Project Baby Malynn: And the Summer is gone...

First track of kindergarten
Yikes. Last post was that Ade was starting kindergarten, and now she has already been in her first trackout for a week! Ade's experience at Thales for kindergarten has been astounding. The early mornings have been an adjustment, and she was coming home pretty cranky and exhausted for a while, but overall the transition was fairly smooth. The biggest thing has been how much she has learned! She amazes us every day. A few examples:

The "Thales" version of the Pledge of Allegiance
The (extensive) homework she does everyday, bringing home spelling and vocab tests with 100s on them, and how fast she zips through her math telling me she thinks her answer at the same time she writes it
Sitting at dinner when she tells us about her art class about Picasso. Ryan pulls up google images of Picasso paintings, so she can point out the ones she knows. Ade sayd, "This one is from his blue period" going on to explain, "he thought blue was the saddest color, and he was sad, so he painted a lot of blue." I declared she now knew more about art history than 95% of the population. ;-)
Going through coins in her piggy bank "This is the Lincoln Memorial."

We celebrated her last day of her first track, and her stellar report card, with a trip to the book store and an owl cake. She was allowed to buy book if she could read at least one sentence in them herself (no sweat of course!).

Ryan's new job
In other news, we have another first day of school picture to share as well - Ryan's!!! So, maybe it isn't school, but after 12 years at Big Blue, Ryan left me to fend for myself at IBM and started a new role at Wireless Generation. He is loving it, and I couldn't be prouder. It was certainly the end of an era, given our whole life and relationship has been so tangled with our IBM jobs. Blue period? ;-) My parents stopped here after a trip they took to the beach, so we celebrated with a blue cake!

Fearrington
Jenna and I spent a Friday/Sat at Fearrington as a reprise of our trip when she was pregnant for her 30th bday. It was beyond a blast. Chatroulette, applesandfruit, and Same Time Next Year...

Maine wedding/MA visit
Since I last wrote we also spent a weekend in MA where Ryan and I went for a night to Maine for his friend's wedding while Ade hung with Grammy and Grampy. We enjoyed the time on the lake, and some yummy lobster rolls! One of the highlights of the trip was seeing Jordyn for the first time in almost 2 years now that she is back from Hawaii!

8th anniversary
Ryan and I celebrated our 8th anniversary by having Ade spend the night at Aunt Jenna's for the first time. We went to an awesome steak dinner and then did some outlet shopping. It was the first time I had ever slept in this house ever without Ade here!

Ryan bought me some very thoughtful gifts including a Hurricanes tshirt with our anniversary date on the back, given our fond wedding memories of hurricanes ;-) The most special though was an amazing photo video he made on a DVD complete with music highlighting our lives together. That is a gift worth more than anything else, and something I will cherish forever. Especially since I know it meant him spending hours learning the video editing software too, ha!

Random
Some other random shots: