First grade!!

The title of this post is still somewhat shocking to me, but our big girl has gone and turned into a "grader".  We found out (rather close to the start of the school year) that she will be in Mrs. Stehouwer's class for first grade.

Checking out her desk situation at Meet the Teacher Night

 

Miss Big Stuff with her very own cubby of school supplies (in kindergarten it was more of a communal supply situation)

By her locker - this part is actually not new for her.  Her kindergarten class was the only one last year that had lockers.

 

 

Her classroom is monkey-themed this year (Mrs. Stehouwer's Bunch), and yes, the grader is growing weary of my camera

 

Mrs. Stehouwer gave each kid one of these packets to open up on the night before school

  

A wee bit excited to unveil the surprise

  

The package contained this cute little poem...

 

...and confetti!

 

 

Putting the confetti under her pillow, as directed

 

The big day has arrived!  (Ugh, she is just cute...)

 

 

...and sweet, too.  :)

 

Obligatory blooper

 

All the kids at the bus stop - our neighborhood almost fills the bus!

 

With her posse - Rand, Megan, Norah, Claire

 

She was so happy to have Claire and Norah (both starting kindergarten) join her at the bus stop this year! 

  

Sweet little friends

  

And, of course, the only proper way to celebrate a great first day of school is with Spoonlickers afterwards!

Spa night

After a super week at Family Camp with Grandma and Grandpa Purdy, we brought home two happy girls...with filthy fingers and toes.  Mom decided a spa night with full manicure/pedicure detail was in order to remedy this situation.

 

Enjoying her foot soak

Thumbs up from the big one

She doesn't have the spa experience that her sister does, but she gets into it just the same.

Pretty nails! (that you can't see, I realize, but that was the point of the picture)

Ahhh, 40 clean, trimmed and polished nails - Mom's work here is done.

Grand Haven - Mom's Project Weekend

While Dad and the kids went to Family Camp, Mom & Lacey headed to GH to take care of business.  Remember that green kitchen and unstained deck?

Green kitchen

Unstained deck

 Yeah, well I killed them both.  It was not fun, but I get one opportunity a year to enjoy a full weekend to myself, and I had to make the most of it.

Sayonara, green kitchen.  Hello, grey kitchen.

Ah yes, much better.

The red stools look so much better now that they don't appear like something straight out of the North Pole

Bring on the deck

Make no mistake, she was of no help with any of these projects

It was right around this point that I realized this was the worst project ever

Done.  And while I unfortunately don't love it, it was definitely an improvement from the unfinished wood, and will hopefully sustain the life of this front porch I adore.

Disaster on Coppergrove Drive

In January, we noticed a small black spot above our kitchen sink.  We called a plumber to check it out.  He was hesitant to cut open our ceiling to diagnose, but suspected that the door to the shower in the master bedroom was not sealed properly.  All the comfort we felt from this diagnosis was quickly lost when we saw the black spot reappear in June.  

We called a different plumber out...who quickly smelled trouble...and called out a general contractor and water damage specialist.

Next thing we knew, our kitchen looked like this...

and we were told we couldn't use it for several days, while they dried out the BLACK mold!

One long weekend later, I was thrilled to have access to the sink and trash can again.

The culprit?  A bad drainage system in the master shower.

You see that mold around the floor tile?  Yeah, that's not good.

After a couple of weeks of arguing with the insurance company, they got around to demolishing the shower.  With this, came the realization the problem likely extended into the bathroom flooring...

...and there went the floor...and the toilet...

Goodbye, shower!

Yes, that is a toilet in my bedroom.

I'm glad someone had a sense of humor about it.

Ok, I will admit this is cute, despite my frustration with the lack of master bathroom

Reconstruction!!

Seeing progress!

The only change we made, since this was a totally unplanned project, was to add inset shelves to the shower.  Previously I had some shelves in the corner, but this was a major improvement.  

The driveway looked like this for much of the month of August.

Ahhh, happiness is a fully tiled shower.

We're getting there!!

FINALLY - construction is done!!  

We worked with the greatest contractor ever, and thankfully, our insurance covered almost all of the damage, but it still took nearly two months from start to finish.  We were very, very happy to have access to the master bath, and most importantly, the kitchen!!, when this was all behind us.