And we have a "colleger"

When Lorien was a little girl (somewhere between 5 and 7  years old) she used to call people who were attending college, "Collegers" like teenagers.  It was adorable.  She also called Will's graduation from grad school his "Congraduation" also adorable.  And she called George Washington's face on a quarter "man-genius" also adorable.  I could list the things she said that were 100% adorable all day.  But I wont...well, just one more.  She called the Hoover Tower at Stanford the "Coober Tower".  I let that one go until like yesterday.  It was too cute.  

Anyway, last year, Lorien decided she would take her foreign language requirement at a local community college.  Having little interest in the Spanish or French the high school offered, she searched elsewhere for Japanese.  Over the last two years Lorien has fallen in love with all things Japanese.  Anime cartoons being top on the love list.  So she jumped at the chance to take Japanese at the community college.  Two of the biggest bonuses being: she could take the class for one whole dollar AND one semester of college counted as a year of a high school language.  Win, win.  The only draw back was that the only campus that offered Japanese is about 20 miles away.  And the only time the class was offered that didn't conflict with her high school classes was the ripe hours of 4-6 pm when traffic is at its worst.  Still, she soldiered on with registration and class attendance requests.  Thankfully, we found out one of her friends, Cole, also wanted to take Japanese and we could work out a carpool.  

So...Tuesday was Lorien's first day of class up at DVC.  I drove the first leg of carpool.  Cole's dad works near the campus and is able to bring the kids home as long as he isn't traveling.  The kids had to go to the registrars office and pay their dollar.  Then get a request to attend form and take it to the first day of class.  Provided the teacher was willing and there was space in the class, they were in.  

I had Adell and Colter with me so we hung back and I let Lorien and Cole navigate most of the process on their own.  It was exciting and nerve wracking to see my little baby signing up for a college class.  Eeep!  Where did the time go?!

Sneaky Mom Shot

Lorien and Cole are up at the Admissions and Records window to the left paying their dollar and getting their forms.

Kid 1/2 dressed in pajamas and 1/2 dressed in regular clothes.  

Up the stairs to class they go.

Once they were paid in full I walked with them over to their classroom and sent them on their way.  I tried not to linger and worry that they wouldn't be able to handle the rest on their own.  I am a big believer in preparing your child for the path and sending them on their way when the time is right.  This was the right time.  

Adell, Colter and I headed to the van and I burst into tears.  I cried for the whole drive home.  I couldn't stop.  I cried and cried.  Finally, Colter called out to Adell: "Ugh, she's been crying and crying all day!  I didn't do anything!  I tried to make it better!  She just wont stop crying!"  Poor kid.  His mother was an emotional wreck.

  

Real story.  Remember the house we looked at the weekend before school started?  The day I went to the fancy-schmancy bridal shower and Will helped dig up his brother's yard?  Yes, that day and that house.  We decided we wanted the house.  We put in an offer and waited.  We still hadn't finalized our loan so I knew it would be a tough sell for our realtor.  But there wasn't anything I could do about that.  

So we put in an offer on the house and we were waiting.  I was having a hard time being patient in waiting.  I was also feeling overwhelmed at the idea of buying a very expensive house that needed a fair amount of work once we moved in.  THEN I dropped my baby off at college and lost my mind.  I felt like life was unraveling before I could gather it in enough to enjoy it.  If we bought this house we would be living in a home we owned for the first time since Lorien was a baby.  And here that baby was going to college?  It was all too much.  I sobbed for the whole drive home.

The next day we found out we did not get the house.  There was only one other offer for just as much as we were offering but they could put more money down so the other offer won.  Bummer.  

We will find a house that is right for us.  I just have to keep being patient and now we have more time to get our loan finalized anyway.

School's back from Summer...

Ah, the blessed and dreaded first day of school.  I'm just going to say it was all dreaded and none of it was blessed.  Our school district moved the start date up by two weeks this year and we lost two weeks of summer vacation!  

Blast and drat.

Usually, when school is about a week away, I cannot wait to send my little darlings out the door to be cared for in the public education system.  Usually, when school is three days away, my kids are at each other's throats and fighting so much...I consider adoption...as in "putting them all up for".  

I am sure, if summer vacation was the regular length I would have been shooing all of my darlings out the door with joy.  BUT school started August 15th and in my book, that is too soon and stinks so much.  

Alas, there was nothing I could do about it (I tried).  So, I sent my darlings out the door with forced smiles.

