Labor Day & School Begins

The weather cooperated and gave us a warm Labor Day so we spent our Labor Day at Spring Mill Pond with our neighbor Stefanie and her 2 kids. Tyler stayed home to work on the table which was fine since Stefanie's hubby stayed home to do some work as well. That meant that we got to talk to girl talk while the kids built an amazing sandcastle village and played in the water. We were there for about 4 hours with no major incidents so it was a perfect beach day.

The next day was back to school for Steven and Ben and the start of Junior Kindergarten for Lucy. All the kids were up early and excited for the day. I heard Lucy shout upon waking up, "Penny, it's school day!" They all got ready and even let me do their hair and take lots of pictures (I always think that it's funny that Ben likes his hair spiky and Steven likes his flat). There was only one tiny problem with the pictures- I totally made Steven's sign wrong. He is NOT repeating Third Grade- he is in fourth this year. I didn't even realize it was wrong until I was scrolling through the pictures I took. Super embarrassing. So I made a new sign after school and did some picture retakes but they didn't turn out nearly as well, he was much more grumbly about the redo.

For Lucy's first day, she only had a half day and they asked parents to come with them. Tyler worked from home so that he could watch Penny and take the boys to school. I immediately discovered that her new school, Country Oaks, is definitely not the same as Kurtz. Kurtz has a very organized drop off routine where the kids have designated spots to stand it, an older student that watches them and then teachers come to get them. Country Oaks was chaos. Everyone just gathers in front of the doors and rushes in when they open. It makes me very nervous for leaving Lucy. It might be awhile before I just drop her off into the crazy.

The rest of her day was pretty unexciting. They sent the parents off to a meeting where we were encouraged to donate our time and money to their school. While we were at the meeting she basically got free time to play with the toys in the classroom. Then when we, the parents, came back Lucy and I went around the school finding different important places (like the library, the cafeteria, etc). After that it was time to go home. 

Wednesday Lucy had a full day of school, Thursday she had no school and Friday was another full day. She has come home from school fairly indifferent, not upset but not excited. So far she has told me that they have learned to stand in line with their "bubble and tails." This means they close their mouth like there is a bubble in it and they put their hands on their "tail." She also told me that they had a nap time and it was really boring. Despite boring nap times, I think she likes school but I kind of wish she had more enthusiasm so I could feel better about sending her off to school at the young age of 4.

Ben seems to be off to a good start. He is way more confident about going to school this year and he seems to love his teacher and his class. It is so nice to see him improving emotionally at school because he certainly still has emotional melt downs at home. He also had no problems with pick up at the end of the day which has been a little unpredictable since Lucy's school ends at the same time. I can make it to the boys school, I just am pretty much the last parent in the car rider line. Tyler picked them up Friday and that was nice, I am hoping maybe he can continue to go to work early and do that but we shall see.

Steven also seems to be off to a good start in FOURTH grade (not third :)). He says his teacher is not strict (as others have told him) but when asked if she gets mad at other kids, I was informed she yells at at least one kid a day. So I guess he doesn't view her as strict since that kid is not him. I am just relieved that he seems to meshing ok with her.

I love this silly group of kids and weirdly enough, I do miss them and all the crazy they bring when they are home. It is really quiet with just me and Penny but at least I have been fairly productive with that quiet time. I have managed to pack some things like books and knick knacks, I have sold a few things on FB Marketplace, I have done some rooting through of cabinets and drawers...I feel like I have made some real progress on the moving front which is good since we aren't exactly sure when we will be moving. Apparently the contract just said that the sellers have to be out of the house by Nov 1 so we are not sure when they will actually be out. We close on Friday and they are supposed to have reached a decision by then. Moving stresses me out and not knowing when we will be moving stresses me out but I feel that this is the house for us so everything will be ok. Trying to think positive and remain calm :) 

Next week will be busy because I have a sub job Tues, the Property Manager of our rental wants to come take pictures of the rental sometimes so I have to pretty things up, then I have visiting teachers, plus we have to do another walk through of our new house and go in for closing Friday. SO I really need to focus on positive thoughts and remaining calm right now! Wish me luck!