Do you have an ugly couch?

Okay, I just happened upon this when I was on AOL checking my email. Apparently there is a contest for the ugliest couch in the world and this has photos of some current entrants and past winners. They are pretty bad... and great if you need a laugh. It makes me grateful that my couch and love seat are fairly decent looking, even if they are hand-me-downs from the 70's.

Ugliest Couches in the World

Things Russell has done in the past couple weeks

Here's a sampling of things Russell has delighted me with in the last couple weeks. He:

1--Loosened the lid on a Costco size container of Taco Seasoning and then threw it across the living room. The lid came off and taco seasoning filled the carpet.
2--Dumped a box of baking soda in the living room carpet.
3--smeared half a jar of peanut butter in the living room carpet and all over a step-stool from the bathroom.
4--smeared a stick of margarine in the living room carpet
5--dumped about half a bottle of blue raspberry flavored snow cone syrup in his bedroom carpet.
6--dumped a bunch of water and juice into the bread machine on top of the dough that had just finished kneading.
7--cut holes in my nice, expensive sheets (not sure if this was him or Ruby)
8--dumped a whole bottle of silver paint onto the red sign I had just painted and was letting dry.

On the plus side, I shampooed my living room carpet last week. Of course, since the margarine was today, I have to do it again. I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of the Hoover Steam Vac I bought when Ruby was about 15 months old. I've had it over 4 years now and have used it at least every three months. There were some time periods in there when I was using it every day. That was Ruby's poop-smearing phase. Boy am I glad Russell has not had a similar phase---You hear that sound? That's me knocking on wood.

Of course, amid all his mess making, he likes to crawl into my lap and give me a hug and say, "I wuv you, Mommy." It's hard to stay mad for too long. He's just so darn cute.

The Digger

The San Jose Water Company (which is a private entity not owned by the city) has decided to replace all the old fire hydrants with new ones before the end of the year. There have been a couple of crews working on this in the neighborhood between our apartment and Ruby's school. Last week we just happened to walk past one as they finished using the jack hammer on the sidewalk around the fire hydrant. We decided to stand and watch them dig up the area around the hydrant. They had a big Cat bulldozer/digger that they used to dig up the sidewalk and the dirt about four feet down. Russell thought this was great. Even I thought it was pretty cool. I was amazed at how smoothly this thing worked. It almost seemed like it was an animal digging with its hands. We watched for about an hour, which is when the crew decided that the pipes were weird there and they were going to have to come back another day and dig up the street, too. I had to drag the kids home.

The day before that Russell and I watched a crane lifting roof panels from a truck onto the new building under construction at Ruby's school. Russell just loves that kind of stuff. He's really into Bob the Builder and tools and big machines.

Saturday was an event at Ruby's school called "Holiday in the Garden." The "garden" part is because the school is in the Rose Garden area of San Jose. It is, in fact, across the street from the Rose Garden. It's a big fundraiser for the PTO (similar to PTA). They decorate the kindergarten area and have booths and food and other things for sale and various performances and a silent auction. The kinders and first graders kicked it off with singing several songs. Ruby was very cute. I helped set up that morning. I also made a "north pole" for the decorations around our classroom. It was a six foot tall PVC pipe with red tinsel around it in a tree stand. I painted up a sign for it that said "north pole." It turned out pretty well, despite some attempts by my children to sabotage the project (one of which involved Ruby painting my kitchen cabinets red and another of which involved Russell dumping my entire bottle of silver paint on the sign). I decided to donate the north pole to the PTO for use in future years. I don't really have anywhere to put it. It did look really nice with the other decorations, though. Our classroom area was decorated so nicely that the PTO decided to have the Santa pictures in front of our display instead of inside the classroom.

Well, I'm off to dinner with some friends from our ward.

Rants, bragging, etc.

Okay, I know I'm way behind on this blog thing. I'll update more later. Suffice it to say, we've been pretty busy and we had yet another visit from the exterminator. They at least did other apartments this time, although they didn't do the whole building like I had demanded. We'll definitely be having another visit sometime soon. This latest visit, unlike the three prior to it, actually seemed to do some good. Perhaps actually treating the apartment where the problem originated (which shares my kitchen wall) helped. Anyway, they actually kind of went away for about a week and a half. But they reappeared in my kitchen yesterday and today. I started looking at real estate and apartment listings again today. I have to say, though, that this whole experience has left me with a desire to never again live in an apartment/condo/townhouse or anything else with shared walls.

