Monday, January 5

We all went off to our different schools today, if you can believe it! Lacey and Maren were finally back to school at Oasis and came home pretty tired out. They hadn't been to their school since December 5! Maren's teacher is transitioning to be the school librarian and a new kindergarten teacher, Ms. Snyder, started today with her class.

Aeden has his own school bag he carries to the elevator in the morning (that's about how long his interest in carrying it lasts each day). On the weekends he also brings home his other bag that has naptime blanket and pillow in it for washing, complete with name tags printed onto the bags with the school logo.



We received a Christmas card today from Garrett, Yauna, Ethan, and Kaiya and it was such a great surprise with photos from this summer inside! I didn't even recognize Kaiya in her school picture this year, and did a double-take when I saw Ethan in his glasses, looking just like Garrett circa 3rd or 4th grade. Oh my!

I got a nice big bruise on my arm today when my school bus stopped suddenly and I went tumbling. Aeden and I are fine (Aeden didn't get hurt at all), but it served as a good reminder to pay attention to the ride and to put on the seatbelts even if nobody around you does. The students all wear seatbelts on the bus, but generally speaking nobody wears seatbelts here, and carseats are few and far between. I look forward to returning home and strapping Aeden into the car (safer, and easier than juggling him on my lap, too!).

And we received news from home today from Andy Nydam, a friend and fellow teacher at Olympia High School. My mom had emailed that the gutter had fallen from the back of our house and was damaged and in need of repair. Brian called Andy and kept missing him at home, so he left a voice mail. And next thing we know, Brian has these before and after photos in his In-Box:





Andy's our hero! T H A N K Y O U ! !

And now the dirty gutters and siding-in-need-of-cleaning-and-painting have been published for all the world to see...plenty of housework awaits us on our return...