Happy Days Are Here Again!

School started today and I, for one, could not be happier about it. The last three weeks of summer dragged on and on and on... even Shona was ready to return. We had open house night at school Monday so that we could meet the teacher. I think Shona will have a great year because the teacher is wonderful and the room is such a step up from last year. The kids were crammed in elbow to elbow last year, but this year it is a bright, open, airy room. Their room is open to another classroom that that can divide by pulling a curtain, but apparently they do a lot of shared work with the other side and the teachers do some "tag team" instruction. It should prove to be an interesting year. One thing did bother me, though. Two of the sheets I filled out during open house had words spelled incorrectly. That just sets my teeth on edge in a place of learning.

Today was the big day, though. Shona was so excited she asked Katy to fix her hair into a "flip" like she did for her at the open house. It was a bit stiff, but still adorable.

She also had quite the adorable outfit on, perfect for day one of third grade. I still can't believe she's in third grade!

Katy is also enthused about the year. She got a great parking spot and even wanted to pose with it. Who am I to deny a photo op? She left for school too early to get my pics, but that's OK. I can catch her when she returns. this is her junior year and she is really excited about band. As usual. Band is her life, as she often repeats.


As for John, he has a new addition to his classroom. One of his students last year was moving and needed to find a new home for his creature. The cage he had was far too small and very foul smelling, so John asked a local cabinet making company if they'd build a small enclosure for the thing. They agreed and wound up donating it, materials AND time (I find that amazing)...but they sure didn't listen to the small part! We had to add in the wire mesh (painful process that took ten hours and more than one band-aid) and the stain, but it was well worth it. I think it's a beautiful cabinet.

I can't say the creature inside is all that beautiful, but at least he has a new home. At one point during development, he had his tail mangled in a door closing incident, so it grew as a three- pronged tail. Because of this, we decided to name him King Triton. In actuality, we don't even know the sex of this thing, but it sounded good. I like to feed him, so long as he stays in his corner when my arm is in that enclosure. I get a little creeped out when he stares at me, but I prefer him to the snakes in John's classroom tanks.

And now for the amusing. The girls took my camera this week to snap a few pictures of the dogs and each other. They do that when they are bored and sometimes I wind up with some really sweet photos like this. And then there are the other 300+ photos of out of focus, random shots that I weeded through. It's worth it in the end, I suppose. People think Pedey is so cute and tiny, but let me tell you, that dog can go from zero to Cujo in an instant when you hide his ball, and I finally have the photographic evidence:

There, there, Pedey, I feel the same way when someone uses my good journaling pen.

School starts tomorrow for me. I can't wait!