Golden Rule Days

Molly officially started the 5th grade today!  I can still recall my little kindergardener who was hardly bigger than her backpack and now she is rolling into her last year of elementary school!

They are tearing down her old school where she attended 4th grade and would have attended 5th because the building is very old and falling apart.  They spread the students out among the other schools in the district for the next 2 years while they rebuild. We will miss being only 2 blocks away.  Since the 5th graders are going to a school that is a bit further, they have the option to go via bus.  When we lived in New Jersey, she rode the bus everyday so this isn’t anything new to Molly.  Apparently, it is a big deal here!  The buses even had a police escort today!

I won’t lie, Molly being home for the summer really put a kink in my routine.  I especially slacked off with going to the gym!  All of that ends now.  I need to get back on track!

She had a great first day!  I was happy to hear that she really likes her new teacher.  We’ve been very lucky, so far.  I’ve enjoyed working will all of the wonderful women who have had Molly as a student over the years.

I really wanted to clear one last hurdle before Molly started the new school year and we tackled it yesterday.  We spent hours cleaning her room!  We found a lot of things that we’ve been looking for, including her Yankees hat.  She won’t be very popular up here while sporting that logo but she doesn’t care.  She spent most of her life in New Jersey so she is a New York sports girl when it comes to football and baseball.  She does like the Celtics and the Bruins though.  She’s willing to compromise since she does have a good deal of Boston pride already!  It’s difficult not to!  We love living here!

Her good friend, Josie, came over after school.  She started the 3rd grade today.  Megan (her mom) and I decided to take the girls out to celebrate.  Molly loves going to Diesel Cafe in Davis Square because they have croissants and a Scrabble board.  I like it because they have great coffee (Stumptown and Intellingentsia).  Molly and I split a cappuccino and hung out for a bit.  She was really representing New Jersey with her cap and her iPod blasting Bon Jovi (That’s my girl!  I’ve loved them since I was her age!).  The sell Liz Lovely cookies at Diesel and I splurged on a package today.  They are vegan and gluten free which sounds awful to some folks but I am here to tell you that they were awesome!!  I had the chocolate mint cookies and they really scratched the itch!  I’ve had a hardcore chocolate craving for days!

We went to Goodwill afterwards and I scored a new dress, some shoes and a sweater.  Molly got a cute new shirt despite the fact that I vowed just yesterday that I was not going to buy her any more for a while!  We caught the bus home, met up with Chris and then the five of us went to Za for dinner.  They have a killer seasonal pizza from Kimball Farm.  Now that Fall is creeping in, I’m curious to see how the menu will change since they only use seasonal and local ingredients.

We’re slowly settling back into our school routine.  We still read together and we’re almost done with The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.  I cannot recommend this book enough.  Molly has really enjoyed listening to it as much as I have enjoyed reading it to her.  It’s so intelligent and I can see those little wheels turning in her head as we discuss certain aspects of the book that deal with history, science and gender roles.  It’s been great for her to experience a story about a girl who is very similar to her.

I can’t wait to see what this new school year will bring.  I’m optimistic that it will be a positive learning experience for the entire family.  I love love love that little girl of mine!