Life before and after having a Disney princess with my name

When Leo went to see Frozen last year and told me that "the queen's name was Elsa," I thought, "Oh, that's kind of neat."

Little did I know it would change my life. Frank thinks this whole thing has gone to my head. But I don't think I'm overstating things when I say that having the same name as a Disney princess-turned-queen is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Sure, getting married, having kids, blah, blah, blah…lots of people do those things. But who else has had this experience? Perhaps an Ariel? A Belle? A Jasmine? Sure, those movies were hits. But were they the HIGEST GROSSEST ANIMATED MOVIE OF ALL TIME? Nope. That honor belong's to Frozen. So just imagine what life is like once this happens. Well, you don't have to imagine. I am going to paint you a picture--life before having a Disney princess with my name versus life after having a Disney princess with my name:

Life before: 
--Meeting a new friend:
"Hi, I'm Elsa"

Possible responses:
"What? Allison?"
"Oh, that's a pretty name."
"What? Elisa?"
"What's the story behind your name?"
 "What? Elsie?"
"You don't hear that much."
"Es el nombre de mi madre."


--At a restaurant:
"What name would you like to put down?"

"Frank."
"Jennifer."
"Mandy."

--To kids:
"I'm Leo and Gus' mommy, Ms. Elsa."

Crickets. 

Life after: 
--Meeting a new friend:
"Hi, I'm Elsa."

(All from adults:)
"From the movie?!!"
"What? Your NAME is Elsa? That is so cool!!"
"Like in Frozen?"
"Are you going to freeze me?"
"No way!!"
"Wait. That's your name? Your REAL name?"
"How did your parents come up with that name?"
"And you have blonde hair like her too!!"
"Your kids must be so excited!"
"My kids will be so excited!"
"Can I take a picture with you?"
"I'll never forget your name!"


--At a restaurant:
"What name would you like to put down?"

proudly "Elsa"

Hostess reaction: see above adult reactions.

--To kids:
"I'm Leo and Gus' mommy, Ms. Elsa."

Kids' reactions: see above adult reactions except kids often gasp, put their hands up to their faces, Home Alone style.

Even when I call customer service reps for something I get Elsa comments. I called to have an exterminator come out and the person on the other end said, "My granddaughter would love your name!" And it's not just kids and parents of young children. It's all ages. The teenager at Taco Bell gave me a, "Nuh-uh, you mean like from Frozen?" I always say, "I had it first."

I suppose the excitement will fizzle. Frank says I'm on minute 14 of my 15 minutes of fame. But for now, I'm gonna ride this wave. It is SO MUCH FUN. And there are tons of things with my name on it! I've got a bag, a t-shirt..okay, that's it so far but I've got my eye on some more merch.

I just feel a little guilty, enjoying all these accolades for doing nothing at all. I shall pay it forward. I shall put in a good word to my friends at Disney to name their next princess after my other friend with an interesting yet unfamiliar name. So look for Princess Thea coming to theaters soon!

Christmas Cuteness

We may have reached our peak. This just might be the BEST year for Christmas; I mean, does it get any better than six and three for this stuff? No one is old enough to question anything and no one is so little they're just drooling over the wrapping paper. Bonus: no one wants any big ticket items. 

Leo asked Santa for a Star Wars Christmas Calendar. Santa sent me an email saying that he is having trouble delivering on that so he is bringing Leo a Star Wars calendar and a Star Wars Lego something or other. 

Gus asked Santa for food as well as a "knight and a monster to go with it." Santa is putting holiday themed Goldfish in his stocking and giving him a talking Mike the Knight and a toy monster whose brain pops out when you squeeze him. Santa is hoping  Gus will not notice that the monster doesn't really "go with" the knight. 

Here they are giving Santa their demands: 

See? Even this is ideal. Nobody is crying (although that can be cute too) and nobody looks like a shaggy-headed brat who is too big to be on Santa's lap. 

Here are some videos that also capture all of the magic. That's John dancing with the boys; he too is from a six and three family so they are pretty stoked. 

Gus' preschool program--all of the classes were ADORABLE. The paparazzi of parents was pretty amusing. 

And just a few more cute shots for good measure: 

Merry Cuteness!

The Naked Truth about Shopping on Thanksgiving

I'm so ashamed. We shopped ON THANKSGIVING DAY. I don't like shopping; I don't like crowds; I don't like stuff. Yet, I dropped off Frank at Best Buy at 4:45pm on Turkey Day so he could buy me an iPhone 6.

