School, Home, Sleep.... Repeat!

We are back into the routine.... which is definitely a new routine compared to any other previous years of working and being a mom!  We will drop Maddox off by around 7:30 a.m. and then head to school where Zander and I will spend the day working and learning.  He has been doing great with his live sessions and has started to show some independence with completing his other assigned tasks.  He has large chunks of free time during the day which are sometimes hard to plan for depending on what is on mommy's work schedule at the time.  When mommy is busy, Zander will sometimes play games on the computer, work in a 2nd grade workbook or entertain himself along with a few other teachers' kids that are coming each day.  We try to eat lunch together every day..... making a point to stop what we are doing and walk to the outdoor learning center that has picnic tables under a shelter.  In the spring, I never took time to have a "lunch break".... we would just keep working.... a.k.a. surviving while we snacked throughout the day.  I look forward to our daily lunch breaks as we begin this school year.  I'm not going to lie.... this experience has still been challenging with attempting to balance the needs (and wants) of a 2nd grader while also feeling the "pull" to get my work knocked out.  I will admit it is easier with brother in Pre-K (so I'm not outnumbered) and by getting out of the house each day to work in a different environment.... we are still getting dressed in "work" clothes and making that part of the routine as similar as we can to what previous years have looked like.  The weeks are pretty busy... spending most of the time at school... coming home for dinner and a couple hours together as a family (this week included swimming in our neighbor's pool and a family bike ride!) and then heading to bed... exhausted from the busy day!  We are very thankful it is Friday and we have some fun plans to look forward to this weekend while also hoping to fit in some relaxation!  Here are some pictures from our week!

We took Burke for a nature walk last weekend... it felt great to be outside together as a family!

The boys matched for church on Sunday.... we had to take pictures after lunch of the striped collared shirts and with grandpa who got the boys' shirts for them on one of his fun adventures overseas!

Znader pulled out another tooth.... he has pulled out the last two by himself! He is getting so big!

Just trying to document daily life so in the future Zander will remember the year that mommy and him worked together in 2nd grade!

Zander's First Day of Second Grade!

 Zander started 2nd grade this week!! He will be coming to school with me on Monday through Thursday for remote learning.  He will be logging on and working with his teacher for live sessions and also be responsible for completing additional tasks and submitting them electronically.  We are working through getting onto the computer when needed and balancing the workload for Zander along with ensuring mommy can get her work done each day.  I am so proud of how resilient this kid is!  He wakes up optimistically every day and has been enjoying the "new normal".  He has been patient when mommy has had to get a task done/answer a phone/jump on a meeting, etc. before I can answer his question or help him with his assignments.  Fortunately, Grammy and Grandpa will be helping with "field trip Fridays" to help Zander have some time away from the school building (a.k.a. my office) while I have meetings scheduled throughout the whole day.  I think we are enjoying the routine of getting up, getting ready and getting out the door like we would if all students were in school.  We are so hopeful that class can be in the school building after these first nine weeks of 2nd grade.

These boys are doing a great job wearing their masks when they are asked to.  I am so proud of both of them for handling these "uncertain" times with such optimism.  They both wanted to wear their masks for a picture to document this time in history.

I think this shirt is starting to get smaller each year! haha

I had to document the annual first day of school picture..... every year for the last 8 years since becoming a mommy.  This actually starts my 16th year in education!

My office mate on his first day of remote learning.... meeting his classmates and interacting with his teacher!

Maddox has been doing great in Pre-K! He continues to get smiley faces each day and I think he is loving that he can be back at school learning and playing with his friends!  His best friend, Mollie, has also been doing great!  We took the kids to celebrate their first week of Pre-K with ice cream at Dairy Queen!  They are very excited they are in the same class this year!

Maddox’s First Day of PreK!

 I am still in shock that Maddox started PreK this week!! He has had the best first week and is super excited he has the same teacher his big brother had for his PreK year!  We are so thankful both boys were blessed to have Ms. Veigh as their teacher.  She does such an amazing job preparing kids for kindergarten while also giving them a strong biblical foundation. He has had smiley face days each day so far and is so excited to see his friends that he hasn't seen since we started learning and working from home in March.  

We also started back at church this past Sunday.  We have been watching live or videos each week so we all enjoyed being there in person (even with masks on) as we navigate the new normal and new school year.

Zander will be joining me as I work at the school building.  He will be in remote learning for at least the first nine weeks which means that most of instruction will be provided by live lessons and support lessons from his teacher through a computer.  He got to "meet" his teacher, Ms. Richmond, this week and also is spending some time at Grannie's house until his school year starts on Monday.  He was excited to have some one on one time with family and probably has been spoiled rotten while he has been gone.  This is the first time the boys have been apart so I think they are missing each other but also enjoying the life of an only child for a few days with some personalized attention.

My buddy at school testing out ear buds that aren't connected to any device! haha

The cousins were also able to get together before school started back and had a visit from the ice cream truck! That was a sweet treat!  Also, the boys enjoyed two days last weekend swimming in our neighbor's pool.  We are sneaking in as much summer fun as possible in between school and work!  You will also see Daddy gave the boys their back to school hair cuts... so we are ready to begin the 2020-2021 school year.  It looks completely different than any other year I've experienced but we will figure it out together..... one day at a time! ;) 

Cheers to 12 Years!

We met daddy for lunch on one of my last days off of work before the school year starts.  I love when Zander wears one of his daddy's hats.... he is getting so big!

Zack and I were able to celebrate 12 years of marriage with a date night last weekend...... we had drinks, dinner and dessert at Firebirds! It was a wonderful way to celebrate a dozen years happily married!

Meanwhile Grammy and Grandpa entertained the boys..... they had fun spending the night at their house.  I even had us watch our wedding video on the actual day of our anniversary.  Zander and Maddox loved seeing all the family and friends they recognized.  They were not as interested in the vows and other ceremony elements.... maybe when they are older?! ;)

My Aunt Glenda came to visit us on her way home to Florida!! It was a special treat to see her since we only have that opportunity once a year.  The boys finished up their summer baseball season this week.  Zander might have one more game next week as a makeup due to all the rain we had this week but both boys loved being on the ball field this summer!  Here are some pictures from their last week of baseball.  You can see from the last picture that Zander was not happy that the third game of the week was rained out.  He was all dressed up and had nowhere to go!  At the final game, we pulled up and uploaded the car to promptly put everything back in the car and wait for them to make the decision to reschedule!