Firsts and Faucets

Landon started First Grade on Monday! He looked super handsome in his uniform shirt and shorts- the cleanest and brightest that shirt and shorts are going to look all year. He had a new backpack, old shoes (we ran out for new ones that night; his feet are growing SO big SO fast), and an excited little smile. Who doesn't love the first day of school? I would still like to have one every year.

Landon didn't think the five of us really needed to be in his classroom, and he definitely didn't see why I needed to hug him goodbye, but he was a good sport about our (new) traditional handshake. How many years does it take for something to be a real tradition? Maybe by second or third grade?

This started when my best friend got married last summer and at her bridal shower her dad had a little slideshow of childhood pictures including a series of her and her big brother shaking hands on the first day of school every year from Kindergarten through college. It was adorable and so touching and funny to see them change (along with their attitude towards each other and school) each year. It occurred to me that my kids don't really seem to know what a handshake is, but they're very good at hugs.

Love.

Landon's new teacher seems just amazing. Very like his Kindergarten teacher (who we adored) in that she went to his school for her elementary years, her mom taught at the school, she student-taught at the school, and she's now on her 17th year there as a teacher herself. She is known as the "child-whisperer" and did seem to have an incredible and immediate hold on her class despite the parents, first day craziness, and not ever raising her voice above her soft-spoken drawl.

His first four days have gone great. Our big changes from first to kinder involve daily homework instead of weekly and a requirement to sign his behavior folder each day. So far neither party is finding this overly onerous, but it's early and the homework is all review so far.

In other bits of excitement I ordered four things online at Express.com the other day and all four fit and are perfect and I'm keeping them! This happens exactly never- I order most of my clothes online and always routine about half, but this time I'm keeping ALL of the things and I'm so excited by my success, and the re-purchase of my favorite pair of shorts in two new colors (and smaller sizes!) for only $10 each, that I don't even mind that I'm not getting the credit I assumed I'd get when I returned an item or two. I also got a dress for our anniversary dinner on Saturday- a cute trapezey thing that makes my shoulders look great for $18, so I'm all kinds of pleased with the internet right now.

Also on the internet- the inspiration for our new kitchen! As I mentioned previously, we're knocking out a wall and redoing our kitchen in the next few weeks. We picked out our appliances yesterday (amazing deal at a local store with the sweetest salesman; he helped me pick out and buy our fridge and washer/dryer when we moved here in early 2012. The company recently came out for free to fix a leak in our freezer no questions asked and they have a scratch and dent warehouse that saved us about $1,000 which justified my buying the double-convection-oven gas range of my dreams), and our contractor is coming by tomorrow morning to finalize our cabinets and floor plan. We're picking out granite and tile next week and our whole kitchen should be ripped out by mid-September. Can't wait!

Here's a few of my inspiration photos:

Flooring is going to be the trickiest part- I'm thrilled to get rid of our 70-year-old linoleum, but I need something that goes with my color scheme, doesn't clash with the honey wood floors already running throughout the house, and isn't square or boring or wood (I only like tile in kitchens). But I can't roam the aisles of the tile warehouse until Tuesday, so I'm picking out our faucet and over-peninsula pendant lights in the meantime.

Thoughts? Granite will be white/grey, cabinets will be white Shaker-style, floors will be darker (likely brown, but we'll see), walls will be same blue as living room, all appliances are stainless, and sink is stainless undermount.

Circle Pendant; Downlight Pendant.

Industrial; Curvy.

I still have some googling to do before finalizing those purchases, but I think I'm leaning towards the downlight pendant and industrial type faucet. Does anyone have one of those? Do you like it? After 2.5 years of discussions and savings, we're really just a few google clicks, building permits, and weeks without a kitchen away from a walk-in pantry and the ability to see the kids while I cook dinner each night. I am most excited about that last part. I hate getting home after work and then immediately kicking them out of the kitchen so I can cook (it's too narrow and dangerous to let them stay; my leg bears the scars from run-ins with appliances). I want to see Cora in her pen and Landon doing homework at the island and Claire flitting about between them. 

So while I meditate on that happy thought, let me know if you have any kitchen reno wisdom to share. Cabinet configurations, favorite drawer set-ups, things you wish you'd done, things you did that maybe weren't quite worth it in the end- anything! We've renovated three bathrooms, but this is the first kitchen and it means so much to me. Plus, it's expensive, so I'm going to need to love it until we move or the year 2034, whichever comes sooner, so let me know if you have any hard earned advice or other thoughts!