Farewell, book box! And other nostalgic moments.

With the impending end of the school year, which spells the end of our time at Little River Elementary, I guess I'm feeling more nostalgic than normal.

This week I "retired" our book box. Sure, it was just a plain old plastic bin, but there were years where it was essentially filled with magic. I stocked it with good deals from the preschool's and then the elementary school's Scholastic book orders, picking out things that I thought the kids would like (or that were just really really good deals - you can't beat a $1 book!). A trip to the book box was a coveted treasure, and both kids would sift through before making their selections - "how many books can I get this time?" Sigh, those were the days. Mostly the box was for day to day rewards for good behavior, but prior to road trips I'd grab stashes of new books (ones that were already in the book box, and ones specially purchased [because I am a sucker for books]). The kids would be SO happy to have a pile of new books for a plane ride or a car trip. Ah, it was so easy to make their day then!

Alas, no more. I have completely lost any ability to pick books Reed will like. Well there have been a couple of outliers that he liked, but those are the exception, not the rule like they used to be. The books that have been languishing in the book box for quite a long time have now moved to a pile to be donated. The box will be used for something else. End of an era. *Sigh*

Now that the weather has improved slightly and we've gone at least 2 days without rain, the kids at the Employee Child Care Center are back out at the playground again. It's such a happy sound to hear when you walk out of the office! At the same time it feels like just yesterday and a hundred years ago that those happy sounds were coming from our kids. While I wouldn't wish to go back to those days (not giving up the ability to leave the kids alone for a few hours!), it is wonderful to think about our days at the ECCC.

And today is another sad anniversary. Six years without my Mom. Emotions all over the place. Mom, you're with us in our hearts every single day.