Its that time of year again! Oh the excitement over fresh paper, pencils that still have an intact eraser and the sound of my children groaning in the early hours of the mornings as we all get ready to head off to school! I'm teaching Kindergarten this year. I worked a solid week before this one arranging and rearranging furniture in my classroom to create an open and welcoming room. The children excitedly came to school this past Tuesday with school supplies and happy faces. I was thrilled that our morning went off without any issues. One fun thing we did during our first day was to take a tour around the building on the pretense that we were looking for paw print clues to our promised prize. At the end they each received a bag of 'magic predictor play dough' that changed color when kneaded. The premise was that if it changed color, then a great year in kindergarten was the prediction. Of course everyone's changed and the excitement and smiles were priceless!

While at school, Chloe and pups have been on their own. The puppies are now enjoying a puree of puppy food along with nursing much to Chloe's chagrin. Yes, she believes all food is hers. I have to lock the poor thing out of the house or she paces and paws at the puppy enclosure trying to get in to eat the food. Once I let her in to clean up (the floor, the dish, the puppies) she literally steps on her pups to get to any left over food! Some mother!!

The puppies are also at fun stage...still no teeth but they love to romp on each other, my hand or foot and 'bite' what ever they can. They also practice growling and barking at one another.

They have begun to also figure out how to get out of the enclosure and get to their mother who wants to spend more time away from them!

I've introduced them to toys and they love them! It gives them something else to chew on besides my fingers and toes!!

The bathroom is moving along nicely for those who want to see more photos. We now have a tiled floor and painted walls! Unfortunately you can't really see the pretty blue on the wall in these photos but you can get the idea. The plumber will be in next week with the fixtures. I'm getting my tubbie accessories ready!

update

The puppies have begun to walk!

Here are a few outdoor photos as well.... Phin enjoying the grass. The pups didn't quite know what to make of the new turf tickling their bellies...lots of whining at first but then they seemed to enjoy the fun of exploring and playing.

Jake enjoying the new experience.

Oreo and Jake playing.

All tuckered out after a fun adventure.

And.... the bathroom is coming along. Wainscoat is being applied today...and the closet door is in :) This is moving along quickly!

Today

....its raining. I managed to make it down to the tennis courts and get into a lesson with my friend Amy. we had fun and a great workout to boot. Just as our lesson ended, the skies opened up and the rain began. so much for me getting P out to mow the lawn! Since it is a rainy day, I have no excuse but to get my final project for my "Study Skills in Content Literacy" class complete...it is due tomorrow. I have downloaded a few research articles and am prepared with my tea and my high lighter and will tackle that in a moment.

Of course I have had to stop and visit with the puppies and take a few photos.....

Their eyes have begun opening the past two days. While they still can't see, we love to see them trying to focus.

Oreo and Jake with their milky blue eyes...for now :)

And of course I had to check in on the electritian and carpenter work as well! Rob was here until almost 9pm Saturday night getting things ready for the electrician. He put down the plywood flooring and wall and ceiling joists.
Sunday morning lights up what was done Sat. night.

Today the electrician came through and the vent fan is in as are the plugs and light switches. Bill came through and framed the linen closet in.

well...time to get that paper finished...and...oh...wait...have to get over to comcast pay a bill and replace the clicker......ahhhh procrastination!

Life

Life is happening around here...some things to report......

The puppies are getting bigger! Today Jake (on the right) began to open his eyes a teeny bit.

Oreo (female on left) is huge, much bigger than Jake!

Here is Phin. His nose is turning black and he is the biggest pup. When it is feeding time, he nurses and then will finish and push one of his siblings off and steal their spot! what a piggie!!

The bathroom is being fully renovated. After pulling up tiles and some flooring (3 floors to be exact...staked one on top of another!)

They found that the floors were water damaged right down to the joists. So, they ripped them completely out and replaced those.

The plumber has been in yesterday and today getting the pipes set for the new placement of sink and tub. We went over design and square footage and picked out a soaking tub with hand held personal shower, picked out a pedestal sink and a simple toilet.

The 'drunk window' is now gone ....thus named due to the slanted angle it was hanging at...I swear someone was drunk when they framed that in!

The floors were also slanting to the left...they are now level...now that is a novel idea for this house!

Built in or before 1830, there are no plumb lines, no square corners to be found!

Ahhhhheeeyyyyyy

This past weekend I had the pleasure and privledge of being invited to "Pops by the Sea" by my wonderful sister and brother in law. My brother in law 'buys' a VIP table and enjoys a night before auction and then the actual concert by the Boston Pops the following day.
Saturday I spent the day getting the kids set with groceries and getting myself packed for an overnight. I loaded myself in the car and headed into my usually 45 min drive to the cape. Then I hit this... Yes...traffic. I hardly ever head to the cape on a Saturday and this is why. So there I sat in traffic bored...listening to music and then talking to my mother on the phone...when it hit me! OMG! I forgot my tickets!!! So yes, I was at this point at the bridge and had to get off, turn around and head back home to get my tickets and then back again to the cape. I sat again in traffic and arrived at the auction with 1 hour left of the festivities. To my delight, the auction had just begun.

Henry Winkler aka the Fonz from "Happy Days" (only one of my favorite tv shows I watched as a kid!) was the guest conductor and he was having fun running parts of the auction. He helped raise big bucks (a painting went for $17,000 and 3 sets of Mr. Winkler's books went for $5,500 each). The auction was entertaining and after there was mingling, food and conversation. Yep, that is me conversing with "The Fonz!" :) He was very personable and warm. He had been at a local elementary school the evening before talking about his own learning disabilities. We spoke briefly about this and about his books he's written.

After the event ended, I went out for the evening and enjoyed the night life on Main Street in Hyannis. As a teen, we used to hang out and drive up and down the street checking out the boys!
What a Different place Main Street in Hyannis has become! Not to many years ago it seemed all but abandoned. It has now become populated with bars and is open until past 1am! We met up with my neice, met her friends. My sister and I accompianied my neice to one of her favorite haunts and then after dancing with a young crowd, decided to go to a jazz bar that was filled with people more our age. The funniest thing was bumping into the husband of a good friend of mine.

Sunday afternoon we dressed and headed off to the green and to settle ourselves as our table. We listened to some great pre-show music, went for lunch with my brother in law and then enjoyed a day at the Pops!

Keith Lockhart beginning the performance with a pops rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.

Henry Winkler, guest conductor

We were treated to a comical conducting by Henry Winkler and then renditions of Broadway songs by Leonard Bernstein. The day was beautiful all around and I'm forever grateful to my Sister and Brother in law for the invite and chance to enjoy such a lovely day!