Back to School with a Bang

Life sure has been interesting since I last posted at the end of summer.  We finished up the last week of summer with....

cross country practices for the boys

Matt taking each kid for a meal, or in Joshua's case- a night of camping

finishing up the garage loft paintings

Then things got real as we had CrAzY open houses for all the kids and got everyone ready for Monday morning....

Emotions were as delightful as the outfits on Gray and Allie, but we made it and so far it's gone ok.  We've had our share of glasses and homework left at home, but overall, they are enjoying their friends and like their teachers.  

 A friend got this pic of the 6th graders in the gym on the first day.  Was glad to see Gray sitting with friends, though he is variable with his social endeavors...i.e. he does not understand why anyone would want to talk while walking to class in the morning.  :)  

Our first weekend after school started was Labor Day weekend and Matt and Joshua got to go to a State game.  

 Then it was back to school for everyone.  Even Allie and I got to head back to preschool for a workday and "Meet the teacher" day.

 Somewhere in there, we had our 6 month cardio check and Allie did beautifully!  Her heart is still looking good and we just go back in 6 months for a recheck.

 She was excited for the chance to watch her new favorite show "Word Party" during the echo.  After that, we shopped for a van and went to lunch.  It was a long morning but we felt so happy and relieved at the continued good news.

We've had two birthday celebrations at Nanny and Pa's this month.  The cousins especially enjoy hanging out together.

Friday we bought an old, but new and exciting to us, van and had a big dinner here with neighbors.  We were also surprised and very sad to hear that our dear friends suddenly lost their mom/grandmother early that morning.  The last several months have felt like a season of trying to learn how to comfort those close to me who are grieving.  Even the last few weeks of our Bible Study and some books that others suggested I read have been focused on this subject.  Life seems to come in waves like that sometimes.

On Saturday, Julia got her turn at going to a State game with Matt.  This was her first pass at her game day outfit.  (80-90 degree weather, by the way....and those pants are actually long johns)

This past week was probably the strangest of all.  For the first few days we kept hearing that Hurricane Fran was headed right for us, so in between car pool and work mornings, I (and the rest of our town) frequented grocery stores looking for the essentials to get through the anticipated worst storm to hit NC.  Everyone was talking about it and thinking about it constantly, gas stations were shutting down, you couldn't find water, the traffic and crowds at stores were crazy.  It was a bit unnerving and I am not one to worry about such things.  In the midst of hurricane prep, we carried on with normal life and Allie had her first day of school.  She loved it.

 The boys had their first cross country meet and did awesome-- Joshua 14th and Gray 7th.

 School was declared closed for Thursday and Friday just before the meteorologists figured out that the storm wasn't headed for us after all.  In fact, it was going to loop around our town as if avoiding us like the plague.  Such a weird turn of events.  So we watched and held our breath for those we know on the coast and made the best of our days off of school.  The kids basically had a straight playdate from Thursday morning till Friday night and we had a couple "Hurricane Parties", throwing together whatever food we had on hand to make dinner with friends.  We definitely got the better deal from this storm.

We ended with my birthday celebration Saturday and a regrouping kind of Sunday.  What a week!  This week I look forward to getting more settled with my new preschool class.  So far they are a great bunch, but the best part of the job comes when we have bonded and I have more of a relationship with each one.  I also look forward to a concert night with Matt and some friends and a visit from Mimi and GrandGene to help with that night.  And please some sunshine!!