Summer endings

Wow! The summer has FLOWN by. Gracie will be back in school in just 3 weeks. It seems like summer just began.

We have been busy lately getting everything ready for back to school. I bought school supplies this week, and Gracie already has her school clothes. We ordered her new backpack yesterday, and it should be in next week.

Backpacks are really a pain! Gracie is small, and we have always had her use the LL Bean Jr Backpack. It is the perfect size for her, and she can put most of her school things in there. This year, she has to have a bigger bag. She will be carrying more books and binders than before. Her binder won't even fit in her current bag. Needless to say, we spent a good portion of yesterday morning searching LL Bean for a bag that she could carry and that would hold her stuff. We think we found one, so we are keeping our fingers crossed it works.

Gracie is still reading a lot. We visit the library at least once per week to get new books. She decided to try the Hardy Boys series this week. My daddy told her that he used to read them when he was a boy, and now she wants to try them out too. She picked up the first book yesterday. We will see how that goes. It would be wonderful if she enjoyed them and read them all. We have tried Nancy Drew before, but she didn't seem that interested.

I changed our website picture to Gracie's muddy feet. She is definitely adapting to life in a small, country town. She even asked for a four-wheeler for her birthday!!!