On a more cheerful subject, last month Ruby got an award at school for being the "most improved" student that month. It was mostly for her printing and coloring/drawing. She really has made huge leaps forward in that area since school started. We had parent/teacher conferences last week, too. Her teacher said that Ruby is really probably the most improved student overall in the class. She's at or above grade level in everything, works well, follows instructions, etc. It was just a really positive conference. Ruby's teacher also said that some of the girls are starting with the "you can't be my friend" thing and it's getting to be kind of a problem. I was amazed that they are already doing that at 5 years old. Anyway, one of the girls in the class is having some trouble making friends. She's quiet and reserved. Her mom was kind of concerned about it and Mrs. Viau (the teacher) suggested Ruby as a friend for her because Ruby is so kind and nice and it's not in Ruby's nature to refuse to be friends with someone. It made us feel good to hear about what a nice girl we have. I guess we must be doing something right. Of course, it also helps that Ruby really likes this girl and already was making friends with her.

Ruby didn't have school last Friday since it was an inservice day for parent-teacher conferences. We had done our conference earlier in the week, so I took the kids to the Oakland Zoo to spend the day. It was nice. We don't get to do too many all day activities like that now that Ruby is in school, so I seized the opportunity. The kids really liked seeing all the animals (and going on the rides). The elephants were a favorite. The kids thought it was hilarious when the elephants started pooping and peeing. It is rather amazing to see the large quantities coming out of them. Elephant pee looks rather like someone turned on a fire hose. They have a petting zoo area with goats and sheep, too. There were little brushes there, too. The kids had a blast brushing the goats. I got a lot of cute pictures of them at the zoo, which I will post later.

Some of you have wondered how it works having only one car. Ruby's school is 1 mile from our apartment. Charles works 1.5 miles from the apartment and 1.85 miles from Ruby's school. He generally takes the car to work. If I happen to need it during the day I either drop him off at work or, more commonly, after I walk Ruby to school I walk over to Charles' office to pick up the car. Then I just pick him up from work in the evening. He could really walk home from work or take the bus, but doing the bus frequently would end up costing us more than his car was costing us and we sold it in an effort to save money. He works so close and the bus is so expensive that it's actually cheaper to drive and pick him up. It's been working out fine so far. It's very rare that we both need the car. And we've managed to avoid rain during the walking to and from school hours so far. Except for yesterday. It was pouring yesterday, but Charles just went and got Ruby from school and brought her home in the car and ate lunch at home then went back to work. It's very convenient having him work so close.

That's about all the time I have for now. I'll post more later. Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry I'm so lame...

Do you ever have times when it seems like all your responsibilities and major events happen at once? That's about what the last month has been like. So, sorry I haven't posted for a long time. Here's a bit of what's been happening.

Ruby is in a PIE class. PIE stands for Parents Involved in Education or something like that. Anyway, in order to be in the class, each family commits to work four hours per month either helping out in the classroom or doing various other things to help the school. I am the PIE coordinator for her class. That means I am in charge of collecting all the forms from parents, putting together the class directory, schedules, etc. and keeping parents informed of things that need to be done, etc. Most of the work involved in this position happens at the beginning of the year, so I've been kind of swamped with that. Part of being in the PIE class is that you also have to attend an orientation meeting at the beginning of the year. Well, our PIE meeting was the night before the exterminator was supposed to come last month. On the way home I stopped and picked up some fast food for dinner. Well, I woke up the next morning with food poisoning. It was a mild case, but enough to make me unable to empty out my kitchen and then leave the apartment for several hours. So, I ended up having to cancel that appointment and they were supposed to reschedule. Well our manager was awful, and took forever rescheduling. Then we got new managers and they didn't know anything about my "pest problem" so I had to get them to schedule it. They ended up not coming until last week. More on that later.

In the meantime, we've also been doing some stuff for Prop. 8 here, I've been making the class directory and stuff and trying to track down parents who didn't turn stuff in, celebrating family birthdays, etc. And I've also had a bunch of stuff to do for church. I'm really hoping things will calm down soon. I did finally get around to giving Russell a haircut, too. His head doesn't look like a giant dandelion anymore.

One of the things we've also done this past month is sell Charles' car, so there were a few days tied up with things related to that. Luckily, it sold really quickly, so it wasn't too much of an ordeal. We're now officially a one car family. It's actually working out just fine for us, too.

To be continued......