It was really his idea. He knew I needed a new phone and it was $100 off.  But the line was at least 150 people deep. It was cold. And it was THANKSGIVING!

Now, I don't think anyone needs to make a law that stores can't open on Thanksgiving. I just wish stores wouldn't do it. But they do. And we went.

After I dropped him off I started to have second thoughts. The whole thing was just sickening. I drove by the line and rolled down my window to beg Frank to reconsider. "Are you sure you want to do this because I don't need a phone that badly? It's not worth it!!"

The other people in line surely thought I was crazy. (Now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black…)

"But you need a new phone," Frank said. "Should I pay $100 more next week?"

Then a Best Buy employee came up to my car and offered me an ad.

I shook my head and said no and I suddenly had a flashback to the Austin YMCA. (This is where the "naked truth" comes in.)

See, I was equally horrified when "the nekeds" at the Y tried to get me to join them in the communal shower.  Back then, I was waiting for a shower with a curtain and the nekeds looked over at me and said, "Do you want to just get in here?" At that time I also shook my head and said no. I thought they were weird and I wanted NO PART OF IT. That is exactly how I felt at Best Buy on Thanksgiving. I thought the people there were weird and I wanted NO PART OF IT.

And I also thought (in both cases), how could you think I would want to do something like this? Ew. Yuck. I'm not one of you. In fact, if I have two rules in life, it's that I don't shower in groups nor do I shop on Thanksgiving. (#3: I don't hoard.)

But, since Frank was in line for something for me, I guess I did indirectly shop on Thanksgiving. I tried to keep it on the DL. Frank called it, "That which we do not speak of." But now I am admitting it to the world (or the handful of people who read my blog) because I feel a little bit guilty enjoying my new iPhone. I said guilty…not dirty…not dirty enough to take a communal shower with the nekeds.

Training Day at the County Health Department

Health Dept. HR Person (HDHRP): Welcome, new employees of the county health department. You are all here because you are qualified, educated and well, you applied.

Employee #4: Excuse me, sir. I am actually not educated. I didn't graduate from high school.

HDHRP: That's fine. You didn't go get one of those GED things, did you?

Employee #4: No, see I moved in with my boyfriend when I was 15 and I got pregnant by his cousin and then when my boyfriend found out--

HDHRP: Well, that's good to hear.  I was afraid for a minute you were overqualified. We definitely encourage our employees to finish middle school but it's not a requirement. Anything more is just a waste if you ask me.

(All employees collectively sigh in relief.)

Employee #1: So what types of things will people be coming into the health department for?

HDHRP: Well, you've got your sick people, your injured people and then you've got people who need certain documents so that their kids can transfer into a school in our county. The ones who need the documents, those are the people we really like to screw with (begins to laugh maniacally).

Employee #1: Oh, I'm going to be so good at this. I used to work at the DPS--IN TEXAS!

HDHRP: Ma'am, you have upper management written all over you.

Employee #1: Thank you, sir. So I assume we should make up lots of reasons why their paperwork isn't right? Cause I have tons of BS reasons I can throw out there! How about, I can't let your kid go to school because this shot record you brought from another state has the letterhead from the doctor but isn't signed by him? Or this birth certificate is bent on the corner? Or your kid's hearing screening shows that he passed, but not the specific decibels at which he past? Or I need to see your kid in person because I don't believe his BMI could be 16? I could go on and on.

HDHRP: You got it! We actually have a cheat sheet of BS reasons that you can use.

Employee #3: So does the kid have to be there or is it okay if the parent has all the paperwork together and brings it in?

HDHRP: First of all, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have all the paperwork together. It's never happened. And no, the kid doesn't have to be there but we ALWAYS tell them that they do. We tell them a few times because it freaks them out. Some parents push back and if they argue enough, we'll say fine, they don't have to bring the kid. But we'll get 'em on something else. Don't worry, they'll have to make at least two trips to get all their documents they need for school.

Employee #2: In past jobs, when I would work at the front desk, I had trouble being nice. Like I would say stuff like, "Now you listen to me, these are the forms you need and you better not come back until you have them." But then I always got fired. So should I try to be more pleasant?

HDHRP: Absolutely not. Just be yourself. Sounds like you'll do great.

Employee #3: I read in the training manual that you try to be the county with the longest wait times. So how long are we aiming for?

