This and That Updates, with Pictures

Amanda started school a couple of weeks ago, and I was surprised that I didn't feel too overwhelmed. Well I figured out why: BSF had not started, so I didn't have my leadership responsibilities for that, soccer hadn't started, I wasn't worried about preschool, and I wasn't planning a birthday party! So last week I was officially overwhelmed, and this week I am trying to figure out my new schedule and routine. That's why blogging has been a bit sporadic, both writing and reading. However, I did want to let you know about a couple of things:

Don't miss my posts on a new novel by Sandra Glahn, and a personalized book for kids, both of which have copies available to win.


I am also going to be gearing up for THIS, although with the way that I read for my 5 Minutes for Books column (a lot of books, and not planned out three months in advance!), I'm not sure how I will focus my list.


Amanda's purple party was great.



I'm quite proud of my cake (remember we had a purple theme with smiley accents), so it's a round cake, the top is a yellow smiley, and the frosting on the outside is purple. I did it! I'm never ever neat when I do these types of things (as evidenced by the fact that I was unintentionally using some weird tip for the black smiley accents and border), but Amanda loved it, so I'm glad to have to stretch myself a bit and have fun with it.



Kyle survived preschool (or should I say preschool survived him?). Here he is putting away his new Thomas lunch box (which they bring their little snack in).

And despite some of his less-than-perfect behavior yesterday at the open house, he was the first kid to join in with the clapping that the teacher was trying to use to get their attention (to give full disclosure, the other children were sitting at the table, but I don't know if he's ever going to be a "sit still" kind of boy, and may always be tagged with the "active learner" label).