Shoe Fetish

I have a little boy who LOVES shoes. He always wants to wear shoes, even when he is asleep. He had some rain boots that he would wear everywhere. He'd put them on at night and during the day. He wore those things all the time. Sometimes I'd even have to promise to put them back on over his pajamas just to get his pajamas on him. Every once in a while I'd have to hide them in order to give his feet a chance to air out. They're a little small for him now, and now he has some different rain boots that look like giraffes. Those are his faves now, but he still just loves shoes.

Monday night when I put Russell to bed, he was dressed in blanket sleepers. When I went to get him out of his room Tuesday morning, this is what I found:

Yes, nothing but a pull-up and Ruby's church shoes. It was cold, too.

A couple days ago Russell managed to get himself extremely dirty. He got melted popsicle all over himself and then played outside in the dirt. I gave him a large wet washcloth and told him to go look in the mirror and clean off his face. He took the washcloth and disappeared for a minute then came back and announced that he was "all clean." Here's what he looked like when he returned:

He had cleaned around his right eye and considered his face "all clean." This kid is almost impossible to keep clean. He sometimes manages to get dirty again even before I get him dried off and dressed after his bath. He's like a walking dirt magnet.

I may not be posting again for several days. The exterminator is coming again tomorrow, so I'll be spending the rest of today and tomorrow morning getting ready for that and then spending the next few days putting my home back together. So if I don't post again until next week, that is why.

Random Pics

Ruby's new dress

Russell got into some lipstick

My Dad & Lulu

Christine & Pat
A family gathering at my Mom's house
Me at my sister's rehearsal dinner

Wrangling Russell
Grandma & Grandpa
Jacob
Joseph!

(Am I evil for posting this on my blog?)

Some Pics from my sister's wedding:

Me & My sis

Me & Lisa
Christine & Lisa

The back end of the Bridal Party. Charles brings up the rear behind

Ruby & Olivia as Russell tries to head up the stairs

Russell
Me, Natalie, & Sydney



This is like a 2 second video because I didn't realize Russell had changed to camera setting from snapshot to video, but it was the only good shot I got of Russell in his tuxedo.

Fundi The Snail

http://www.amazon.com/Fundi-Snail-Devon-Nicholson/dp/1435715519/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220737019&sr=8-1

Here's a shameless plug for a new children's book called Fundi the Snail. 'Tis shameless because the creator, author and illustrator are my three illustrious aunts. My Aunt Daphne came up with the idea, my Aunt Allison wrote the story, and my Aunt Devon illustrated it. I have included a link to it on Amazon.com, where it is available for purchase. It's a little expensive because it is self-published, but it's a good book. It's a little bit long for one sitting for pre-schoolers, but is great for school age kids and pre-schoolers will enjoy hearing a chapter at a time. We went to a public reading/book signing and it went over well. Ruby sat through the whole thing and really liked the story.

Here's a picture of my lovely aunts signing books.

Ah, the Silicon Valley, or rather Baah! Silicon Valley and Yea, Dad!

Okay, I've had a pretty interesting week. I've been spending most of my time at the computer doing research and that's why I haven't posted this week. Our landlord is raising everyone's rents really high (or at least trying to), despite the fact that this is low-income housing. You have to make below 60% of the median income for the area to live here. Well, since this is silicon valley and our county includes areas like Palo Alto and Los Altos hills and all these high-tech jobs, the median income for the area is like $98,000. So, it's not hard to be "low income" in San Jose. Anyway, the whole foreclosure fiasco that is hitting the whole country (but is hitting here especially hard because of the totally inflated home prices in recent years) is driving all the former homeowners back into the rental market and rents are skyrocketing. We thought we were somewhat protected here, but apparently not really. They just can't raise our rent above $1432. Well they aren't trying to raise it that high just yet--only to $1378! This is for a 2 bedroom/ 1 bath 834 sq feet roach infested apartment! This roach thing has been on and off for over a year and is driving me crazy, but more about that another day. I'm venting about the rent right now. I know you people who live in other areas are thanking your lucky stars right now.

Anyway, the management here is terrible and you can't hardly get a hold of them anymore. It was not like this when we moved in. It was very nice and we had on site management and they were more careful in their screening and background checks of tenants. It's still the same mangement company, so I don't know what happened. Anyway, when we moved in the rent was $999 and it's been raised every year since then. We renewed our lease this summer for twelve months--I know you are asking why, but it made sense at the time--and they raised our rent to $1220 effective August 1. Okay. So, Sept. 2 I get a notice in the mail that they are raising the rent to $1378 effective Nov. 1. They claim the lease allows rent increases. Well, my reading of the lease was that rent increases were allowed in one specific circumstance. I did a LOT of research on the internet and discovered that that circumstance has not occured. First I had to find out what kind of rules and laws applied to this type of housing in order to figure this out.

