First Day of Kindergarten (with a few distractions thrown in)

I would like to start with a quick rant about USB cords.  Why do they all have to be different?  Ever time I want to download sub-par pictures or charge my mp3 player or put music on my phone or do whatever I have to find the right stupid cord out of my pile of all the USB cords that have been included with all the various electronic devices we have accumuluated.  Why can't they all be the same?  Aaron and I have mp3 players that were purchased less than a year apart.  They are the same brand and look identical except for color, and yet, they have slightly different USB cords that are not compatible with one another.  Anyway, long story short, I did find the right cord for the camera (sub-par pictures to follow).  Rant over.

Next distraction.  As I was downloading the pictures, I realized there were pictures from Elise's little birthday party, which I guess I never posted on this here blog.  So here they are, perhaps a little late.  She turned the big "5", and wanted a rock and roll party.  I made my first ever "shape" cake, and totally hated it (not how it turned out, just the entire process).  From now on, I'm sticking to the rectangle thing, with a little picture thrown on top.  Anywho, here's the cake:

The party was too long ago for me to actually remember what they did, but I think they all had a good time doing girly, rock and roll type things.  I also seem to remember that they ate a lot of fruit.  Anyway, now that we have establised that Elise is 5, we can move on to the whole starting school thing.

I had an orientation for my school program all day today, so I had to miss out on the entire "get on the bus" thing.  Aaron took the morning off so he could see her on her way.  She was determined to ride the bus to school.  I told her a few times that Aaron would be more than happy to drive her and make sure she got to the right place, but she insisted that the bus would be perfect.  So Aaron took her to the bus stop this afternoon, and I guess everything worked out.  When she got home she did mention that at one point (after recess I think) she went into the wrong class for a few minutes, and the teacher there showed her where she was supposed to be.  It's nice to know that your kid is confident enough to just go with it, and not get upset or feel bad when they do something wrong, or get lost, or whatever.  She said when she got back to the right class, all the kids were coloring a picture, so she just sat down and started coloring too.  She also said they had 4 recesses (maybe more), so I'm not sure I believe everything she says.  She can be prone to a little exaggeration.  Anyway, here she is on her first day of school, except after school not before school, and she has an otter pop.  Like I said before, sub par.

***Short Flashback to Last Week***

Speaking of first days of school, or rather second, here's the sub par pic of Frank on his second day of school (because we forgot on the first day).  The sun was really bright, and he couldn't keep his eyes open.  Photography at its best.

That morning, Elise woke up just as we were leaving to walk to the bus stop.  She insisted on coming.  She also insisted that I snap a couple of pictures of her.  After all, she was wearing her beautiful pink nightgown.

So there you have it.  All the pictures I have taken since June.