"Come on with the rain, I've a smile on my face."

It's been yet another lousy news week. 

On the home front, however, we've been getting on just fine. Adele made it through 3 days of daycare before she had to take her first sick day (just some intestinal distress- nothing worrisome! She's fine!). But other than that, the machine of our schedule has been humming along efficiently. 

Miles got off the bus after his first day of kindergarten (after 4pm! such a long day!!) with a huge grin on his face. And, but for occasionally complaining of being tired and of kindergarten being too long, he's been very positive on his new life as a kindergartener. He cheerfully announces that he gets to go back to kindergarten in the morning, and is smiling and happy about the prospect. 

  

Here is some artwork he did on the topic on his first day: You notice that he highlights "excited" and "scared" as his emotions upon starting kindergarten. The drawings on the right show Miles and Papa holding hands (top) and Miles and Adele in the bath (bottom). 

Adele is back in day care and, but for the mild bug she seemed to have, is doing well. She's been bumped up to the big kids room, where the 3s and 4s usually go. They had to move some kids because of required teacher-child ratios, and Adele was one of the more verbal and mature among the toddlers so up she went! So far, so good. Her little BFF got moved with her, so she's not complaining. 

Our Saturday was packed! We got up early to get a good hour of scrounging in at the church garage sale, where, among other things, we picked up some new dress up clothes:

All hail Princess Miles! 

After the garage sale, it was off to Adele's dance lesson, followed by a trip to Christiansburg where, our friend had tipped us, there was a huge free kids' open-house party. The only disappointment there was that our old back-up camera chews through batteries so quickly that I wasn't able to take photos. It was the whole kid fantasy event: bouncy houses, and obstacle course, free food, and a guest appearance by Princess Elsa herself! The kids were in fankid heaven.  

That at church on Sunday were the sum of our outings. I came down with a weird bug and needed  to be home, making the house more livable. Jon was a lifesaver on Sunday when he took the kids grocery shopping and then to the playground so I could putter around the house. 

Just after they got back from the playground, the promised rain done showed UP. Jon jumped up and suggested a dance in the rain. The kids couldn't hardly believe they were going to be allowed to do this, but their joy took off before long. 

Doing "Rainbows" (from dance class) in the rain

 There was dancing, singing, shrieking, giggling, and all that you might expect from a puddle-jump/rain dance. I feel like I say it every blog post, but I'm just so grateful for the kids' example in enjoying life. I sometimes think 75% of my laughs are due to these two tinies (the rest to Stephen Colbert & John Oliver, combined with Jon and our video-game hijinks).

Way to be ALIVE, kids, and way to make it look so good.

I just had to include: this is Miles' latest drawing. Cats that look like cats! For the next post, I'll show Adele's innovation: faces that look like faces.

By the way: If you are paying attention to the news coming out of Ferguson, MO, (and if you're not, please look into it!) please pray. Pray for peace, but also pray for justice. I hope very much that some good and needed changes will happen in our country's conversation on race and integration, but for tonight, I just hope Ferguson can make progress toward not being a police state. Let the kids go back to school!