Well, my dad is a lawyer. I took my lease to him and he understands it the same way I do. They cannot raise the rent during the term of my lease. He sent the managers a letter to that effect yesterday, so we'll see what happens. It's definitely nice to have an attorney in the family. The management is giving the same rent increases to everyone in the complex, though. It's totally insane.

Now that Ruby is in school, we have more to think about in deciding where to live. We want her at a good school. This complex happens to be at the edge of the area for a very good school, which Ruby attends. However, it is very difficult to find nicer rentals in the attendance area for that school. And the houses go for around $900, 000. There is a very nice low-income complex very nearby here that we are going to try to get on the waiting list for. They have 3 bedroom apartments for the same price they want for this apartment. And they are run by a non-profit agency that just develops affordable housing. The place we are at now is run by for-profit companies who just want the tax credits. Anyway, this other complex is just across the street from the attendance area for Ruby's current school, but is in the same school district. I'm going to contact the district and see about the possibility of keeping her at Trace if we do move into that other complex.

Well, there are good things going on lately, too. Several people have ordered from Ruby's fundraiser and she got a little prize in one of the daily drawings for reporting her sales. For the prize she really wants she needs to sell 34 items, though, and she's not there yet. For those of you who haven't ordered anything yet and want to, Ruby has to turn in orders and money by Friday. You can order on the website until the 19th, though. My mother-in-law ordered stuff through the website and has reported that she's very pleased with her transaction. She already received the stuff and is very pleased with it. And the order did note that credit was going to Ruby.

Each week the assistant principal at Ruby's school keeps track of which classes keep the cleanest tables at lunch/snack time and the cleanest class from each grade gets a popcorn party on Friday. Ruby's class won this week so they got to have a popcorn party yesterday. She also had her first drama class yesterday. She reported that it was very fun and they pretended to be animals and statues. When I ask her what her favorite part of school is, she says, "All of it."

Ruby got her first homework this week. The homework for the week gets sent home on Monday and is due on Friday. For this week (and the next few weeks) she will practice writing her name with only the first letter capitalized. She presently capitalizes the whole name. So, she had to trace her name six times and then write in on her own three times. Her other homework was practicing writing upper and lower case D's and then coloring uppercase D's one color and lowercase d's another color. Her teacher also sent home work that they did in class last week. It was mostly pretty similar. They had a page on which they had to color matching pictures and cross out the things that didn't match and there was one where the teacher had read a story and then the kids had to color pictures of things they remembered from the story. It's all very cute. Ruby's getting pretty good and staying mostly within the lines when she colors and her writing is improving.

Last night the school had an ice cream social. We took the kids and they ate ice cream and played on the playground and didn't want to leave. Ruby got to sleep on the couch last night. She considers this a great treat and got to do it because she went to bed and got up on time all week. We were going to let Russell do it, too, but he wouldn't lay down for more than 2 minutes at a time so he got sent to his room. When we went to let him out this morning, he had removed his diaper and thrown it across the room. As there was no mess and he had done it after waking up in the morning, I wasn't too mad and I just put a new diaper on him. Well, a little while later I went into their room where he was playing on Ruby's bed and it smelled rather unpleasant in there. And he didn't have a diaper on again. This time he had pooped in the diaper and then removed it and thrown it across the room and sat down on Ruby's bed. I was pretty mad. Luckily, the contents of the diaper remained inside when he threw it. But, there were some pretty nasty smears on Ruby's sheet so I had to remove that. Well, there's almost nothing Russell hates more than a shower. He thinks the bath is fun, but a shower is torture. So, I took off his shirt and stuck him in the shower. I was even nice enough to make the water a comfortable temperature, but he screamed and screamed. I told him that's what happens to boys who make messes with poop. This solution seemed to work when I had similar problems with him about 6 months ago, so hopefully he won't keep doing this. I think I may start trying the potty training again now.

