First Full Week of School

Well, last Monday was the big day of the solar eclipse. We had some showers earlier in the morning but then it cleared off a bit. I went into Lincoln’s classroom at 11 to start helping out. Another mom and I put all the kids’ glasses into the plates and then we were supposed to take them outside and have them practice. The teacher decided against it since it was pretty wet outside and we just practiced in the room. Lincoln and I got to eat lunch together and the clouds started moving in thick and the rain started coming down again. And there was no chance of change after we got back from lunch-it just kept raining right through when the eclipse was supposed to happen for us. My siblings sent pictures of all of them outside with sunny skies and their glasses on. We thought the sky got darker, but that was about it. The teachers were scrambling trying to find live feeds to put on their smart boards, but it wasn’t anything that kept the kids attentions and they pretty much just played inside through all of it. Lissy did get some really neat pictures of it in St. Louis though. When I picked up the other kids from school, they were really bummed too.

It rained off and on throughout the day and Jackson came home from football practice soaked. We had the K-Life Kickoff bbq that night where they also have a big slip-n-slide, so he didn’t even mess with changing. Andrew stayed with the rest of the kids and I took Jackson, some watermelon, chips and utensils to the K-Life house. Since it was kind of sprinkling at the time, all the kids were in the house and it was chaos. I didn’t see any other board members, except one and he said he didn’t need any help with anything. So, I checked with Laura to see what help they needed and she said they were good, so I just came home. Our evenings are going to fill up quickly, so it was nice to be able to go home. When Jackson came home later that evening, he said they had had a lot of fun.

The rest of the week was pretty much business as usual, and again, enjoying our last free evenings before more activities-soccer, dance and also swimming now-start up over the next couple of weeks. The kids kept working on our very modified ninja warrior course out of what we have on the swingset. And there was some dress-up going on. Lincoln did get in a bit of trouble for getting into our Halloween costumes though.

I put in more training as the NEMO Triathlon is coming up on September 10^th.  We ordered some “racing wheels” and some clip-on aero bars. My in-house bike man got me all fixed up and I got to try them out a couple of times, including a ride out at the lake with Andrew. He ended up going a few more miles on the bike than me, so I sat and enjoyed the calming view of the lake. Also on that day, I did my only open-water swim before the triathlon. I wanted to test out my wetsuit again and work out any kinks. Andrew kayaked for me. But the water level was so low, I had to stop several times and walk because it was so shallow. I also worked a bit on revamping our room. I got new bedding and nightstands. I also used the stick-and-peel tile to cover up our small bit of glass mosaic tile in our bathroom. And even though we just repainted this past winter, I was never really pleased with it and am hoping to change it again.

The twins are still liking school and I love that their teacher sends me updates every now and then. She sent me these pictures and told me that they were working independently for their writer’s workshop, but they both managed to include a dog on a leash in their “story”. On Thursday, I finally went in to get my hair cut and colored after avoiding it all summer. As I was sitting there, waiting for Kim to mix up my color, I get a call from a number I don’t recognize but I answer it anyways. It was the school nurse and Miles was sick. He had actually thrown up soon after lunch. Thankfully, Andrew was able to get him and I was able to finish my hair. But then Miles was fine the rest of the day-didn’t act sick at all. When I picked up Bennett (whose main concern was what Miles got to do at home while he had to stay at school. But, his teacher was fine with Miles coming back the next day if he was actually okay even though it wouldn’t have 24 hours since he had vomited. So, Miles went back the next day and had no issues.

Lincoln and Andrew started flag football on Thursday and had the first game on Friday. It was hard to watch him as he was on the other side of the field with the first graders playing in front of him. Plus the twins were kind of whiny after their first full week of school. But, I think he had fun. Jackson walked over after his practice was done and he got to hang out with Zach and Gage, who was back in town from Liberty for the afternoon. Then they went out to eat at La Fuente with us after the game and played out in the neighborhood until Gage’s dad picked him up later that evening.

Over the weekend, Ellie, Lincoln and the twins went to Kansas City with my parents for Finley’s birthday party. They loved getting to see the new house, had fun at the party and playing with their cousins at a ropes park. Back home, Jackson enjoyed his only child status. He had dropped his phone the previous week and it was no longer in commission, so we ordered a refurbished one off Ebay that he paid half for and he went with me to US Cellular to get it activated. Saturday evening, we ate dinner at Viva Italia (we were the only ones there for a little bit) and then went out to the ranch so Andrew could make sure none of his cows got out since they had worked them the day before and took some of the calves. There was more rain on Sunday, but we got to church and the store before more of it came. We found some good movies on TV and watched those while I worked on looking for possible new studies for our women’s bible study. The kids got home around 3 and finally the skies cleared so they could get outside and play.