Preschool: Taylor LOVES school! The very first weeks she told me that she was so sneaky and broke every one of the crayons in her crayon box at school. When asked what her teacher said when she saw it, she said, "She didn't see it because I hid them back in the box real fast when she came to check on me." So... there's that. :)
She is learning prayers that she insists on reciting every night at dinner. "God our Father, God our Father to the tune of "Where is Thumb-kin" A Hein family favorite since 2013 and beyond. Taylor brings back so many memories of her brother and sister. I am very thankful to get to do this phase one last time around.
She has a friend named Beckett at school that she told me she is going to marry. She also told me that once they get married she will show him her belly button "cause that's what you do when you're married." ???? I often wonder what he teacher thinks about her given how verbal and forthcoming she is about EVERYTHING.
She got in trouble for singing the "Trick or Treat. Smell my Feet" song one too many times after her teacher asked her kindly not to keep repeating the part about pulling down your underwear because it wasn't very respectful. She did not earn her Kangaroo Buck that day.
But, good news: she earned enough Kangaroo Bucks this week to earn not just one, but TWO plastic rings. So all in all, things are going really well.
The majority of my month is spent looking at this:
We have big highs and big lows. The most common phrases of the month would be: "Oh honey, we can't hear you... can you unmute yourself?" And in a much more stern voice, "I have asked you so many times to stop yelling into the microphone, you need to STAY on mute!"
I am a nerd that geeks out on learning and have read so many books and articles about classroom conversations and how to provide an environment with very little restrictions to engage learners in authentic talk with their peers. In theory, I was so prepared for this year... and then the reality of a 7 year old unmuting themselves intentionally to shout things or to scream into their microphones or to say, "I'mmmmmmm boooooreeeeed!" happened.
Yeah. It's not easy. But there are also the sweet moments and the getting to know my kiddos and their families and lots of laughs and the brilliant things they think and say when we do have productive conversations. So basically, yes... highs and lows.
We celebrated Oma Oma's 98th birthday! What a joy it is to continue to celebrate her. She is nothing short of AMAZING! The cousins surprised her. Each birthday, she usually enjoys her very favorite meal of lobster at a fancy restaurant called Jake's at the Beach with my parents. Due to pandemic restrictions, we brought Jake's to her. The kids marched around her with signs and dolphins and a sunset.
And then thanks to Grampie, we served her a divine lobster meal right in our backyard.
98 looks great on her, don't you think?
The girls are OBSESSED with horses. Obsessed. All day, every day it's horse stable set up and take down.
At night they read this horse catalogue and decide which pony they would be and which horse the would ride and....
Dustin shaved his beard that had been growing for over a year.
And I decided to bring the bangs back and cut my hair for the first time in over 9 months.
Fall kind of felt like it was in the air for a bit... Until this week when we hit another heat wave. The kids and I were giddy to begin decorating. Fall is always my favorite and I just can't help myself.
Last Friday night we had the most lovely impromptu fall evening watching Coco outside in the backyard and eating homemade chili and sweet honey cornbread. It was dreamy!
The downer of the month came right toward the end when we all got sick for the first time in a long time.
It started on Thursday morning when I had to pick Taylor up from preschool because she had a very runny nose. That was an interesting morning of trying to occupy my kiddos online long enough to be able to run to preschool to get her and set her up here at home for the day which we were all teaching and in school ourselves. She was home for a full week with a lingering cold.
Grampie planned the most epic overnight camping trip for the boys in the desert that Friday. Donovan was SO excited! It was all he could talk about all week.
Sadly, after they set up camp for the night, Little Man started to throw up and he kept on going morning and day and into the next night. Dustin and I almost took him into emergency on Saturday night because he just couldn't keep anything down and every episode was paired with an awful nose bleed. It was just the worst.
Thankfully he woke up the next morning feeling so much better. Truly a gift from God after a sleepless night of praying over him.
Taylor also hadn't been sleeping well with her stuffy nose and cough so she was getting up several times in the night crying.
After so many exhausting days looking after the kids and teaching at the same time, I came down with the cold and so did Emmerson. I wasn't fearful that it was Covid, but it did cross my mind as I was achy, sore, had a sore throat and later a cough that sat right in my chest. I think it was just a yucky cold. But seeing as it had been months and months since any of us were sick, I had forgotten how tiring it was to recover from it all.
Now, here we are welcoming one of my favorite months of the entire year!
I am so thankful for renewed health and energy for each of us.
And other than the 100 degree temperatures that have introduced the month to us, I am a happy camper.
Let the fall festivities begin!
