Day 7

Also known as Taco Tuesday.

Today was a preschool day for the little man. This calls for all sorts of excitement, pomp, and circumstance.
 Only it was quite rainy, so it was a bit of a dreary circumstance. 

Alex and I found our usual corner to work in.

Excuse me for just a moment, while I address what is certain to be a concern of Pat the Bunny's.

(Pat the Bunny is my mother in law for those of you who are new around these parts.)

PtB, I do have regulation first grade lined paper for her. I forgot it at home, so we were making due with regular notebook paper. Cease and desist with having your heart attack.

(I have to throw her a bone every once in a while. She's pretty sure that Alex is going to be permanently damaged by this homeschooling adventure. Plus, if you remember her affinity for salt, it probably wouldn't take much more than a notebook paper miscue to actually give her a heart attack.)

Hi PtB! Are you ready for my constant abuse yet? Just wait till we make it up to Michigan!

Speaking of homeschooling, so far things are going well. I guess I don't really have anything to compare it to, but at least Alex doesn't complain about wanting to be at school, or give me a hard time when it's time to work. She definitely prefers hands-on activities and crafts, so I try to incorporate them as often as possible. We play sight-word B-I-N-G-O, and make things based on the read-aloud we're reading through.
Today we finished Gooney Bird Greene, by Lois Lowry. It was a cute story if you have kids in the 6-9 range.

So far, I am really glad that we decided to homeschool this year. The flexibility has been great. If I had to get her in bed at 7 each night like last year, I would have to say no to a lot more outings and fun events. And we aren't starting our days with "hurry up" arguments, and trying to squeeze in just a little bit of fun in the hour between homework and dinner/bath/bedtime.
So far, no regrets.

She finished her first reader today. She's read a story out of it for each school day, and it was a big deal to her to have finished such a long book.

Oh, and when we were leaving the house and I told her to get her black shoes on, I assumed we were on the same page. I didn't notice till we were already at the college, that we were definitely not on the same page.

Not cool.

If you were wondering how I'm doing without my tiny infant baby toddler being right beside me, well, I am faring okay.
This is the view from the window by our table in the college cafeteria.

Do you see that little glimpse of blue through the trees?

Here let me help--

There he is!

If he needs I need a hug I can run really fast to get to him.

We had lunch at a friend's house after school and then after naps "quiet" time we hit up Taco Tuesday.
(The quiet is in quotation marks for a reason. It's been lacking its primary quality of quietness lately.So I suppose I should just start calling it time.)

Here is our family picture. See me, Josh? I'm there on the right!

And here is the salsa. Mmmmmmmm.

I ordered 4 chicken soft tacos. 1.5 for me, 1.5 for Alex, 1 for Derek, and all the chips & salsa you can eat. Our total was $4 something.
Love me some Taco Tuesday.

I haven't heard from Josh in two days, as he's been flying from Spain to somewhere else, and then on to Afghanistan.
(gesundheit!)

Tomorrow morning at 5am will mark one week from when we watched him fly off. 
I think I shall commemorate the anniversary by continuing to sleep for another three hours. 
Actually, I'm certain that's how I'll commemorate it.

But there is definitely a feeling that something is missing around here. Alex is still mopey from time to time, and Derek asked me if Daddy was coming home today. 

Overall, though, I'd say this week has really been as good as I could have hoped for transition-wise. 
I thank all of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers!