Kitty poems!

Yesterday afternoon, Austen made up a kitty-poem as if Cabernet were speaking!








I like to eat food.
I wake people up at 5.
I nap all day long.

Then I asked Austen if he knew what a diamante poem was. He didn't, so I showed him. He needed to see it typed out and centered to "see" the diamond shape the poem took. Here's what we got:

Indy

noisy, lovey, soft

food, garage, feathers, windows

meowing, playing, eating, snoozing, purring

naps, string, cat-scratcher, brushes

furry, black, gorgeous

Cabernet

Impressive!!

Parker

Parker doesn't seem to be fazed by the seeming chaos at his school. There's a photo below (August 16th post) of the rows and rows of portables that now take up nearly all the playground/PE space at his school, and here's another. It's obvious how close to the narrow, two-lane road these portables sit. Just imagine what this road is like around 8 am and again around 3 pm. I'm avoiding it all!

But Parker likes his teacher, likes his classmates, and is doing well in most of his homework, etc. As long as he's adaptable and is doing well, what's to complain about?

He's such a sunny child anyway, such a joy to have around almost all the time! Here's a photo of him trying out The Twister when we first unpacked it! Kira likes it, too, but Parker got the hang of it right away!

Tuesday morning

Only another week before Kira starts Kindergarten. Meet-the-teacher and orientation are set for this Thursday morning. Anne has that day off, so we'll all go together.

It's such fun to watch Kira when she's around other children. Yesterday, she and I met Anne, during her lunch break, at a new McDonald's with a new (read: clean!) playplace. Kira ran and ran and climbed and came down the slide umpteen times! Hot and sweaty, smiling and laughing, and loving every second of it!! I'm looking forward to seeing the same things on Thursday, although perhaps with a bit less of the running!

Austen and Parker are both pretty good about doing their homework fairly soon after getting home. Parker needs his homework signed, and I guess he expected I'd sign things without going over them! We have made a few corrections on math worksheets (still in review mode, so they're easy for him), and yesterday it was a phonics/spelling worksheet that he needed major "rethinking" about! Even so, he finished his before Austen even got home from school!

Austen, after finishing other homework (which included writing up a "family story") at my house last night, still had to practice on his clarinet, which he planned to do once he got home. I can't wait until there is a performance, and we can hear the results of all this practice, the new clarinet, more practice, some new reeds, more practice, etc.

Beginning school days

When those boys get home from school in the afternoons, they are HUNGRY!

Tuesday afternoon, I set out some of the cookies Anne had bought (soft cookies so Austen can eat them with his braces!), and Parker devoured the whole plateful along with a couple of glasses of milk. When Austen got home (about an hour later), I set out the rest of those cookies, and he ate almost all those plus a few glasses of orange juice! Yesterday -- same thing -- except I had baked some brownies around noon so they'd be all cooled off and ready by 3:30 (and later!). They didn't disappear quite so fast, but they were gobbled up!

The school days are much longer for these kids than for the kids in California. Parker's school starts at 8:15 am and ends at 3:15 pm. Austen's starts at 9:03 am and ends at 3:55 pm. No wonder these guys are learning lots and well -- they're in the classrooms for longer periods of time.

Kira can't wait to start kindergarten, but that won't be until Aug 30th. I'll have to have my camera well charged and ready!

School days start up again

The boys start the 2005-06 school year this morning, but Kira's school doesn't start for another two weeks. Simultaneously, Anne has started her new job ... so I'll be there to take care of Kira (we'll come back here so she can play with Indy or something), and I'll be there when the boys get home from school. If Anne's hours change, mine will change, too!

We went to Parker's school last night (filled with portables, not much recess/PE space left open) to check on his teacher and classroom assignment. That school ought to turn into a real zoo in about 10 minutes. Buses are unloading now (7:50 am) and parents can start their parade of dropping kids off at 8:00. What a nightmare!

On to get ready ... I'll be there a bit early in case Austen's bus driver forgets that bus stop, as happened last year! We'll see ...

Repair needed!

One of the most fragile items that made the move from CA to TX safely is the 83-year-old child's rocking chair. It was my mother's when she was a toddler and they lived in Nevada. It's a wicker rocking chair. Now my granddaughter wants to use it, and she should. It's really wonderful to see this little 5-year-old enjoying her GG's childhood chair. But I really DO have to find someplace to get it fixed. At its age, we can easily see the wear and tear ... literally!

To be done...

There are lots of things to be done around here, as is true with any new house. It'll take months, if not years to get it all done, and who knows? It may never be truly "done."

I have enough furniture for a living room, dining room, bedroom, and office. That's it! So I put my living room furniture into the family room, except for the bookshelves. They are in the "living room" which I plan to turn into a sitting/reading room. All I want to add to this room are a couple of rocker-recliners and another lamp or two.

In this picture of the living room area (it's not really a wholly separate room), it's easy to see that Indy loves her wide open spaces. It's also easy to see that there's not much in there!! Yet!

New month

August 1st already. Wow! Time is just zipping right along. Thank heaven I'm here, though, and won't miss any more school programs or special moments with these kids!!



We were talking yesterday about naming the new planet that's been found, and talk came around to Pluto -- my other long-lived cat who was named after the planet Pluto.

What fun he was! And he had more than "a bit of the devil" in him sometimes. He just wanted to play, but not Indy. She was too dignified for that! (Now, however, she virtually begs me to play with her and her feathers in the evenings.) He seemed to know when she was going to come around a corner or something, and he'd be ready to pounce and play. She'd hiss and swat and growl, and couldn't wait to get away from him. In their 12-year life-in-common, she never changed -- and neither did he!

Pluto was a big boy, never weighing in at less than 16 pounds until he started getting sick. He varied between 16 and 18 pounds most of his 12-year life. Almost right up to the end, he was running and playful. I have a picture of him when he was down to about 8 pounds, but it's too painful to look at, knowing the grand creature he was in his prime!