Starting School and Sports

My anxiety settled in at a soft purr all through the summer as I was constantly wondering about whether or not full-time school would truly and actually resume in the fall. I was hopeful but untrusting because I had been burned in the past. 

Our school also seemed hesitant to make any promises or really any announcements about the upcoming school year until just a week or so before the start date. They finally announced all systems were a-go, school would be regular hours, and it was time to rock and roll. 

Nevada did (and still does) have a mask mandate inside buildings, so the kids are required to wear masks all day. It sounds horrible, but they don't ever complain about it and don't really seem to mind, and I'm actually glad the kids wear masks at school because I am still a little nervous about Covid spreading through the elementary schools where the kids aren't vaccinated (mostly because I don't want everything to get shut down again)! So we will happily take whatever precautions are necessary to just get these boys back to the classroom!

Poor Lincoln has never experienced regular school. His kindergarten year was super weird, and first grade is proving to be a unique situation too, but he's doing well and his reading has really taken off in the last month or so! That's always exciting to see when they can start reading fluently and figuring out how to spell words on their own. He's doing great!

I just got an email from Carson's teacher saying he is always such a polite, kind, and helpful boy at school. He really thrives in the school setting, so I am most relieved these kids are back in the classroom for this one's sake. 

Eli is in middle school now! All three boys go to the same school, but Eli's day is set up a little differently with more class changes and more teachers. He has a great teacher that has already been such a mentor and a great role model to Eli.

I feel like a whole person again to not have to be my kids's everything! It was so exhausting to have to keep track of their classwork, keep them on task, figure out three different sets of assignments, arrange the Zoom calls, keep the house learning environment friendly, so on and so forth. And then to have to be their everything else on top of all that.

I have seen how important it is for my kids to have outside influences in their life. I'm so grateful for great teachers who support, teach, love, and encourage my kids to be the best they can! Their influence is noticeable! It's also so nice to have my kids be around other kids regularly. There are a million reasons to be grateful for school. Even my kids who used to complain about going to school can now easily recognize that it's way better than the alternative of being stuck at home staring at me all day!

Well...there is one person who actually thinks he prefers to be home staring at me all day. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for Jonah and preschool. Super last minute I found out that our elementary school actually has a new preschool program. I was able to get Jonah enrolled like 2 days before school started and he got in! That was such a blessing for us!

Jonah loves school now, but it did take some serious convincing those first couple of weeks.

I was so happy to learn the schools were providing free lunch to all the kids...until my kids tried school lunch and said it was nasty and they would never eat it ever again. Wa waaaaaaaaa. Being stubborn, I told them I refuse to spend my mornings making three lunches when they have school lunch available to them for free. Them also being stubborn, they said, "Fine then we won't eat."

The compromise was a freezer lunch system that I'm now quite proud of. I made a million lunch options and put them in the freezer. This way I don't have to do it in the morning, and the kids can easily pack their own lunches. It's been awesome! I have to restock one or two of the bins about every two weeks, so the maintenance isn't too bad. It sure beats scrambling to put things together in the morning! 

I also have a tote full of pre-packaged snacks that they can pick from just for lunches. It's taken so much stress out of our mornings. 

Jonah loves to help with the meal prep whenever we need a restock. 

Eli got quarantined for being exposed to Covid early into the schoolyear. After settling into this position to do his schoolwork during the day, he coyly announced, "The teachers are on my turf now."

Jonah's learning so many skills in preschool. He has a homework packet each month. His tongue always appears whenever a task requires complete concentration. 

I knew we were getting in over our heads signing all four boys up for fall sports, but I got carried away in the excitement of activities opening up again that I just went for it. Jonah has always loved baseball, so he's had the best time actually being on a team.

He's so cute out there! As we knew he would, he picked up on all the little rules and techniques of the game, and he's always all in out on the field. He even did a front flip (...landed on his back...) after he made a good throw. He plays with bubbling enthusiasm. 

His coach wears his hat backwards, so Jonah likes to follow suit. 

Eli's doing baseball again, too. He plays for the Angels. Fall ball has been so nice. The weather is absolutely dreamy! Makes the hours spent out at the baseball fields enjoyable. 

Lincoln and Carson are doing soccer. I enjoy the fast pace of soccer and the cute little uniforms. Something about little kid legs in shin guards makes me smile. 

Sports have turned into our Saturday 9 to 5. Being a soccer mom was on my high school bucket list, and after this season, I think I can officially cross that one off the old list!