Now for the really GOOD news: Charles is getting his cast off on Tuesday! Hooray! Let's all do a happy dance. For those of you who don't know, Charles chipped a bone in his hand during a church basketball game last month and has had it in a cast since Aug. 11. It's his left hand and he's a lefty, so it's been particularly bothersome. He hasn't been able to shave and I have to put his arm in a special bag before he showers. I love the look of the beard, but I'm not crazy about being poked by it when we kiss. I started trimming it with the hair clippers every few days so it still looks good but doesn't poke me as much. He doesn't like the beard at all, though. He says it itches him, so he's looking forward to shaving it off. Anyway, he hasn't been able to help with dishes and stuff and I have to drive all the time. He still has been driving for work stuff, although he shouldn't and he keeps trying to carry stuff with the fingers on that hand. I get mad at him every time I catch him doing it because I know it's slowing his healing. I also have to be careful at night because I sleep on the left side of the bed and I don't want to hit his cast when I roll over. I'm really looking forward to this thing coming off. He's going to get a week of dish duty! I guess he put up with a lot during all the months I was sick during pregnancy, though, so the month of him being in a cast isn't that bad in comparison.

By the way, we are selling Charles' car, so if you know someone in the area who wants a 1997 Geo Metro hatchback with 125,000 miles, let me know. We really only need one car and don't even need that a lot of the time. I'm walking Ruby to school and Charles only works a mile and a half from here, so he can walk or ride a bike. I've got a bike sitting unused in my sister's garage that I'm sure she'd love to get rid of. And think of all the gas money we'll save! Although the Metro does get excellent gas mileage, being only about the size of a postage stamp.

Well, That's all for now. I'll try not to wait a week before I post again so it won't be so long!

Fundraising Already! and other more serious stuff

Let me just start with a shout out to my dear friend Alison, who gave me a window air conditioner when I was visiting her in Wyoming last year. On days like today (it's currently 99 degrees outside), I am extremely grateful for that gift. I think of her every time I walk into my cool living room from outside.

Now, onto the subject of my posting. The school sent home a fundraiser packet yesterday (the second day of school). Their idea is that we'll sell more stuff if we're the first school doing the fundraisers. Could work. So, if any of you want to buy stuff, let me know. There's a bunch of stuff (including chocolate, gift wrap, magazine subscriptions and kitchen stuff) in the catalog. One thing about this fundraiser that I thought was kind of cool is that I was able to register Ruby online and people can buy stuff online and have it shipped directly to them, but it still gets credited to Ruby for prizes and the class party and stuff. I thought this was great for those friends and relatives who live far away but still want to support Ruby. The only downside is that the chocolate (which is what pretty much everyone wants) is not available online because they don't want it to melt in the mail.

For those of you who would like to order something online, here's the link. If you follow this link, the purchases you make will be credited to Ruby. You can shop online through September 19. Orders placed through the school are due Sept. 12.
http://www.westcoastfundraising.com/store/brochures.php?sID=tra8508

Another fundraising method that they are doing is escrip. I think it is awesome because it is painless and doesn't end up costing us a penny beyond what we normally spend anyway. You go to the escrip website and register your grocery club cards, credit cards & debit cards and then when you shop with those cards at participating merchants a percentage of your purchase price gets donated to the school. Safeway (and affiliated stores like Von's and Pavillion's) participates in it. A lot of online retailers (like Amazon.com) participate, too. The thing I thought was great is that even if you don't want to register your credit and debit cards, the grocery club card works. And that still works even if you pay cash! I thought that some of you who don't have kids or whose kids are beyond the school stage or have not reached it yet might want to participate. And for those of you who have kids in school, you should try to get your school to do this. I've been told that in just the month of May over $2000 was raised for the school through escrip. If you'd like to sign up to help out Ruby's school, go to www.escrip.com and sign up.

The registered group name is:
Trace Parents & Teachers Organization
The group ID is: 141574827

I've still been walking to and from school with Ruby. Yesterday I pulled the kids in the wagon again. It was a really hot day, though, so by the time I got home from the afternoon trip I was completely exhausted and not good for much of anything for the rest of the day. Today we were running a bit late getting out of the apartment in the morning. It was really hot last night and none of us slept very well. I had some trouble getting Ruby out of bed this morning. We were about 20 minutes later leaving than I wanted to be, which left me 25 minutes to get to the school before it started. That is approximately the amount of time it has been taking to get there with the wagon (we have to cross a lot of streets, including one major one at which we have to wait at a light). Luckily, Ruby had requested to go in the double stroller today. It's easier to maneuver and go faster with the stroller, so that was a good thing. I walked very quickly all the way to the school and managed to get there with a few minutes to spare. I was sweating, though.

