Come and almost gone

I can't believe July has come and is just shy of being gone. This month has been crazy and not one I will soon forget. Zach started school on Thursday - he's now in First Grade. Boo hoo! He's been really sweet and kind of clingy when I take him to school. Yesterday he asked me to stay at school with him all day. I started with the "honey, they don't let mommies and daddies stay" and when that didn't work I moved to the much less appreciated phrase of "Mommy has already been in First Grade". He didn't like it, but he didn't cry - not that he's ever been a cry-er. He has always just walked into his classroom and said "see ya!" and I've been the one left crying in the halls! It's been kind of nice to feel needed for a change! LOL!

Anyway, he's making friends fast - as usual. He also just met another boy in our neighborhood and had an absolute blast playing with him yesterday. His mom is neurotic like me, so I felt very comfortable leaving him to play. A house several doors down from theirs is up for sale and a car drove up to it and stopped as the boys were riding their bikes close to it. The boy's mom jumped up and started yelling at the boys to "pedal fast back home....fast, fast, fast - as fast as you can!". The boys looked at her like she had a 3rd eye but hauled hiney back to the house without pause. She then proceeded to remind them gently that whenever a car stops, they need to come back to their home as fast as possible. She asked Zach at that point if he'd ever heard of "Stranger Danger" - he said "no, but it rhymes"! Now that's my son for you!!! So if that's not enough to entertain you, he was over at another friend's house playing tic-tac-toe. This tic-tac-toe set is wooden and the pieces are red and black. Well, he decided he didn't want to play with just one color and convinced the other person to divy up the pieces and to play every other color. So they did. Well, after the 3rd game she discovered that he was smart enough to figure out that if he changed to alternating colors and got to start, then he could win every game! The funny part is - the person he was playing with is over the age of 50 and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the U of IL!!! Really ticked her off that it took her 3 games to catch on to his scheme!!! I told her "welcome to my world!" ROTFL!!!

Katie is just cuter by the day. It almost makes me melt at what an absolutely sweet and loving child she is. We just changed her preschool to one that's a bit closer to home and that has a much stronger academic and religious program than her previous school. It costs a bit more, but with the amount we should save in gas, it should end up equal. She got to go to the store today with dad, all by herself. It was something very special for the 2 of them. She was so adorable and excited! Mike said she held his hand throughout the store and was just the sweetest little thing that people were telling him how cute they looked together. I think daddy enjoyed showing off his pretty little girl as much as she enjoyed having his undivided attention!

I have decided to start a pet photography business. A friend of mine and Mike have both ganged up on me and convinced me I need to do this. So, Monday morning I will be calling the Small Business Administration to find out how to go about this properly, in essence, making an appointment. I want to be able to do this to the best of my ability, and be able to have everything in place to allow me to succeed. Not to mention, make some extra money because good heavens the cost of groceries here has just skyrocketed! I went shopping yesterday and discovered that my Dove liquid body soap for Sensitive Skin went from being $2.50/bottle to $5.54!!! Then I went to Sam's to buy some Bounty Select-A-Size case of paper towels and they had gone up to $17.97!! That's flippin' nuts!!! Now I know why so many people are using homemade soap and lots of dish rags!!! Sheesh!!!