Blame it on the iphone

I've had a lot of enquiries as to why I haven't done any blog posts recently.  I point the finger of blame (and texting) at my valuable companion - the iphone.  Since acquiring it, I have had access to information and communication virtually nonstop wherever I go (thanks 3G!)  And my poor digital camera is now... hmm, where is it?  The iphone is now capturing those priceless day to day moments and that has broken my habit of taking photos, uploading at the PC and then posting on the blog.  Oops.

So here's an iphone update of life from the past few weeks:

An afternoon at The Factory in Franklin.  This pottery shop kept us happily painting for hours while Grandma Tolley and Great-Grandma Brooks were shopping.

Williamson County Fair

The first day of school (August 11th)

We have 14 cute little elementary school kids that gather at the end of our street to catch the bus each morning.  Meeting up with the other parents at the bus stop has nicely filled the void of the schoolyard drop-off's I loved so much in England.  We have fabulous neighbors and all of us girls have some great friendships on our street.  We can't wait for Matt to get home from Singapore so he can join in our fun and impromptu neighborhood get-togethers.  Our little firepit has become s'more headquarters for the neighborhood.  (And I love it).

Emily insisted on riding the bus with the other kids on the first day of kindergarten.  The school hosted a "Boo-Hoo Breakfast" after kindergarten drop-off that first morning.  I think I was the only parent that arrived to school after my kindergartener had already arrived on the bus. (I continually had to defend myself that yes, my child actually wanted to go on the bus despite my offer to drive her). Of course, this is old hat for Emily since she's done a year of school in England already.  She did a great job getting herself settled in and her teacher reports she is a model student and a joy to have in class.

Amy is also being very independent these days - riding the bus from Day 1 and being a great helper in her classroom.  She's let me experiment with her hair a lot lately - which is great fun.  I've even learned how to make some new hair accessories: Japanese Kanzashi flowers - made with fabric instead of paper.  I've fastened them with hair clips and onto hairbands.  More posts on that to come in the next few days.  But kudos to the iphone and youtube for the handy tutorials on how to make the flowers and do the hair-braiding.

Most recently, we enjoyed an afternoon at the Franklin Theater which shows discounted movies in its renovated circa 1950s movie cinema/stage theater.  For $5 we enjoyed "Diary of  Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" with free popcorn and lemonade before making a trip to Toys R Us to buy Playmobil with birthday money.  Then we spent the afternoon assembling the Playmobil and playing.  Saturdays are great!