1st Day of 1st Grade

Abby and Emma started first grade on Monday. It didn't seem as big a deal as it was for Kindergarten. We are already familiar with the school. We know how lunch works in the cafeteria. We know how the bus system works. Just a different classroom with a different teacher and different classmates (oh, and they get desks this year!). So, going to first grade just isn't that big a deal. But we expect that a lot of learning and growing will take place this year. I look forward to watching it happen.

T-minus 4 days...

...Until the start of school. The girls need to go back - for more structure in their life again and for the sanity of their mother. This afternoon, the class lists were posted outside of Cline Elementary. I think knowing their teachers' names made it a little more real for the girls. Tomorrow, doubly so. We have "meet and greet" Friday afternoon - where they get to meet their teacher face-to-face and see their classrooms, etc. Exciting times.

And in other household news: A crew from the city came and took out two sections of concrete remaining in the front of our driveway (see previous post). But they've done nothing else. Now we can't use our driveway at all. Gotta love the swift progress of government-run operations. I'll keep you posted.

Raising the House

The same forces of drought at work on the water mains work on house foundations as well. About a month ago, I walk out onto our back deck and see that the corner of the house has slipped down about an inch and a half. After further inspection, we found another crack near the front door (explaining why it's so hard to get that door locked.) The house has had foundation work in the past. So we called Olshan, the ones who had done the previous work. Their guy came out and took some measurements inside and out. Part of the damage was covered by their warranty. However, the house was never completely "wrapped" in the past - they had only put piers under about 2/3 of the house. So, we needed 8 more piers.
That work was done yesterday. It was not cheap. But I consider it an investment in the house. A foundation completely covered by the best foundation company in the area is a good selling point.