Weekend Update

Happy Tuesday, friends... how was your weekend?

We had a fantastic weekend. Skip had been in Minnesota for the past two weeks so we were pretty excited to have him home Friday. After school, we did a little homework, made cookies and then listened to music while having a little game night, consisting of Clue.

Saturday we had a family date. We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, and then we went to see Pete's Dragon, a movie that the trio have been super interested in since seeing the previews over the summer. We want an Elliot, and he could live in the woods next to our home.

After church on Sunday, the trio visited with Skip's parents, while we had lunch and ran a few errands. Afterward, we joined them for dinner and some of Gran's homemade pizza.

Of course, in between all of those activities, we watched the Olympics, and we were bummed to see the games conclude. Spectatorship had waned in our house so that by the time the marathons were completed on Saturday, I was the lone viewer. Given how far behind we are on all other extracurriculars (I have a stack of unread books on my nightstands, as well as a stack of unread items on my Kindle app.), the every four years schedule is probably for the best.

Meet the Teacher + Back to School, Fourth Grade and 5K

First Day

Although the trio were sad to see their summer come to an end, they were very excited to return to the regular routine. In July I had learned that the girls' teachers would be moving up with them this year, meaning that their fourth grade teachers were last year's third grade teachers. The girls l-o-v-e their teachers. 

Lauren is especially close to her teacher, and I think the feeling is mutual. I hadn't told the girls who their teachers were just in case there was a last minute change that would result in heartbreak. So when Lauren was told her teacher was her beloved Mrs. L, she ran down the hallway and gave her a big hug. Smiles all around for a big, happy surprise.  

Meet the teacher

Grace is blessed with a special teacher, too. Mrs. R reminds us so much of Sarah... a person who was born to teach and who has so much love to give to her students. We are so blessed to have a perfect fit for each of our children. 

And the best part is that they will be changing classes this year so they will share both teachers.  

Meet the teacher

A couple of days later they were all set in their new clothes (except for George; he did not want a new outfit; he wanted a new toy) that they picked out themselves. Grace was chosen for "best dressed" in her class, while Lauren was spunky in her cropped jeans.

First Day

William George did not officially start school until a couple of days later (the following Monday), but he did have meet-the-teacher scheduled that night so he was included in the back-to-school routine.

Although George is a little bummed because his best friend moved on to public school, he is determined to expand his circle of friends and have a great year.

Happy to see familiar friends at his table

After all, he has twelve boys and five girls to choose from.

Ready to learn

George is blessed to have Mrs. S, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire. She has such a fun year planned out, with lots of activities, parties and field trips. George is soooo excited.

Meet-the-teacher story time

The girls returned last Thursday, and George's school started Monday. When I asked him how his day was, he said excitedly, "I had an AWESOME day!"

First day of school

We think it is going to be an amazing year.  

Can we PLEASE buy school supplies?

Photo from Lauren "Miss Ann's" classroom

So on the duo's last day of third grade, Lauren climbed into the car and immediately asked if we could go buy school supplies for fourth grade.

Grace gave her the ultimate, "Wait. What?"

We were heading home to pack for vacation... NOT going to Target to buy glue sticks. With George and Grace looking at her as if she were an alien, she was totally voted down.

Vacation distracted her, but upon our return home she began asking - on the weekly - if we could purchase supplies. She really upped her campaign for school supply shopping mid-June when she discovered that the school supply list was already on the school's website. By early July, she was asking 2-3 times per week if we could go. Once she saw that supplies were in stock and that 15% of Target had been devoted to school shopping, there could be no more stalling. She had the school's list and her own personal list. We agreed to purchase all the school supplies and maybe two or three extra items. Lauren was appreciative, but said that she would also bring her own money in case she saw other things she needed.

"Mommy. I'm going to need a lot more things for fourth grade."

Finally, during the third week of July, we headed to Target. Waiting for the tax free weekend was a non-starter because the inventory would be "picked over" and "all the best stuff would be gone". Grace and George were somewhat interested and excited, but they could not conceal their incredulousness (and maybe a smidge of disdain) over Lauren's giddiness.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I would rate the trio's excitement level about school resuming as follows:

George: 3

It's not that he doesn't enjoy school. Certain tasks (read: coloring) are not his favorites, and school attendance interferes with his ability to play. He is very interested in reading - but only at night (before bed) and certainly not during the daytime, during prime playground time.

