First week of school

We've now officially made it through the first week of school and everybody has lived to tell about it. Sophie started Kindergarten on Tuesday. We all make the trek to and from school on our respective bikes; Sophie on two wheels, Lily on training wheels and Grace either in the stroller or in the seat on the back of my bike. We have invested in a bike trailer so that when Lily starts on Monday, she and Grace can ride in that while we drop Sophie off at Kindergarten. Then I can pedal Lily over to preschool. Then it's home to get Grace down for her nap and two hours later we do the whole thing over in reverse. Luckily the drop off/pick-up times are staggered enough to make the whole thing work, and I can get an extra dose of exercise at least until it snows.

So far Sophie loves Kindergarten and her teacher, Mrs. Doele. I'm getting very detailed reports about all of the activities and which kids had to take a time-out that day. She also loves all of her birthday/back-to-school clothes, especially the knee socks; "They're not socks and they're not tights, Mom. They're knee socks!"

Grace continues to do well. She's just such a happy child for the most part, with a few moments of sadness spread throughout the day. We took her with us to see Lyle Lovett at the Meijer Gardens outdoor amphitheater last week. It was a sold-out show so we were pretty packed in and I wasn't sure how she would do, but she had a blast. We were right down in front, just a few feet away from the front of the stage, and Lyle had brought his "Large Band" with him, a back-up orchestra of about 15 musicians. Several of them were watching her dance around and giving her smiles when she would look up at them. She got braver and braver as the night went on and by the end she was venturing several chairs away in either direction to visit with people and "borrow" snacks from their picnics.

This weekend Dave took Sophie and Lily with him while he went to South Bend to see a good high school friend. Grace has been enjoying the attention that leaves her with but she definitely misses having Lily in her room at night so I have had to move in with her for the weekend. The weather has turned colder so I've already had to go through the clothes in the basement again to pull out her Fall and Winter wardrobe. She's so thrilled with all of her "new" clothes.

I finally got some pictures uploaded. Most are of the first day of Kindergarten. The ones in the field are of the farm where we bought a share in a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm. We (or usually our neighbor who splits the goods with us) go every Tuesday to pick up our share, and on some days we get to go out in the field and pick some of it ourselves. Last week we got to pick cherry tomatoes. One of the pictures is taken just as both girls bit into a tomato to try them out. Sophie thought they were o.k., I didn't react fast enough to capture Lily spitting hers out onto the ground. Oh well, it was fun anyway, right kids?

Love,
Susan