School!

Austin is officially a KINDERGARTNER! Kindof. His school says you need to be 5 before mid September to enter Kindergarten. And he just missed the cutoff. BUT they also offer Transitional Kindergarten, for kids turning 5 between the cutoff day and December. So that means there is an extra class comprised of older 4s, who get a practice year before they start for real. And this sounded great to us. He started last Wednesday, the 12th and goes for a half day until September, when they'll go for full days. So here's a mosaic of pictures all about his first week of school :)

 

Starting on the top left corner and working clockwise:

We are close enough to walk him to school, which is awesome. Sophie has gone with us every day, but her legs don't seem to work at 8 AM

All the Kinders are supposed to line up in the morning when the bell rings. Austin used to be afraid of the bell, so I was a little worried he still would be. But when he heard it that morning, he looked up at me and exclaimed, "It's not scary!"

Every morning, I draw a little picture to put in his lunch. Which he occasionally eats a little bit of.

Here he is emerging at the end of the school day. 

That evening, we took him to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his first day of TK and Sophie's first week of preschool without her brother.

We gave them each a little present. Austin got a copy of "Where the Sidewalk Ends." He likes Hungry Mungry.

Meeting the principal! 

His school mascot is the owl, so on the first day of school, the lawn had a whole herd of those plastic owls you get to scare pigeons. Daddy and I wondered if any schools are the flamingos.

And in the center, I took a picture of the quarter someone has glued to the sidewalk on our journey to school. Poor Austin was extremely sad and confused about why someone would do this <3

Invader Zim

When last we left our heroes, Austin, the dashing big brother, and Sophie, the pugnacious little sister, had just left for school. What was Mommy to do with all her free time?

Meet Zim.

We have always been a 2-cat family. My husband had a cat and I had a cat when we moved to California. We each had a cat when we got married. And then, in December of 2013, my cat died. And unlike the last time we auditioned new cats, we had a 1 year old and a 3 year old. It didn't seem fair to spring that on an unsuspecting animal. So I waited.

But now, we have a 2.5 year old and a 5 year old. And I thought they seemed ready. I saw a kitten at the space for adoptable animals at the store where we get Zoecat's food and she pressed up against the glass when Sophie wiggled her fingers at her. I thought, that seems like a nice cat. So, two days later, I sent Daddy and the kids to Nana's for the day, cleaned up the train room, had a serious talk with Zoecat, and went to see about a new kitty.

She probably was a nice cat. She was already gone. But they were having an adoption fair that day, and they had a ton of sweet kitties. I spent some time with a few, and eventually, I settled on a little boy kitten named Gage. He was a feral kitten, who had been captured with his mother and two brothers. The mom was spayed and released, but the kittens were up for adoption. I chose him because he allowed himself to be picked up by the woman who had caught them, instead of being trapped like the others.

He is very popular.

Sometimes I don't think my life is real.

Not everyone is happy about this new development.

After a few days, I decided to name him "Zim." For a number of reasons :)

He is working out great. Zim is a perfect cat. Austin loves him and he's been really good with him. And yesterday, when Austin was having a really bad day, Zim came into his room and crawled into his lap while he was crying. It was about the most perfect moment ever.

Sophie is having a little bit more trouble. She chases him. She scares him. She pulls his tail. It's really hard for me to deal with and I feel really bad for the cat when I drop my guard for a moment and she traumatizes him. But then there are moments like this:

He is the perfect cat.