School Starts, Picnic, Nailed It

Monday was Steven's first day of high school. We had decided to start seminary on the second day of school so he didn't have to wake up extra early but it was still pretty early since high school starts at 7am. I made him ride the bus which he wasn't super happy about. Later he told me that the kids are all bad and say bad stuff. I am not surprised so I offered giving him headphones for future bus rides so he could listen to music or something but he acted like that was an awful suggestion. I don't understand that kid. Anyways after school he had nothing but complaints- he didn't have time to find his locker, he left his schedule and map in the bus, he was confused on how much things cost for buying lunch, he didn't talk to anyone except his friend Adam....He was just a ball of sunshine. But honestly, it sounded like it was a fairly uneventful day. He is just trying to learn all the new things that come with high school. 

While he was at school we had Peter and Andrea over which seemed like a good way to end summer for the younger 3. They had fun with their friends (and had a water balloon fight) and I was able to get the house cleaned up and bake some cakes for seminary. A couple hours after Steven got home from school Andrea and Peter left and then I had to take Steven to tennis practice. Midway through tennis practice I got a call- turns out a thunder storm was coming and a teammate had offered to take him and a few other kids home. The thunderstorm did indeed come and it was furious but quick. Probably less than hour. But in that short time we lost power along with thousands of other people. Our power ended up being off for about 24 hours so once again, another chance to be grateful that we have a generator. 

Due to the widespread power outage, there was no seminary or school for Steven the next day. However, Renaissance still had power so the younger 3 still had their first day of school Tuesday. It was fun getting ready by the light of my cell phone and the one lamp we had hooked up to the generator. This year they combined the orientation with the first day of school. That meant I didn't just get to drop them off and enjoy my first day of freedom. I had to stay and listen to a super boring meeting. Boo. But at least this year I had people to sit with. Cherish has become a good friend and now Caroline's younger 3 kids are going there too. (Can you tell how unhappy Ben was about taking pics? He was in a foul mood that morning because he had school but Steven and his friend Jacob didn't.)

While they were at school I hooked up the oven to the generator and worked on getting a casserole ready for dinner because I thought Steven was still having his tennis match and I needed an easy dinner to throw in but gratefully they ended up cancelling the match. It was going to be such a pain trying to get him to the school and then rushing to pick up the other 3. I was glad it was cancelled (and so was he). I also ran some errands with Tyler on his lunch break (getting extension cords and a large gas canister for the generator) and Steven spent a lot of time hanging with Jacob on his lucky day off.

We were all very happy when the power came back on late Tuesday afternoon. I was lying on my bed when I heard the fan turn on and I got pretty excited. Unfortunately the power still did not turn back on at Steven's school so they cancelled school for him again Wednesday. This meant another day of no seminary and since there was no school Friday for the Labor Day holiday, we decided just to cancel seminary for the week. I was bummed because I had all these lessons planned but I will just have to save them for next week.

Wednesday was the Renassiance Back to School Picnic at Heritage Park. Since Steven was off school that day he decided to go too. Caroline and Cherish both took awhile to get there so I was forced to try and socialize with other people. I did not like it. There were also bees everywhere, swarming anytime people brought out food. Not ideal for a picnic. When Caroline finally got there, she was smart and put a slice of bread with jelly on it a good distance away from us. It really worked, the bees went to it and mostly left us alone. The kids had a good time getting their faces painted (and then playing at the splash pad so it ran all down their face), decorating and eating cupcakes and hanging with friends. Steven also put my name in a drawing for flowers and I won- that kid has the best luck. 

The Mays came over after the picnic to borrow internet since their power was still out. Also Andrea was having a hard time figuring out what work she was supposed to do so Ben helped her with that. Then Steven had tennis practice (which he was super unhappy about) and then I had to try and shuffle kids to different church activities because they never seem to have them at the church anymore. It is so frustrating since we still have just one car.

Thursday everyone was in school! The high school had power again and the younger 3 had their second day of school. It was glorious! I went through all the random school supplies that had been piling up in the basement and then took a load of crap to Salvation Army. I ran a few errands and then had a lazy hour before picking them up. It was nice. 

After I picked up the younger 3 I went to Steven's tennis game. His partner was not so great and neither is Steven so they got creamed. Hard to watch sometimes. After he was done there was another group that still had to play so I went home and made dinner. When I finished with dinner, his game ended so Tyler went to pick him up. He got home just in time for me to get Ben to his soccer practice. I hate the rushing from one thing to the next. I think having my car again will help but I also think this will be our life for the next couple months. The girls start their soccer in a couple weeks and of course the practice days are the same days as Ben's soccer practice. It's going to be so fun.

Friday the kids did their work in the morning and then we had all our friends over to do a version of "Nailed It". I had made the cakes to do "Nailed it" in seminary and since seminary was a bust, I needed to put the cakes to use before they went bad. I knew it would be a lot of prep and the kids would probably finish the activity quickly and I was right. But the kids had a good time and it was fun to see the results so I won't hate on it too much. They were all attempting to make a taco cake and the teen girls (along with Penny) definitely did the best. While my friends were here I word vomitted all my anxieties with this school year and tennis and soccer. Then I felt like I probably sounded just like Steven with all my complaining. I gotta work on my attitude.

Saturday was truly uneventful and it was actually really nice. Ran a few errands, chauffuered Steven to various friend hang outs, got some things done around the house, got a slushee at Sonic that I had been craving and read a book. Steven had decided to ditch a friend's birthday party because a friend from church had invited him to an end of summer party at his house and he wanted to go to that more. This friend with the birthday is the only kid Steven has to sit with at lunch so I hope there are no repercussions from this...He did end up planning another day for a birthday get together but I am not sure how he'll handle things if his friend asks why he couldn't come to the original get together. Do boys have drama like that? We shall find out...