Penny's Birthday

 Since I was a bum mom and was out of town on Penny's birthday, I threw a party for her on the Monday after I came back. We kept it simple and I streamed the new "Paw Patrol" movie and popped the kids popcorn. Then afterwards we had cake and ice cream. I just decided to invite the younger kids of all my friends but that meant we ended up with A LOT of kids. There was Peter, Lizzie, Isla, Reggie, Reed, Graham, Jesse and AJ (so many boys). Plus the neighbor, Jacob, decided to join in. It turns out most of the kids were not that in to the movie and about 40 minutes in (when the popcorn was all gone), a majority of the kids disappeared outside to play. My kids, however, all enjoyed it. They are such TV zombies. Pictures show the gang in the beginning and the gang in the end.

The "happy birthday" singing was soooo loud (as was most of the party) and then it was Penny's favorite part, the presents. She got so spoiled and got things that she actually really wanted. The Roblox toy she got has been played with fairly constantly since the party, the monster "gaming" chair has not left the living room. And the Skye bubble maker toy even made it to the beach with us this week.

It was definitely not the best party I've thrown but I think Penny enjoyed it anyways. 

Tuesday morning we slipped in a quick visit to the beach before heading out to the kids orientation for their new school that afternoon. There were multiple days offered for the orientation so it was just a small group of parents and kids. They gave lots of information and I feel a bit overwhelmed with it all but hopefully once it starts we will find a groove. I am really most stressed about logging into multiple platforms to find the kids work. I asked some questions about it and came across as the hot mess mom because someone came up to me afterwards and assured me it would be ok. Yay for great first impressions.

The school meets in a church building and it's a nice building. The kids got to go find all their classrooms (even the girls switch classrooms for subjects). And Steven met a boy his age and I met the boy's mom. They seem like a good family, really nice. I'm also impressed with how much more diverse the students are here than previous schools we've been to. I hope this well be a good experience. The only bummer is that Oakland County decided to come out with a mask mandate for schools Tuesday night. The kids are not happy about this.

Wednesday morning we had our first seminary class. We made the kids pancakes and waffles and they hardly ate anything. That seemed to follow for the other 2 days too. About half the class is not in to eating in the morning so food might not be the way to their hearts. Other than that, they were all fairly alert and did good during our classes this week. We'll see how that goes as we get further into the school year. I am pretty much exhausted all day and find my days to be way longer with such an early start. I've been doing laundry and dishes before the students get here, then running and showering after class. And then still lots of time left. This is all proving to be quite the adjustment.

Later Wednesday morning we went to the library. We are missing one book yet again and I hope we can find it before we can no longer renew it. Having so many library books can be great but ugh, I wish we weren't always losing them. That afternoon the May kids came over and that was a good distraction for the kids. They've been getting so bored lately, it's been driving me a bit crazy. It's a good thing school starts soon and then Ben and Lucy will start Soccer, Steven will start an archery class and Penny will be starting an online dance class mid Sept. Soon life will be busy enough.

Thursday I had to drive the kids out to Oxford so they could pick up their computers and get their school pictures taken. Everything went real smooth which is so good because I was feeling anxious about it. The kids all wanted to wear their uniforms for the pictures so they could document their first year of uniforms. They did not give the most natural of smiles but I am sure the pics will still be cute anyways...

Thursday afternoon I decided to take them to see the second "Boss Baby" movie. I really did not want to see it but they had all been begging to go. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be but it wasn't a work of art either. The kids enjoyed it and their was a good song that got Penny singing too. She loves singing and dancing. 

Friday we ran some errands in the morning, but other than that it was a real chill day. My exhausted self needed that. That night Tyler and I went out for dinner. It really was a nice day.