Grace: 6-7

Grace likes school and enjoys learning. She has the typical excitement level about returning. She was neither dreading it nor was she wishing the day would arrive sooner than scheduled. She was excited to get her supplies and outfit, but she also wanted to have fun over the summer, too.

Lauren: 10.

A full, red-lined 10.  To the tenth power.

Lauren thinks the number of weeks off during summer is excessive. Honestly, she would have been happy with a mere two weeks off. Now that she is back in a classroom, she is on cloud nine. During the hard summer days, she organized daily "circle time" with her American Girl dolls and completely reorganized her classroom (in our basement). We drew the line at buying school supplies for her students.

If you think about it, missing an untapped market like that (AG-sized supplies) seems very outside the norm for American Girl.

Weekend Update

Last week was very eventful and busy. Skip traveled to Minnesota, while the trio and I wrapped up last minute loose ends. The duo attended meet-the-teacher, and then started fourth grade. William George went to meet the teacher and began school today. More on those events soon. Not to be outdone, Skip experienced anaphylactic shock while traveling and went to a local emergency room for an IV, steroids and a quick Epipen injection. As George said, "We're Epipen buddies!"

Indeed. Skip is fine, by the way, and he has no idea what triggered the reaction. He had attended a work dinner, where he had a hamburger and fries. While it would be nice to know which food caused the reaction, he has an Epipen on hand for any future issues.

In between all of the excitement, we have continued to cheer on Team USA, from the comfort of our sofa, of course. I am loving the gymnastics, while the trio are all about the swimming. George is a big fan of Michael Phelps, and Grace loves Katie Ledecky. Lauren is a defector and is cheering for Team France because she "loves France". They are all about the swimming, likely because they just attended swim camp but also because we chant "USA!USA!USA!" during the last 50 meters of all the races. We also wave the flags Lauren made for us, and racing, whether swimming or track, admittedly is more conducive to chanting and flag waving.

Are you watching? Are you feeling melancholy about Phelps' last swim? Has Simone Boles blown your mind?

Can we all agree that @BoomerPhelps has stolen the show?

Weekend Update

Hello, friends.

We are at the very last days of summer break, and while we are ready, logistically, to return to the regular routine, we are very much not ready to give up our time of fun. We have been squeezing the last bits of fun out of summer over these last couple of weeks and have completed some home projects, too. As far as the trio go, we have completed every item on our summer to do list and are feeling productive. The only exception is an item we postponed about a week into summer... we had planned to convert the playroom into a bedroom for William George (freeing up his room for the girls to have their own rooms), but we quickly realized the playroom was going to be in big demand this summer so we decided to hold off on that project until fall.

However, we did change things up downstairs by changing out some rooms. I would go into detail, but it's a little confusing. We also haven't quite finished (a set of chairs are pending delivery... we need to paint a room... and we need to re-do artwork) so before/after photos would be incomplete. We are just happy to have broken through the inertia to make some much needed changes/updates. Skip was also a trooper and completed a few more projects in the yard. I wish I could say it was something exciting like installing a pool, but we had some erosion that needed to be remedied, i.e., no pool.

Those projects cover the last couple of weeks of blog absence. As for the weekend, we got in some final visits with the grandparents before school resumes. My mom spent the night Friday, and we grilled and had a good time. As mentioned in years past, I LOVE the Olympics, which may be a surprise since I am not exactly known for my athleticism. After dinner we watched the opening ceremony and the parade of athletes. By early Saturday morning, Lauren had made Team USA flags for us all to wave while cheering on the athletes, and George emulated the athletes' entrance by grabbing his iTouch and walking through the house waving his flag while filming. We had a repeat dinner with my mom and continued watching the games.

On Sunday the girls served as acolytes, and they served during a communion service - an experience that was new for them. Although they were very nervous, they did great and did not drop the trays of juice. After church they visited with Skip's parents, while Skip and I had lunch and ran some errands.  Afterward, I was again positioned in front of the television to watch the women's gymnastics team perform.

Today the duo had consultations with an orthodontist. Grace presented very nervous and concerned, whereas Lauren was eager and excited. They are recommending that Grace have four teeth pulled (possibly five) and then be rechecked in eight months. Sometimes our anxiety is proven to be completely justified. She was successfully distracted by getting a hair cut (these were loooong overdue, especially for George) and grabbing lunch.

As for us now, you can find us on our sofa, cheering for the USA and waving our custom flags.