beautiful and goofy drawings, many of which she makes just for me. The object on the left is a dog, if you're wondering. And the blue "sky," of course, is "up." It's neat to see the way her brain is developing.

And now that she can read & write, of course, she's coming up with even kookier stuff, like this picture above. Once, she left Nate a note that said, "Daddy, I love you so much I can't believe it." As you can guess, he's keeping it close to his heart! I remember how wonderful it was for me to learn to read and write--it opened up worlds of discovery, and I am so happy the same is coming true for my firstborn.

Okay, I said I'd keep this blog post short, but I just wanted to brag about my daughter a little bit! I'll have more specific stories to tell later, but I just wanted to say how happy I am Lorelai is hanging in there with her class and loving every minute of kindergarten. Here's hoping the rest of her year brings even more enjoyment!