Walking to School

Admiring their best work before school.

We walked from Steller Way this morning, instead of the apartment, since we had plenty of time and it was such a beautiful morning.

We noticed Shradda coming out of her house with her dad, so we asked her to walk with us.  She and Graysen enjoyed running ahead the whole way while Katherine and I ambled along admiring the leaves and porch decorations.

It just makes my heart happy to see Graysen going in that big front door with a friend and joining a troop of little girls and running off giggling.  She has adapted to all-day every-day school better than we expected.  She never even looked back to say good-bye and wave three times.   And I'm happy about it.

 Katherine seems to be happier now too.  She has a best friend Porter, aka the boy in the green shirt.  I asked her yesterday if Porter wore the green shirt, since that's how she refers to him, and she said, "Uh, no.  He had on a red shirt, I think,"  His mother is one of the teachers, and she says he's always sad on Tuesday and Thursday when Katherine isn't there.  I think she's destined to have one good friend at a time, always a boy.  She finally mentioned a girl's name, but it's usually her old friend James and Porter.

She didn't have school today, so we walked home enjoying watching the leaves fall and admiring the porch decorations.  One house has a bunny, a frog and a little girl on a bench, so that's our favorite.

She said this teeny tiny leaf was her very best friend and she would take care of it always.  She lost it 10 minutes later and had to find another one.

 Oh, garbage day.

It's the eve of my birthday, and I feel really good about my life right now.  I'll go out to eat with the family tomorrow night, and I'm already getting Happy Birthdays from friends on Facebook, plus a few cards in the mail and a Starbucks card from Debra who never drank coffee when we were friends in Thomaston but does now.  She probably doesn't like it though!  Maybe we can have a cup one day together. 

I also got a gift from Ryan.  He's giving me the morning off by taking the girls to school.  I won't think about how he's going to do their hair.  Today was picture day for Graysen, so nothing else matters. 

Emily called Elise earlier to find out what they could do for me to celebrate, and I told them I wanted a pinata.  One that you have to hit with a stick, not the kind you just pull a string.  I want to release some of my aggression.

Like this.



But want this one.