Monarch Watch Tagging: It's that time of year again!

I caught three monarchs, which is rather a miracle in itself since the numbers have been so dreadfully low and prior to this, we only saw one or two total this summer. 

Out comes the tag.  We buy these tags from Monarch Watch.  You can't just go sticking your own tags on them.  

Ready to go, go, go to Mexico!

But not this cicada.  It wanted in on the fun, but I had to explain that we were counting Monarchs and not cicadas. 

Day 2: The KL Puking Lounge

While yes it can be said that my child was THE first child to vomit in the new school clinic.  At 8:47 AM, the school nurse was on the phone with me stating that K had a horrible headache.  I took Advil and Claritin to her.  3 minutes later, they made their appearance again.

Oy.

Day 2.  What a way to start.

First day of school! First day of school!

And we're off!  We're starting the first day of fourth grade with the loveliest teacher!  We met her the other day and I actually cried driving home.  Mrs. S seems so very lovely and we're looking forward to K's new year of school.  I told K that my heart was encouraged.  She agreed.  Hubs reports having all sorts of "warm fuzzies" from her, but not so much from last year's teacher.  Yes, I will get over our 3rd grade experience.  I promise.  

We're back to walking!  Our new building is complete and K is excited.  I had to beg for a crossing guard at our usual stop.  Near the end of our time at our old building, road construction had happened and they (the powers that be) decided to install a light a block down and move the crosswalk for the kids who live in the housing development.  We're the kids on the other side of the development and the move of cross walk added 3 additional blocks (3/10ths of a mile) to the morning walk and I said nothankyou.  As it turns out, the crossing guard reports that he crossed kids going to the middle school this morning, so we're hoping that we can keep him.  I sure would hate to have to wear a whistle and carry a flag in the morning!

And the latest development?  Hubs is going to walk with us whenever he can.  It's so nice to have a walking partner!  Round trip, it is 2 free miles every morning.  Not such a bad thing!

Have a great day!

Just a touch of busy going on here.

I'm alive.  I swear that I am.  I hadn't realized it had been so long since I had blogged.

PTA is up and running and we're busy!  We've had the summer meeting, two open houses-- one for the new school opening and one for just our school.  Oh my.

I have the PTA newsletter to do, which is fine but time consuming.  I also have that whole PTA president thing.

And work.

And my people like to live in a house that isn't squalor, they love to have food in the fridge and gosh darn it!  The people expect clean clothes!

Needless to say, sleep has been not as plentiful.

I also had a birthday.  K wrote on my cake.

My people had a birthday party for me.  

They decorated and wrote on the back door.  They also took me for a two-day surprise trip away.  We went to see Flight of the Butterflies at COSI (we cried and cried,) to Cox Arboretum to their butterfly house and on to King's Island where we rode all we wanted and left at 4:15 PM to drive back home.  Since school was in, there were no lines!  You Tube video is at the end of the Diamondback that I won't ride again. 

I stepped on this nest of bunnies while I was re-painting the bathroom medicine cabinet.

K wanted to mow the lawn and with Hubs right there, we decided that since the child is just shy of 5' tall, we could let her go with it.  She did a great job!  

The bathroom is finished!  Okay, there are just a few wonky spots on paint I need to touch up but it seriously got to a point that I couldn't do it anymore.  

The shower surround that Hubs thought was going to kill him.  In the replacement, it revealed rot of the outer wall, gave me that big hole in the wall . . .  Yes, this is a just-used-shower photo, but at least now you see what I've been talking about all this time.

I'm stuck with this blue counter top, so I always have to do something to make it work.  I repainted the vanity, the light and the medicine cabinet.  We reused as much as humanly possible.  

See?  I told you that I was busy!