HDHRP: Anything shorter than two hours is unacceptable. Last year, in the national competition of "Longest Wait Times at Government Agencies" we came in second. Damn Texas DPS.

Employee #1: Here's something we actually did at the Texas DPS that would help to lengthen your wait times: We would call someone's number after they had waited a few hours and then when they came up there, we'd be like, "Is your last name Martin?" And when they said it wasn't, we'd accuse them of bringing a number from the day before. And we would make them take another number and start over!

HDHRP: I'm just sorry we didn't think of it first. You are officially promoted to Director of the County Health Department.

(Author's note: About 90% of these situations actually happened during a recent visit to my local health department. Even the one where they told someone he brought a number from the day before and made him get back in line. They are so lucky they did that to that guy and not me. Or we would have all been on the evening news.) 

If you liked this post, don't miss my other posts in the "Training Day" series:
The Post Office
Kroger
And of course the above mentioned link, Texas DPS. 

Texas, Georgia, Texas, Georgia!

Hey, Georgia! We're back! 

While we will always be Texans (at least I will be, since I was the only one born there), we are Georgians…again. 

Here are a few pictures from our first week here. Driving up to our new house was already exciting but it was extra exciting to have a sign made by John Robinson waiting for us! (A total plus to moving somewhere you've already lived--built-in friends and a welcome sign!) 

John and Tyler helped Leo and Gus explore our new backyard.

I got my window over the sink--two of them actually with pretty shades!

We just can't get over how pretty it is here. I guess we had forgotten. This is the view from Leo's room. They have fall, y'all!

The boys' basement playroom.

The living room.

Kitchen:

 The creek in our backyard is not normally this high but it was raining that day:

Writinggal headquarters! You know, Writinggal is actually based in Atlanta anyway. That's where my LLC is.

Leo at the bus stop on his first day at his new school: 

More boys breaking in the basement! Leo, Pascal, Tyler, John, Gus and Etienne. It's so fun to see old friends! It's like no time has passed. Well, except this kids are way bigger than they were 2.5 years ago!

 

I don't have tons of pictures of the house yet but I did do a video basement tour for my dad that you may watch at your leisure. 

We can't believe how "moved in" we already feel! That's all because of Popsy and Granny Jo's Consulting Business. She babysits and unpacks boxes while he paints, hangs, fixes everything, blows leaves, and basically never stops. Granny Jo said their consulting business is for moving and potty training. I gave them a good review on Yelp. 

This Old House

Today Leo said out of nowhere, "I love this house." 

I said, "Well, I'm glad you love it but we're moving out of it in a few days, you know." 

He said, "But we just moved in!" 

In some ways, it does seem like we just moved in. It's only been 2.5 years. But in other ways, like when I look at this picture, it seems like a long time ago.  

Leo was four. In fact, the day we moved in and took this picture he was still three. He turned four the very next day. Gus was 10 months old; Gus learned to walk here; he learned to talk here. Leo learned to ride his bike here; he started kindergarten here.

We had three Halloweens, three 4th of July's, but only two Christmases. It's a shame about the Christmases because it's really a great Christmas house. There's that "secret room" (as Leo called it) over the door where we would put our fiber-optic Christmas tree. And since the ceilings are high we bought a really tall tree for the "lookout room" (another Leo term).

We actually did things to this house, which we had never done with our other two houses, because we thought we might just stay awhile. We put in a beautiful new fence with a Texas star in the gate.  "They make fences like works of art here in Dallas," Popsy commented. We got a new door to make the house brighter. We had Cul de Sac Carrie help us with Roman shades for the living room. And Popsy painted the kitchen bright yellow.

Leo had his 4th, 5th and 6th birthdays here. Gus had his 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Frank and I had a few birthdays in there too. We celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary (and our eleventh).

We met fun, wonderful neighbors. We spent countless Friday nights with them at the pool with pizza and beer. I group texted with the "Moms in the Hood" about 100 times a day. All I had to text was "going to the park" and friends would meet us there within minutes.

We grilled fajitas on Sunday nights approximately 103 times.

The boys delivered our next door neighbor's newspaper about 506 times, and received the same amount of Goldfish in return.

We loved relaxing in the media room; we didn't sit on the front porch rocking chairs as much as we thought we would. I spent a lot of time in the laundry room but if you ever saw it, you'd know it was not a bad place to spend the majority of a day.

So it may have only been 2.5 years. But when you look at it that way, it seems like a lot longer. I hope we don't forget it. I hope it doesn't just blend into all the other houses.

