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!