Lorien 10th grade, Wyatt 7th grade, Clare 5th grade, Adell 1st grade

Will took Lorien to school for her first day.  On top of starting school two weeks early, the high school decided to switch to block scheduling...AND make the start day different every day of the week.  I wish I was joking around.  I nearly am, school starts at 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning, depending on the day.  It is a pain in the butt.

Wyatt met up with his bike crew at a friend's house and biked to school on his own.  No more fond farewells at the school gates for this guy.

Colter sure knows how to create a Kodak moment...

I took the girls to elementary school.  We walked in and found their class lines.  A friend snapped a few pictures of us on the way in.  Naturally, I am delighted to have photographic evidence of how little effort I put into my morning appearance.  Like zero effort, right.  Yes, exactly zero.

Forced levity and joy

Girls in their first day clothes...Momma and Colter in pajamas.

It was bizarrely cold for the 15th of August.  The sky was clouded over and fog hung in the air.  A chilly wind was kicking up and we were all wishing we had worn and extra jacket.  It was like California knew it would be out first day of school and snapped up some fall weather for the occasion.

Just you and me baby.

After getting the girls out the door, Colter and I parked on the side walk to play trucks for 25 minutes...because we don't have a yard.  Then we went up to Chick fil A for a little date before turning right back around to pick all the kids up from school.  ANOTHER awesome thing our school district does is to have the first day of school be a half day and every day for the first two weeks is an early out day.  Grrrrrr.

Welcome back school year.  You stink.

Fake fancy

So I know one glamorous person...one.  And she is getting married in September.  Today I got to go to her bridal shower.  Because she is the most glamorous person I know, Tiffany's co-hosted her bridal shower.  I am not joking.  Everything was Tiffany's blue and white.  There was a table of Tiffany's jewelry to try on (with an armed security guy sitting at the table too).  It was crazy...and fun. 

This necklace weighs more than all of the clothes I am wearing.

The Tiffany's jewelry here cost as much as a house in my home town.

Clare is good friends with the bride to be's daughter, Gwen.  I wish I brought Clare to the party.  She would have had a good time and she could have kept Gwen company a little bit.  It was a lovely party with yummy food and good company.

The bride to be (on the right) and her daughter.

This picture sums everything up.

While I was at the bridal shower, Will was over at his brother's house, Dave, helping to grade their back yard and get it ready for new sod.  Colter and Adell went to help him work.  Adell played and Colter helped drive the little skid-steer loader.  After the shower, Will and Colter met me at a house we wanted to check out to buy.  Did I mention we are finally ready to buy a house?  Well, after a year of hard work (saving and paying off debt) we are ready.  This house just came on the market and it is in the ideal location.  All of the kids (except Lorien) would be able to walk to school and it is in a safe cul-de-sac.  The house is older but we are excited to see if we could make it work.  

Sweet cousins

After we walked through the house (we liked it ...a lot) I went to pick up Adell and the boys went to the dump to unload all the dirt they'd been digging up.  Colter worked hard shoveling and shoveling.  He was a champ!

I came away from this day with a lot of mixed emotions.  I had spent the morning in the company of jewelry that cost as much as a house in other parts of the country.  I had hugged the bride to be and knew she was wearing a dress that cost more than my whole wardrobe combined.  Then I spent the afternoon walking through a house that cost so much money...it should come with a butler and tennis court.  And while I liked the house, it still needed work.  Basically, I live in a crazy part of the world.  I know who I really am, I am fake fancy, I can rub elbows with those who have more but I am most comfortable digging in the dirt with my four year old.

Last hurrah

Summer break is two weeks shorter this year.  Our school district rearranged the calendar and pushed the start date up to August 15th this year.  I hate it, I want ALL OF AUGUST for summer.  Summer is too short already, loosing two weeks is painful.  We packed a lot into our summer and for our last activity we headed up to Adventure Play Ground in Berkeley.

Adventure Play Ground is basically a kid ruled junk yard.  Kids can get tools and wood and build whatever they want.  We've only been one other time.  Actually, Lorien and Wyatt went once with our friends, the Wirigs, but as our little family...we've only gone twice.  It was all kinds of dirty, dangerous, constructive fun.  We all loved it.

Colter using a big magnet to find nails in the sand.

Wyatt and Evan, reconstructing a new part of a fort.

Clare and Andrew did some demo work.

Sadie, Adell and Colter ran all over the place.

Beach with the kids