Wednesday was Rene's preschool orientation. Corrina and Hank got to come along. The kids were split up into groups of 5 for orientation - Rene got to see 3 of her old friends and one new student. Miss Anita said Rene's other friends from last year were asking about her at the earlier orientations. All the kids were happy to see each other again and Rene wanted to go to school "for real" today, but she doesn't start until tomorrow. Rene brought along her "pet ladybug" to share at orientation.

We have been spending a lot of time outside since the weather has cooled down - we've had highs around 80. Yesterday, Rene was working in the garden and when she came out there was a ladybug crawling on her. We put the ladybug in a container covered with cheesecloth and added some leaves and grass, and the ladybug has seemed quite content. Rene even took the ladybug to orientation!
Here's a pic of the ladybug after it crawled up her neck and onto her face.



And getting the kids up early for school has been wonderful so far - last night all three kids were asleep by 9:00! Tony and I used the extra time to watch an episode of the Sopranos. We have it on DVD and manage to watch about one episode a month! That's why we quit watching Survivor - we only have about an hour of spare time for tv-watching each month!