Back to School!

I must apologize in advance but these pictures are out of order. Sorry!

This summer was actually a lot of fun and for the most part flew by.  I think that's because we had vacations and activities to break things up and I never felt too much anxiety/pressure to entertain my children to the fullest extent (I've come to terms with television and tablets.  They are co-parents now.)  We had a rule during the summer that TV and tablets stay off from 9-5 but after a while (or June 5th) that time frame would shorten dramatically.  There are many times in my life when I feel like Supermom for juggling so much at once with my kids.  Summer does not need to be that time.  Summer is for not losing one's mind and if that is a summer goal then I feel we achieved it.  

Needless to say, we were excited/nervous about back to school.  Jack was now a seasoned veteran but there is still that unknown factor when it comes to the school year.  Will he like his teacher?  Will he have a friend in class?  What will the workload be like?  That works on both ends too.  I went into this school year with a pretty easy-ish schedule (I only have one prep - APUSH Combined Studies) but you never can tell what kind of kids you will get or anything.  So the first week of August was a little nerve wracking.  It was also a nice break as well because I was able to send Jack and Lucy to Jackson for 5 days (this was all covered in the previous post but I feel it necessary to give my parents one more shoutout.)  They met me in Nashville on Saturday to switch out Jack and Lucy (Charlie went back to school that week b/c let's be honest - not having a crawling 11 month old can be a bit of a treat) and then happily drove back up to Knoxville to bring them to us Thursday night so I could take Jack to Meet the Teacher the next day!  I know.  I'm super lucky,

And since my birthday would be the following week, my parents took the kids, Lizzi, Rachel, and me out to dinner at Babalu's to celebrate!  (Poor Andy had been home since the night before throwing up from food poisoning.  I can't remember the last time I saw him that sick, poor guy.)  We had some yummy tacos and then went back to the house to relax.  Mom and Dad left the next day but it was definitely a fun birthday celebration.  :)

I failed to get any actual pictures of Jack at Meet the Teacher.  He is so excited because his best friend Connor is in his class again and his teacher, Mrs. Ashley, is super nice and very, very organized (I may be more excited about this than he is.)  At Meet the Teacher, he got a "first day" assignment which was to fill an All About Me bag.  He wrote two words that describe himself (he picked funny and kind - spot on if you ask me), chose 3 small toys that he likes (a dinosaur, a shark, and a Minecraft lego man) and then had to draw a picture of himself doing something he loves - he chose swimming.  He couldn't wait to bring it in on Monday.

Also, on that same day he was working on his All About Me bag, I was adding something to my life that was just as exciting as the first day of school.  ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING!!!!!  This has seriously changed my life.  I cannot exaggerate this enough.  It is the most amazing thing since they put automatic sliding doors on minivans.  Since Steve Jobs invented the iPhone.  Since amazon.com was launched.  HELL it's the most amazing thing since disposable paper plates and plastic silverware!  I have not had to enter a grocery store with my 3 children in over a month.  I no longer dread Sunday mornings after church.  I can actually enjoy my weekends.  This is a mom's dream!

No back to reality.  Here is our first official back to school picture!  Charlie may look slightly worried and scared but that's because he probably is.  Everytime I let his siblings hold him he always ends up falling on his face.  And sure enough, he did 3 seconds after this was taken.  But at least I can say, how cute are these kiddos and how big is Jack getting!?

I decided to walk him to school on his first full day.  Here he is posing with Finley the Dolphin - FPS's mascot!  I'm also thrilled I walked him in because they were actually letting parents walk their kids back to their classes.

So I got to snap this in front of his classroom. :)  Despite the look of apprehension on his face, Jack had a wonderful first day.  And his behavior report so far seems to reflect the fact that he loves school.  His teacher uses a stoplight system for behavior and every day I get a colored dot to tell me how he's been doing.  If he's really good he gets a gold star and gets to grab something from the treasure box.  He's been in school three weeks by now and gotten three gold stars.  And every day he comes home with something new to talk about or something cool that he's learned.  (his favorite so far is that now he can check out two books at a time from the library and go on the monkey bars at recess.  Priorities people.)  I'm so thrilled that school is starting off on the right foot again this year and that he seems to really like his class and teacher.

On the following Sunday after school started, my actual birthday hit.  Mimi and Grandaddy took us all out for lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate (mmmm cheddar bay biscuits) and we had a wonderful time.

Then Lizzi and Rachel came over with a cake and my birthday present - the kids were pumped it was a Finding Dory cake :)  I'm currently working my way through Hamilton and it's making me love the musical even more.  If that's even possible.

The following Monday was Open House at FPS and I got to go see Jack's teacher and check out what he has done that week.  Once again I got minimal pictures because I stink but I did snap a quick one on the way out of his classroom.  They had to draw and write about a fear they had (his was tornados like the one that he had to hide in the closet for while staying at BabaGaga's.  Poor guy.  The worst part was that he asked if there were any tornados in Jackson while driving there and I said, "no Jack.  Tornado season is over."  Thanks Mother Nature for making a liar out of me.  Bitch.)  His classroom was super cute though and it was a lot of info to take in.  Apparently he will start having weekly spelling and reading quizzes and math tests as well.  I mean, he will have grades in the gradebook and everything.  This is nuts.

And in keeping with our tradition, Melissa and I met up for Open House!  I relish a tradition - especially when it's connected to our kids growing up :)

So far, Jack has a steady stream of work coming home.  They are still doing review stuff from Kindergarten (working on getting our letters and numbers correct and trying to sound out words.)  I love this one though because it reveals two things about Jack.  His love of sharks and his need for minimalism.

Andy even got to stop in last week and surprise Jack with lunch on Thursday.  Jack was PUMPED and I'm so glad they got to have some special Dad/Son time together :)  It was the first thing Jack told me about when I picked him up that day :)

So far, we are off to a good start with school.  Charlie and Lucy have adapted back pretty well (more on them next time) and I'm adjusting back to working again (kinda.)  It is stressful and hard but I keep thinking about the bright side. This is way better than last year when i was 8 months pregnant and unable to catch my breath 90% of the time.  And now we have a Charlie to throw in the mix and keep things fun!  2016-2017 is off to a good start!