First Day of School and Other Things.

It's official. She is big. I can't believe she started school this week. Full time. They don't mess around here. In our town, children begin full time school the term in which they turn 5. So, this Tuesday we walked my little girl to school. She was still little up until yesterday.  She was really excited. She laid her clothes out the night before, socks and all. She took her lunch. Anyway, the first day went ok. Just ok. She was itching with excitement all the way to school. We walked through the cemetary and down the road to her "primary school." We were early, so we sat on the bench outside her class. Each room has it's own little fenced garden area. She slowly got more nervous. She told me she was getting nervous because she is "from the United States." Interesting side note--the night before school she had nightmares about spiders. Guess what spiders in dreams symbolize? Feeling like an outsider. Perfect.

Anyway, we went into the class when the teacher called the children in. Moms and dads and kids were buzzing all over. We hung up her backpack, put away her water bottle and found the spot for the lunch box. She found a puzzle to work on. I said goodbye, then Daddy and Em said goodbye. Easy-shmeazy.

Then, I looked back at her. Her little lip was quivering and her eyes were filling with tears. OMG. My heart sank. I wanted to grab her and run fast. We can wait until the fall, right? How can they expect a 4 year old to go to a foreign school all day long? Well, I gave her a hug and told her I love her. She nodded. We left. I thought about her all day long. She didn't say a whole lot about her day, other than it wasn't really great. She picked out her outfit for today anyway and practiced reading and writing.

Then day 2 came. Today was a whole different story. Chris dropped her off and he reported that she went in calmly and cooly. Like it was an old hat. She was chatty and happy tonight. She has a friend, and the boys were chasing her. Already! OMG. She likes school. She asked daddy if she looks like a big kid on the way to school. Whew. Daddy and I are finally able to take deep breaths. We are all going to be ok. As for Em--well, he misses his Sissy. But, it is a great opportunity to sneak into her room and play with her stuff.

There should always be time to stop and look at a little worm. We threw him back in the mud to be sure he didn't shrivel.

Waiting outside...

Lots of other things have been happening. Mostly, I have had a cold. So, I don't feel like blogging. Just like sleeping. These are just some random pics of our lives over the last few weeks...

Augi called this her "tombstone." Maybe she is warped, but we do live across the road from a cemetary.

Augi and I went to see a theatre production of the Little Mermaid. Not the happy-ending Disney version. The Hans Christian Anderson macabre version. No cute little flounders or talking crabs in this production. More like witch narrators, bleeding legs, never getting to marry the prince and committing suicide in the end. Augi liked being there, but I think she was hoping for the magical Disney version. It's good to expand her horizons, right? We can't all have happy endings.

Augi has been working on some paper art. Her version of origami. She made me a purse (not pictured) and a finger puppet.

Dress up is fun!

 We made some colorful bird feeders this weekend.

Augi and Em love having their Nanny back with them. Sadly, Em lost this hat recently. It was my favorite.

We received 4 large boxes today, despite the giant ash cloud preventing any airmail from reaching us in the UK. Good ole boats! We only have 3 boxes of books left to arrive and one box of miscellaneous crap. As we go through most of it, we are asking ourselves why we chose to keep it!

We have gone to another beach recently, and I have more pics to post. But, I need to get to bed for now.

I don't want to forget to send some good vibes across the ocean to Grandma Valerie. She starts chemotherapy today. We are thinking of you Grandma V!