Since I am so behind I thought I'd play catch up backwards. So we'll start with the most recent of happenings around these parts. School has started back, three weeks ago to be exact. The past three weeks have been b.u.s.y! And I am exhausted! By the end of the summer I was ready for the kids to get back in school....quite frankly I was afraid our house might not survive any more summer! You see, in Texas summer feels like an inferno so it's really like winter because it's just too dang hot to be outside. Meaning, you're stuck indoors with five rowdy kids (who need to be outside burning off some energy). Sounds like fun, huh? But now that school has started back I am thinking I must have had a lapse of sanity wanting school to start back. See, the thing is I am NOT a morning person. To be presentable to drop kids off at school my alarm goes off before the sun comes up. People, it is just unnatural to be up before the sun in my opinion. So what do I do most days? I sleep until the very last possible minute and drop the kids off in my pjs, complete with no bra or shoes. Lord, please don't let me have a wreck or a flat or an emergency which would cause me to have to leave the comfort of my vehicle! I may die of embarrassment! But not so much as to make me want to get up before the sun!
So we're all back into a routine of sorts which leaves me wanting to lie down with kids at nap time, but a routine nonetheless. And so far things are going as usual around here. William got his progress report yesterday and his teacher wrote that he needed to spend less time talking and more time focussing on his work. If she can figure out a way to make this happen she will be my savior b/c my threats have had little effect thus far. They get a behavior chart and it's been written on four times in the past three weeks. Just to put this in perspective a little, Charlie had the same chart last year in first grade. It was written on one time the entire year. So that's how it's looking for my man William. As for Charlie, he's a little sneakier. He gets a homework chart for each week with his assignments for each day. The first week no homework. The second week was pretty easy. By the third week I caught on that we were supposed to read a story each night. Only I had no story. But the vocabulary sheet was related to the title of the story so I thought that was it. Until this week the vocab ties to the story only there's no mistaking that the story is in and of itself different. It's called "Meeting Rosina" and the vocab words are about being deaf and signing and so forth. Last week it was about harvesting crops and I forget what the story was but something harvest, so I didn't know it was separate. Don't even ask what the story was the other week b/c I have no idea but I do know that we didn't read it b/c it wasn't here. Come to find out from my neighbor that they have a text book where the stories are and they're supposed to come home daily. When asked about it Charlie told me, "you only have to bring it home if your mom wants you to"....yeah right! Needless to say I let him know that if Rosina didn't make it home today I was going to kill him and then go have a lengthy discussion with the teacher. We'll see if I get to hear all about Rosina tonight.
My sweet Henry has gone back to preschool and you'll never believe what was in his class when we walked in....a hamster....a real one. Poor thing! It's gonna get loved to death. "And it even has it's ball that it can run around the class in," Henry filled me in on! I hope ole Zena Max (that's what they named him) doesn't get shaken too much! So naturally Henry now wants a real hamster for home and has even asked his meme to get him one. I kindly asked my mother-in-law to have mercy on me. I'm just hoping that Zena Max doesn't get to come on field trips (aka home with kids) b/c then I'll have all five of them begging for a rodent and I just don't think I can handle a hamster loose in my house!
The girls are home with me and are taking dance once a week. They are just the cutest little things in a leotard and tights! And they love it! I'm actually shocked by how well they pay attention! They are some of the most attentive in the class and wake up daily asking me if it's time to go to dance......just warms my soul!
And that's about it for our daily routine for now. Oh, and I forgot, all three boys are playing little league baseball in the fall league so we're running around crazy all week going here and there and everywhere for practice/games. It's done in mid October though, so it's not so bad. And it's mostly during the week which frees up our weekends to watch Alabama play some ball and I love that! So how about some pics?
William's first day of first grade:
Charlie's first day of second grade:
Both my boys:
Walking to class:
On the big boys' first day we went to breakfast with friends:
And to the park to get filthy dirty so we'd have to shower before pick up time:
Can you see all that dirt above?
Henry's first day:
And our little dancing queens on their first day:
And some cuteness:
Anyone still reading this? More catching up to come soon!
