Weekly: (but not really) Aug. 28, 2017

Going, going, gone... the last days of summer vacation went just like that and somehow three weeks passed since another update, I'm getting bad at this. I don't even know what to call it anymore, it's not really a weekly!

The last week couple weeks of vacation were all about work, as is usually the case. Trying to finish up all the things I thought I would have so much time to get done and just never did - like power washing the house (or some of it), redoing the kids bathroom, changing all the light bulbs in and outside that have been out for ages, finally buying that new front door I've always wanted, and then having to go buy a new oven because ours threatened to burn the house down (again), celebrating our 14th anniversary, getting new school shoes/backpacks/lunchboxes/supplies for the kids... and trying not to think about it too much...

 And then at some point... I had to work... but at school. Todd and I started the same day. The first week is always kind of nice for me because it's just catching up with coworkers, dozing through meetings, and then finally getting to do the things I want in my classroom - except I end up staying still 5 or 6 most nights, so exhausting, but a lot of it was my own doing since I got sick of looking at the same classroom stuff after 10 years and decided it was old and gross and I wanted new and changed... 

The most fun day was the Monday of the eclipse. We were in the path of 99.6% totality, and it was pretty fun to put on glasses with my colleagues and step out onto the playground to see what we could see - it was eerie how dark and cool it got for those couple of minutes.

 Todd's job is going well, There are lots of perks for him - like he can wear whatever he wants pretty much - no more pants in this heat!, gets off at 3 (before me!), and isn't stressed and exhausted all the time, plus he has more time to help me out around the house :) He likes it, but doesn't love it yet, how long he will stay with it is TBD right now. The one thing that has been put back on hold is his Masters. The finances/our new budget with this job are still unknown - *mildly stressful* - especially since we are paying off a new door and stove right now, so we don't want to commit to paying for schooling until we know what it will be and how we can adjust. But, hopefully within the next year he can start.

 And my two little but big kiddos went off to school. Liam was like "bye."

 Carolina was very huggy, but not weepy. Todd had to be the one to wave goodbye since I had to deal with my own new class.

 She did great though - had a great day! played with other teacher-kid friends after school! ate treats! and was loving life. She's tall for a kindergartner (a half inch shorter than her 3rd grade friend) but that backpack still dwarfs her.

Forced sibling pic after school.

And on the second day of school we went for a swim and she slipped and cracked the back of her head open and we had to rush to the hospital where she ended up with 6 staples to close it up.

 Goodness gracious. That was not in our plans for the first week of school! She cried when she first hit her head and when I told her we were going to the doctor and she would probably need stitches. And then she didn't cry or fuss again after that. Honestly, she was the most amazing little trooper. I gave her "just in case" Tylenol that night and then never again, she never complained about her head hurting! She's been back in the pool again already even. I have pictures of the wound and the staples but I didn't want to gross anybody out (and they ARE gross). We go back on Thursday to get the staples out, and really it already looks like there's only a scrape there now. Pretty amazing. We are so thankful that it wasn't worse.

We had a reallly nice weekend. Had some good meals, and coffee, did some good shopping, including the kids Halloween costumes (first time ever I've given in to non-themed store-bought costumes) - the kids were/are in heaven though, so whatever, it's easy for me. We had a really good time at church and some pool/family time to relax. After that week, we got what we needed and we needed what we got. Here we go week 2, following by a 3-day weekend, yay! 

Liam borrows my phone every morning to take pictures of the sunrise on the way to school. He did a fine job today!