Because every day, every day as I walked through this house, I thought, "I love this house."

Chickengate

This is yet another tale that takes place at Target. It seems to be the setting of most of my stories.

So I was at Target, buying just a handful of things which quickly turned into a cart full of things. I got home and Frank kindly unloaded the groceries. I was going to sneak off and get a pedicure but just before I walked out the door I said to Frank, "Hey, what did you do with the chicken?" I wanted to make sure he put it in the fridge and not the freezer, since we planned to grill fajitas the next night.

"Chicken? What chicken?" he asked.

Panic.

Where was the chicken? We checked the obvious places--the fridge, the freezer, the gridge, the greezer…nowhere. Did I leave it in the car? Hurry, time is of the essence! I ran to the car…no chicken. I surmised that I must have left at the store. Referring to my recent mishaps at Target as well as a situation at a Wendy's in Waco in which I left my driver's side door open the entire time we ate, Frank said, "You've been doing this a lot lately." Low blow, dude. But he did have a point. I mean, I completely forgot to take Gus to gymnastics on Monday even though a friend asked me, "Where does Gus take gymnastics? Does he like it?" DURING the time we were supposed to be there! The universe was giving me all kinds of clues!

But back to the chicken. I decided I would go back to Target, replace the chicken (cause they are always nice about that. Yes, this has happened to me before) and then go get my pedicure. So I did just that. Except the pedicure. Cause when I was walking out of Target I realized I can't leave chicken in the car while I get my toes did.

So I gave up on the pedicure and went home. But as I opened the fridge to put in the new chicken, I remembered the cream cheese. Where was the cream cheese? And holy heavens, where was the GUACAMOLE?! How many perishable items did I lose?

I checked the pantry. My eyes landed on the Halloween candy I had just purchased. It was way up on the top shelf still in a Target bag. I jumped and pulled the bag down. Yep, it was slightly cold. At the bottom of this bag, under the Halloween candy was the cream cheese, the guacamole, and THE CHICKEN! (That's some weird packing, btw.) I took it to Frank and said, "I found this in the pantry. You seem to be doing this a lot lately."

We had a little laugh and quickly agreed to throw out the chicken.

Oh, but wait. There's more.

Popsy was here and had been part of the original search team for the chicken. When I told him the story, he said, "It would be a bigger sin to throw away the chicken. It's fine!" And he proceeded to get it out of the trash. Well, I'll admit I was sort of sold on the fact that the chicken was probably fine. But Frank and his mom WERE NOT. They insisted we keep "Popsy's chicken" separate and only Popsy--not Frank, me, Granny Jo, the kids or Thea (our guest for fajitas who is just learning of this by reading this post) would eat the chicken that sat in my car, then in the pantry and then in the trash.

But despite his best efforts to separate Popsy's chicken from the good chicken they inevitably got mixed. In the end we all survived. (Thea? Are you there? Please comment if you are alive.)

So the moral of the story is…if you have plans to go get a pedicure, just go. Don't mention something right before you walk out the door. Especially chicken.

Losing my Cart and Brain Cells at Target

"Ma'am! Ma'am! That's my cart!" A distraught Target customer said to me the other day.

She was right. I was walking away with her cart--with two tops I had picked out and HER PURSE!

Now obviously this was an honest mistake. But was it a logical one?

See, I had done some serious grocery shopping prior to my clothes shopping. My cart was piled high with frozen pancakes and whatnot. So why, when I found two cute Target tops, would I toss them into the first empty cart I saw? And then WALK OFF WITH IT?

As it turns out, my own cart was way down by the juniors section--pancakes defrosting.

While that was my worst cart-stealing offense, it wasn't my first. On that very same shopping trip, I almost stole another cart. I went to put my Starbucks in the kid-seat (cause I was kid-free!) and only after setting down my Pumpkin Spice Latte did I notice some concealer and thought, "Hmmm, I don't remember buying any of that…although I DO need some of that. Damn you, Target, always making me go off-list!"

About a week after the cart-stealing incidents, I went back to the scene of the crime. While shopping (with Gus this time), I saw a friend and shared the story of my prior cart mishaps. She gasped; we laughed. We discussed how I could be in such a fog at Target when I didn't have my kids with me. Maybe I was so elated to be there alone, we surmised?

