Power Outage

I would've loved to post this on Sunday or Monday, but we've been without power at our house since early Saturday evening and it was just restored this morning. Crews knocked on our door at 12:39 AM asking permission to go into our yard, and the power came back on somewhere around 3:30 AM. I'm not mad about the lost sleep, and I'm certainly not mad about a weekend without electricity. We made the best of it and I know that others in Texas have been facing far worse challenges due to Hurricane Harvey. It was a little hard keeping the kids calm. Clark thought it was scary, and Aurora must've gone through all the stages of grief... from shock and denial to fear, anger, and finally acceptance. She is a sensitive girl and doesn't really like when things go wrong. We had actually just rearranged her room and she was feeling pretty good!

She also had her first few homework assignments and brought home this awesome project. Aurora may be sensitive, but she is a sweet, creative, focused and bright girl.

We ended up spending much of the weekend at home using lanterns from our camping gear to play Clue and Monopoly. It was really dark (even in the daytime) and sort of warm and humid in our house, but it was totally bearable. We also ventured over to the neighbor's house (who did have electricity) where we watched a movie and played until the kids got stir crazy, then decided it was time to manually open the garage door to find some food and go to the library.

Megan and David were incredibly generous. They lent us charging bricks for our phones, gave us space in their garage refrigerator and freezer for some of our food, and even made homemade cinnamon rolls! Now Chuck is traveling for work and I'm catching up on all the dishes and laundry that piled up over the weekend... it's amazing how much we rely on hot water, cool air conditioning, and light! One thing we rely on a little too much are electronics, and I'm hoping we can make board games a bigger part of our weekends after this.

Kindergarten Begins

We had a big, busy, fun and eventful weekend focused nearly entirely on back-to-school. I picked the kids up early Thursday so Clark could get his 5-year well child check, and we learned that he's in the 8th percentile. He may be little and goofy, but he sure is ready for kindergarten. I went to kinder parent orientation and met his teacher Thursday night, and she is YOUNG! Fresh out of college young, and very sweet. Friday morning he got to meet her and while he did pose for a picture, he requested "no touching!" and insisted on showing off his newest Pokemon card.

Aurora was just as excited to meet her teacher, but this was not a first time meeting! In second grade she was in a collaborative classroom with Mrs. Stueve and Mrs. Kephart. She ended up with Mrs. Kephart in third grade and Mrs. Stueve in fourth! We got a picture in front of the big VVE balloons and left with a kinder yard sign.

Sunday night we read the Night Before Kindergarten, sprinkled Ready Confetti under Clark's pillow, and got lots of sleep before the big first day of school. Both kids were up early, packed their own lunches, and headed outside with time to spare - especially considering the bus stop is IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE THIS YEAR!!

Both kids are in Easy Care (Valley View's after school program) and when I went to pick them up, they were super happy and clearly had a great day. Clark said his favorite part of school was lunch, because he got peanut butter and croissants, two of his favorite foods. His least favorite part was that he didn't get to go outside to see the eclipse, he only got to watch it on TV and didn't have a very good spot to sit. Ahhh well, I showed him pictures from Facebook and Instagram.

I can honestly say that the best thing we have done for Clark was put him in the Valley View Pre-K program these past two years. He has been eating lunch in the cafeteria, playing on the playground and in the gym, and he wasn't a bit apprehensive about the bus ride (it probably helps that his sister was with him!). I have several friends with kindergarteners who had anxiety (and a few tears) today, but we were all smiles.

Goodbye, Summer!

While we may continue to have summer weather for months to come, summer is coming to a close. This is our LAST WEEK at Elsass Academy, and the kids have really enjoyed it.

I remember coming to pick Aurora up during her first week and seeing the swim instructor throwing kids into the pool while Aurora stayed in the shallow end, scared to put her face under water. Last week I came to pick her up and got to watch the instructor throw her into the pool!!!

I also remember the first time she rode her new bike on the track and wiped out trying not to hit some kids that were walking near her. While we haven't done much cycling this summer, she's just getting to a place where she's feeling more confident and willing to try things that used to scare her. This weekend our friends organized a neighborhood kid's ride and while Aurora was the biggest kid, at first she was the most scared of going downhill. Once she did it, she was hooked.

This weekend Aurora had a sleepover with a friend and I got to spend some quality time with Clark. I have to say, he gets a bad rap around here, always yelling to be heard and crying when he doesn't get his way. This weekend he reminded me a lot of Aurora at his age. He's actually a very sweet, smart boy. We did kindergarten prep books and he bought a Hatchimal with his birthday money, which we nurtured and played with together. It was great.

I didn't hit the gym or go running as much as I would've liked to, but spent a lot of time cleaning, doing yard work, sorting through old toys and clothes and doing minor repairs around the house. It was much needed and honestly, I'm a little sore today! This week we have 4-days of summer camp before we meet the teachers and dive right in to kindergarten orientation!!!

Birthday Boys

It would've been very easy to overlook Chuck's birthday this year. It was on a Tuesday and he honestly didn't think we needed to make a big deal about it. That being said, Chuck turned 40 this week and I'd say that's a big deal!!! We made him a special dinner, sang happy birthday with cheesecake, and got him a flight suit he can try out in his aviation videos.

The rest of the weekend was centered pretty solidly around Clark. We went to JCPenney for our last EVER numbered photoshoot! Truthfully, this year's shoot was a challenge. They called me a day ahead of time to tell me they no longer have white backgrounds or numbers, so we had to pick up our own 5 and the pictures would be gray with a woodgrain floor. We made the best of it.

Clark's party was emoji themed, and we celebrated the night before with dinner and the Emoji movie. The movie got terrible reviews but the kids insisted it was the only movie we could see. About 3/4 of the way through, in the cutest little voice you can imagine, Clark belts out "This is the best movie I've EVER seen!" which got about half the theater laughing. Today's party was also a success with lots more laughter (and a few tears from bonked fingers and noses) at Jump Wild.

At first Clark said he didn't want to invite any girls or siblings. Luckily, we were able to sneak in a couple of Aurora's good friends (who happen to be Clark's friend's sisters) and everybody had a great time. Of course, Clark would tell you his favorite part was opening presents, so thank you to everybody who sent cards and goodies! It's going to be hard to top this weekend for awhile...