It's off to school she goes....Mason-Kate started her preschool this morning. She was greeted by all of her last year schoolmates as well as some new faces, one new face being her newest little buddy from China, Colby. Colby's mother, Kendra, is her teacher....yay! She had a great day, she didn't cry though she did tug at my leg a bit. The boys were so cute. They wanted to take pictures of her going and coming....and, of course, they each had to give her a big hug goodbye!

*click on this pic for a larger view....her face is classic!

This morning we spent at the local childrens medical center having MK's hearing and her ears checked. Great news to report....so far, so good. MK's tubes remain in, one ear the tube is nice and secure, the tube in the other ear is hanging on for dear life - it will likely fall out soon. The ENT will see her again in six months to evaluate her tolerance for fluid post tubes. The fun part of the morning was doing the hearing screening....I had tried to prep Mason-Kate for this by reminding her of the little monkey that clangs the cymbals together to get her attention. My plan backfired. A) the "monkey" that I recalled was actually a bunny and B) MK decided that every sound she heard was that of a monkey - even when there were no sounds being made. Somehow, thankfully, she managed to pass all of the tests. Being that is was a school day, I took the opportunity to point out to the boys all of the ear charts placed around the office. We discussed the outer ear, the inner ear, the hair cells and their importance, all kinds of interesting things. Great school lesson for them plus I was hoping that maybe their visit would inspire one of them to become, say, an ENT. So, as we walked back to the car after our visit, I asked the boys to state one interesting fact they had learned today at the drs. office. Their response, "well, we learned that the elevators in this place are super cool!" HMMMM.

Friday afternoon we packed everything up and headed out into our backyard. Our friends, the Kenneys, joined us for a backyard campout. We ate, we laughed, we told spooky stories, we played in the water, went snipe hunting and then, the men and children, curled up into the comforts of the tent for the remainder of the night.

In other news, our family attended the open house for Mason-Kate's preschool last week. Her teacher will be our friend, Kendra, who recently returned from China with her son, Colby. Colby will be in Mason-Kate's class as well. Anytime we mention school, Mason-Kate immediately says "me, Colby, school" and then laughs....not sure what the laugh means, hopefully she is thinking she will have fun with Colby at school.