So then Gus and I went out to the car and found this:

It had been open the whole time we were in Target! I was embarrassed to even approach it. An employee came up and told me they were about to make an announcement. So glad I got out  there before that happened. How would that go? "Attention Target Customers, would the biggest idiot in the store please report to the parking lot? Like if you just stole someone's cart by mistake, you might be who we are looking for." 

Of course none of these incidents will prevent me from shopping at my favorite store. But if they kick me out..nah, they would never do that. They would have to close down the store! 

A Snapshot (or seven) of Our Mornings

I found these pictures on my phone and I think they just say it all. But since words also help, I will add in what I believe Gus was thinking when he took my phone. We were parked at the halfway point between our house and Leo's school. I am always frantically getting out Leo's bike, Gus' stroller and the two of them to make sure we can quickly do the half mile bike ride and walk before the tardy bell rings.


"Hee Hee. I have mommy's phone! Oh what fun I am going to have! First, I will take pictures of mommy. What is she yelling about?"

"I'm going to try one of those things…what do they call it when you take a picture of yourself? Oh, right. A selfie! Here I go! Well that didn't work. Pinterest fail!"

"I'll try again. There. Nailed it!" 

"Uh-oh. I think mommy might be mad. I'm not sure why. She's trying to take the phone away from me!  No way. I'm having too much fun. I'll just take more pictures of her!"

"There is steam blowing out of mommy's ears! I've got to get a shot of that and show my friends in preschool Frog's class!"

"Now she is threatening me. Says she'll take my shoo shoo. Whatever. I have three more! Gonna just keep snapping photos!" 

"I think mommy is going to cry. But she really should smile for the camera! That's what she always tells me to do!"

Oh, the Games Leo Plays

Leo is often disgruntled. He accuses us of punishing him unfairly, for "no reason at all." When he gets in these moods, he likes to express his frustration through art. Usually that means he writes "Mom" or "Dad" with an X over it. The other day he took it to another level and, while he was in time-out for one of these imaginary offenses, created a game. 

I was the lucky one who got to play it. He hid post-it notes around the dining room for me to find. Each note represented either his hatred for me or his love for me. 

The first one I found was slightly disturbing, I think because of the red ink. It was the one you see below with a stick figure of me, the word "mom" with an X over it and an arrow pointing to said stick figure. Again, the red ink makes it look a little bloody and ups the creepy factor. An example of a love note is the one with the heart and mom. The one with all of our names and exclamation points is also a positive one. The one with all the boxes is a bad one, but I'm not really sure why. 

He said that if there are more bad notes, he doesn't like me but if there are more good notes, he does. "There are more good notes so I love you!" he said with a smile. Well, it's a good thing he likes art cause his math isn't adding up.

When Leo is not making up crazy games for me to play, he enjoys riding off into the sunset.

Goofy Gus

It's hard to get a picture of Gus smiling. But even though he's not always grinning ear to ear, he is usually doing something goofy. And that makes for good pictures too.  Here are some of Gus' latest antics, packed in with his First Day of School pics (some of which are goofy as well). 

Doing some naked rockin' out: 

"Ah, nothing like playing the guitar in my birthday suit!"

After he jumped off the side of the pool and aimed for the corner--ouch!

Getting every single toy out of the cabinet and basket:

First Day of School!

He's happy about wearing his froggy shirt but upset about something else…I assume it involves that comically large pen behind him.

He insisted on carrying everything--totally different from Leo who prefers me to be his pack mule.

With his classmate, Hannah Kate. Her brother Ben was a Dove and a Wolf with Leo. Gus used to call her "Hannah Cake."

Gus and Leo both loved having our neighbors' dog, Charlie, stay with us for a few days. Gus called him, "Charlie the Dog," so as not to be confused with "Charlie the cousin." But sometimes he called him "Paloma."

This sticker from Adventure Kids just makes me laugh: "Needs Reminders." (For the potty.)

We had a little cold front on Friday (65 degrees) and Gus ran to the coat closet where we keep the winter gear and got out all the hats and gloves!

We love our goofy Gus!

Coming around to Coffee

You might recall my blog from seven years ago about my coffee confusion. If not, the gist was that I don't understand how to make coffee because, while everyone says it's easy, it's very complicated to me. Then five years ago I wrote about how I wish I liked Starbucks but I didn't. Also, I've never liked how coffee drinkers are all, "Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee." My general stance has been anti-coffee.

So I don't know how this happened but lately I've been dipping my toe into the coffee pool. I guess it started with Starbucks and maybe the fact that they are often in Targets. And Kroger. And basically every corner. I began to figure out that I liked frappuccinos. I mean, they're basically milkshakes. Expensive milkshakes. At first I would say "half caf" and even that would give me the shakes.