This afternoon I decided to do the car instead. It was just too hot to walk. Also, there was a special assembly at noon that they invited the parents to attend. I left Russell with my brother Jacob so I could go to it. The assembly was just for the Kindergarten classes (the have a separate campus area from the rest of the school) and was about a little boy that will be their classmate. He's not actually in Ruby's class, but is in the class next to hers. He came to the end of the assembly, but won't actually start school until Tuesday. He was severly burned over most of his body in a car fire last year. Apparently the gas tank caught fire and he was strapped into his car seat and they couldn't get him out before the flames reached him. Every parent's nightmare, right? So some people from the local hospital's burn unit where he gets treatment came and did a presentation about burns and what happens and how much they hurt. One of the nurses that spoke was a burn victim herself. She had burn scars over half her face. It happened when she was about 7. They talked about how he looks different on the outside, but he's just like them on the inside and he wants to play with the other kids. He doesn't have the gauze wrapping and stuff anymore, but does still have to wear some pressure bandages. He also has a trache tube, so they need to be careful about playing with water with him and if they notice him having trouble coughing or breathing they need to get an adult. He doesn't have any sweat glands anymore, either, so he can get overheated easily and might need to rest a lot. He's missing three fingers on one hand, too. He's just a very smiley, cheerful, energetic kid, though. He said he'd rather have the kids ask him questions than stare at him and he seems like he's really excited to go to school. I was crying when I saw him. He's the kind of kid you just want to hug. His mom was there with him and she was teary-eyed. (I understand she's like that a lot, and who can blame her?) We're all hoping that since the kids are all so young and have not formed prejudices yet that they'll be able to accept him and be friends with him and they'll all end up being more tolerant people when they grow up.

Ruby said she thought it seemed kind of scary and she would be very sad to be burned like that, but she seemed open to the idea of being friends with him. I'm don'tthink they'll have recess at the same time, but they might interact before and after school.

Ruby's First Day of School

I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. Some of my friends have them and I find it to be a nice, convenient way to keep up with what's going on in their lives. There are so many people who want updates from me and I am so bad about actually doing them that I thought this would be a good solution. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. I can't promise to post every day, but I will try to post something at least a couple times a week.

I thought that today was an appropriate time to start blogging becuse today was Ruby's first day of school and I know lots of you are interested in how it went. Her school is just about a mile from our apartment, so we decided to walk. I loaded the kids into their wagon and pulled them. I'm hoping that I'll lose some weight from walking back and forth to the school twice each day. I have to admit that I'm a little worn out from doing it today, but it'll get easier. I was fine this morning and on the way back to the school this afternoon, but that second trip home in the blistering sun kind of got to me (even with a hat and sunglasses).

The Kindergarten classes have the parents stay for about an hour the first day to have a meeting with the teacher and help the kids get used to the idea of being in school. Charles arranged to go to work late so that he could come with us. It was nice. Ruby's teacher, Mrs. Viau (pronounced "Vee-Oh"--it's French) had each kid get their picture taken with his or her parents so that she can learn who belongs with which kid. I thought that was a good idea. Ruby and I had already met her teacher and a couple of the other parents and kids when we went to orientation last Thursday. I was really glad we went because Ruby warmed up to the whole idea much faster today. One of the things Mrs. Viau had the kids do with their parents was to find certain things in the classroom (like their cubbies, desks, the drinking fountain, etc.) and get a sticker on their paper when they found each thing. The kids liked that a lot and I thought it was a really geat ice breaker activity for the kids. After that activity and a family photo, we went home and left Ruby to finish her first day of school.

Many mothers would be very emotional and teary eyed upon leaving their first child at school for her first day of kindergarten. I am not one of those mothers. I was ecstatic as Charles, Russell and I walked home from the school. I don't think the reasons I felt that way were entirely selfish, although I was really looking forward to only having one kid for a few hours. I knew that Ruby would take to school really well and that she would enjoy it. It's the kind of environment that I think she'll thrive in. It's hard to be sad when your kid is starting something that you know will be a really great positive and rewarding experience. And my instincts about that turned out to be spot on. When I picked Ruby up she said that school was fun and she really liked it. The teacher dismissed the kids individually and Ruby was one of the first ones out the door, so I assume she behaved herself. Russell was much easier to deal with by himself and I actually managed to get some dishes and laundry done before I had to go back to the school to pick up Ruby. I think this school thing is going to be great!