Reading to a Dog

I'm not sure if this was to benefit the kids or the dogs, but our local library had an event on Saturday where you could read to a trained therapy dog. Amelia just couldn't believe that you really got to read to a dog, so I signed her up for a slot. Of course, she went straight the the little fluffy dog with bows. I'm not sure who was a more rapt listener -- Jack or the dog. In any event, the reading was a success.



One of the funniest parts is Amelia showing the pictures to the dog.

First Day of First Grade

Amelia was up bright and early -- and dressed -- this morning. I'm not sure how early she got up, but she said she was waiting and waiting for her sun to turn on. (She has a nightlight that turns to a sun at 7 am, indicating that they can get up. They know, but don't always follow, that they shouldn't get out of bed until their sun comes on.)

It was the first day of new rules -- no TV or Nintendo DS until everyone was ready for the day. Maybe it was the excitement, but there were no complaints -- or even requests for Spongebob! Somehow, it was a REALLY productive morning.

It was raining, which meant we had to drive to the bus stop (I was hoping to sneak in some bonus exercise). Amelia's jitters from the previous night seemed to melt away, for which I was very grateful.






She got on the bus without even looking back. I think she was *really* excited for that bus ride. I was terribly choked up (even though she's been going to school for several years, this just seemed *different*).

Jack and I didn't even follow her to school, but we did slightly tail the bus on the way to the grocery store (as long as we were driving, might as well make an errand out of it). Jack pushed a kid-sized cart and filled it with all our groceries. He even picked a pretty bunch of flowers for me because "he loves me so much."

All he ever wants to do is go fishing, and today was no exception. We went out in the backyard and gathered worms and slugs and actually went down to the pond. TJ still can't believe I did this. But I actually cut worms (shrieking, of course) and put them on hooks (yelling "ewwww," of course) and then yelling when we actually caught fish and i had to shake them off the hooks. It was actually kinda fun, but I was relieved when we ran out of live bait and could use the fake stuff.

Jack and I are also making bread, he has vacuumed and cleaned my windows, and now we're making the traditional "First Day of School Chocolate Chip Cookies" for Amelia's return.

I'm hoping she had a great first day -- I'll post an update later!