New Best Friend

On the way into kindergarten on her first day, Julia spotted another girl who had the same purple butterfly pattern on her lunch box as Julia had on her backpack.  It was an instant connection.  Both girls seemed relieved to find this simple common connection.  After school, Julia said to me "Mom, did I tell you how I met my NEW BEST FRIEND today??"  Here they are on day 2.

We Made It!

And just like that, our youngest started kindergarten!  People keep asking me if I am sad that my youngest is starting school.  The truth is I feel like we just crossed the finish line of early childhood, and we. made. it.  Phew!  Those early years are precious and so much fun, but they are also exhausting, especially caring for young children and working full time. I will not miss schlepping three kids to day care, going to a full day of work, picking them up and doing the crazy dinner/bath/bed routine repeat x 5 each week.  But I definitely will miss those chubby cheeks, the sweet kisses, toddler giggles and the like.  Fortunately, they all still climb in my bed every night and we read together, which I love.

For her part, Julia is so ready for kindergarten.  With a fall birthday, she is one of the oldest in her class.  And she has watched her older brothers do school.  On the way in on the first day, we were toward the end of the line of kindergarten kids, and it didn't occur to me until several kids around us burst into tears as they got closer to the classroom door that the end of the line is where the kids who are apprehensive about going linger.  Julia looked at me like "where are you taking me, exactly?" I quickly told her that while she has been going to preschool for two years, this is the first time that some kids are away from their parents and she will have to be a helper to made them feel better. That seemed to sound okay to her.  After her first day I asked her if she liked kindergarten.  Her response was "Like it?!?  I LOVE it!"  Sounds like we are off to a good start.

Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis

This handsome guy turned 1 this week, so of course we had to make it to St. Louis to celebrate with him.  Look at that hat!  He was adorable and properly devoured his smash cake.  The party was a success.  And we took a trip up the Arch to boot.

Fairly Wonderful

Another year means another trip to the State Fair in Iowa.  We decided to try something different this year and come in through the northeast gate.  The kids tend to get tired and we often don't make it up to that quadrant of the fairgrounds, so we thought if we started there it would be all new to us.  First stop was the building that exhibits birds, including an incredible array of chickens.  The kids have been into chickens since meeting Aunt Nicki's chickens earlier this spring, and they loved seeing how different the breeds looked, seeing which ones had laid eggs (at the fair!) and trying to figure out exactly which rooster was making all that noise.

We also rode the sky glider, which is like a ski lift that goes over part of the fair.  My dad told a story when we were growing up about how he once took my brother and I on the sky glider when we were about three and one and thought he was going to have to knock my brother unconscious to keep him from trying to get off the thing mid-air.  One he got on, he said "Down, I want down!" But of course there is no safe way to do that mid-trip.  Having ridden that thing this year, I have a new appreciation for the story.  It was about three stories in the air, passing over large areas of concrete with the only thing holding you in is a single bar that does not fit snugly.  I wrapped my arm tightly around Julia and held my breath until it ended.

Food is a big thing at the fair.  This year we went with just Bauder's ice cream and a lemonade.  Two classics.  Some people love to try all of the new food each year.  We did a little bit of the midway and stopped by the master gardeners' show garden. Mom is going to take classes this fall to become a master gardener.  Next year, she may be one of the gardeners who helps with the exhibit at the fair.  How neat would that be?  The equivalent of knowing fair royalty.

Pink Zebra

This is Julia's sculpture, titled "Pink Zebra" that she made at her Zoo Animals class at the Des Moines Art Center this summer.  All of the kids took classes there this summer, and I took a watercolor painting class there in the spring as well.  I feel so fortunate that we have such a great facility in our hometown.  My grandfather was an artist, and his sister was as well.  I want the kids to know the joy of creating things with their own hands.