The Thompson Family

First day is under-way! VIEW THE PHOTOS from before school on Flickr.

Angie: We miss you SO MUCH and wish we were there to share a hot fudge sundae and give you a big birthday hug! Sending love across the miles to Florida...

Today was Nora's graduation from Children's Village preschool. It was a bittersweet day, as Nora has been at the daycare/preschool since she was only 18 months old (most weekdays for the last 3-1/2 years!). I was up and down all day - fine, then teary, excited then melancholy.

There was a lovely ceremony where the kids sang a few songs - one in English (a jazz number called Little Red Rooster - LISTEN NOW, with scatting included!) and two in Spanish (El Coqui - LISTEN NOW | Samba Le - LISTEN NOW).

For each graduate, the school director Molly read "What I Learned in Preschool". It was at the same time very touching ("I learned to help my friend up when he falls down hard") and scathingly funny ("I learned to tell my friends not to pick their boogers because they have germs").

Thank you to all the amazing teachers and staff at CV that have show love, caring, patience, education, and fun over the years. We will miss all of them deeply.

VIEW THE PHOTOS on Flickr.

From Cool Mom Picks:

Zwaggle is a brand new site especially for momstuff-swapping. It's a very cool cash-free world where you can donate your old exersaucers and strollers in exchange for the stuff you'd rather have today. While there's not an enormous selection just yet, we hear the landfills are giving Zwaggle two thumbs up.

Another resource is Swaptree which helps you trade books, cds, dvds and games for ones you'd rather have. You just list what you've got, list what you want instead, and they'll do the matchmaking for you. The cost? Nada. Only the hit your ego takes when you admit publicly that you have the entire Danielle Steele library in hardcover.

Now go get rid of some stuff. You know you need to make room for Harry Potter VII.

Everybody Wang Chung-ed! A huge thanks to all the folks that came from near and far to attend the CLHS Class of 1987 20 Year Reunion. Everybody looked so great and grown-up! I wish we had more time to visit; it seemed to go by way too fast. VIEW THE PHOTOS on Flickr.