But slowly I stopped saying "had caf" and went full on caf. I seem to be handling it okay.

And then there was the time that RaceTrac opened right by my house and they offered 49cent coffee. They had all these fun creamers there so you could totally froo froo up your joe. Mine was practically white. I started getting one of those just about every other day.  But they did raise my heart rate and then RaceTrac raised the price. But still, now they are only $1.19 and to me, a non-coffee connoisseur, they rival Starbucks.

I can think of two more circumstances that propelled me into almost a full-fledge coffee drinker: my friends got me a $50 Starbucks gift card for my birthday. FIFTY DOLLARS? Do you know how long it takes to spend $50 at Starbucks? Not long actually, probably about a month. And then I put that gift card on my phone with the Starbucks app and now I keep reloading it because I'm in the loyalty club and OMG I am one point away from a FREE drink!

Now I still say I am almost a full fledge coffee drinker because there is
one thing holding me back from jumping in with both feet:

I don't like coffee.

Actual black coffee is soooo gross to me; I can barely sip it. And I tried iced coffee and it was second only to hot coffee in yucky-ness. But I DO love the smell and I can see the appeal in waking up and sipping on a hot drink and I love holding it while I shop at Target. Oh, and those Pumpkin Spice Lattes! They're out now for a limited time. Although I did read an article about what's in them ("a toxic amount of sugar") and what's not in them (pumpkin) and that sort of ruined it for me.

So even though I am still in the anti-coffee-camp, I wanted to explain why you might see me at a Starbucks, holding up my phone app like a pro. Don't worry; I'm just getting an overpriced milkshake.

Kindergarten is Awesome

At Leo's school the theme is "Purefoy is Awesome" which is a nod to the Lego Movie. In fact, on Thursday, as we were walking up to the school, they were pumping the song from said movie outside: "Everything is Awesome, everything is cool when you're part of a team…" Still in my head.

Now I'm not going to expect this to last (although I hope it does!) but so far Leo is very excited about school. Yesterday when I picked him up he said, "I had so much fun today! School is so cool!" He has NEVER uttered those words. What was he excited about? This binder, for one thing:

To tell you the truth, I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's just a binder he takes home everyday with his work, a calendar and some notes. But he was STOKED about it. "I can't wait to show it to you!" he said. So, if that's what gets ya giddy, fine with me! 

He was also excited that he gets to play his favorite game on the playground--zombies. He played it in preschool with his Wolf friends and one of his boy wolf friends is in Kinder too (different class) so they get to play zombies like old time. Funny note about this: Leo said, "I play zombies with Harrison and Colin from the Wolves class!" I said, "But Colin doesn't go to school here." Leo: "Yes, he does." I think I know who he is talking about and he does resemble Colin. Poor Leo; not exactly a "People Person." Could never be a politician. 

But he COULD be an artist because art class was another favorite of his. The teacher made fun of her own name, which sounds like "Nose." Leo has been laughing about that since Kinder orientation so, when she joked about it too, he was hysterical. Add in the fact that she said, "My name is not Ms. Bottom," and she is by far his favorite "specials" teacher. 

This is what made ME laugh this week--Can you spot Leo's book box?  

"Which of these things just doesn't belong here? Can you guess which kid is doing his own thing?" A

And this is just a sample. They were all very elaborate! 

This is Leo's first experience with "my parents are not artistic at all." We will NOT be helping him with any crafts for the rest of his school career. Same goes for science projects. 

Getting to school went pretty well. We don't have a bus since we just live one mile away so our options are to walk, ride a bike or drop off. We chose a combo: we drive about half a mile and park in a friend's driveway. Then Leo walks, rides his bike or (in a moment of poor judgement on my part) rides his scooter the other half a mile. The bike was by far our favorite transportation method. Leo rides way ahead while Gus and I trail behind on foot/stroller. 

Today Leo's teacher emailed us this photo while he was at school. What an amazing age we live in when a teacher can send pics with her phone during school! Hopefully she wasn't also checking Facebook all day ;) Oh, and Ava is the girl who sits next to him. I guess he figured he could spell that cause her name is right there. Or she is replacing Gus in our family? 

So here is a picture recap of Leo's first week, ending with an ice cream (shhh, don't tell them it's really fro yo) at his favorite hangout, Race Trac.