Back to school!

 Thank goodness for changing seasons!  When we are burned out from school, we get a Summer break.  After a few months of relaxation, vacations, messes, and chaos, we get our routine and schedule back thanks to school!  I always feel a twinge of mom guilt when school starts.  Did I do enough with the kids?  Did we watch too much tv? Did we go on enough adventures? Do they know how much I love them and will miss them at school even though I'm secretly a bit relieved to get a few hours break again? One thing I'm trying to be better about is just appreciating the moment.  I tend to compare my life with others on facebook (one reason I deactivated my account for a while).  I've learned I'm a lot happier and more carefree when I just appreciate my life for what is it - and its amazing!  All humans are walking on different paths in life. No need to wonder if someone else's path is more exciting, has better views, or flatter terrain.  I just need to keep my eyes on my own journey because that is where real happiness is!  Enjoying the journey is so much easier without the pressures and stigmas associated with social media! 


Each year I try to have a back to school "feast."  We use nice plates, simple decorations, and I make a nice meal (that hopefully everyone will eat) with dessert.  After looking up back to school dinner ideas on pintrest, I was left feeling like I needed to make a ridiculously elaborate dinner - complete with metal crowns, gold star ornaments,  fancy table decor, carefully positioned lighting,  expensive greenery, and beautifully wrapped gifts delicately placed on each child's plate.  I was getting sucked into a mom guilt trap which I am trying to avoid.  I decided that my kids are little and don't care and won't remember all those expensive details.  A nice meal on our special plates is good enough.  We invited Erin over, and I think the kids loved dinner just the way it was.  As they get older I might try to make it more impressive, but for now - it was just right.  For dinner we had backed ziti pasta with garlic bread, and for dessert we had angel food cake with blue drizzle glaze (Erin's request) with whipped cream and blueberries.  See - nothing fancy, but to the boys it was a special night!

Wesley and Chase were not very enthusiastic about starting school.  Chase was excited to have a new Jurrasic park backpack and lunch,  and even Jurrasic park slippers to wear to school, but was not thrilled about the school part.  Wesley's last two years were pretty rough, so he didn't enter school with much excitement or anticipation either.  However, I feel like Wesley will have a good year. Wesley's teacher is brand new and very enthusiastic. She is from Hawaii, and seems to have a fun personality.  So far he really seems to like her.  Wesley's best friend Erin also got accepted to Channing Hall and is in his class, which I am really happy about.  Hopefully they can help each other out (socially and academically).    I signed up to volunteer in the boys' classes on Mondays while Blake is in preschool. I'm excited to have more opportunities to help at their school this year.

I pick the boys up from a splash pad which is next to their school.  Almost every day they end up running in the water and get my car soaking wet.  Sometimes I'll bring a bathing suit for them to change into, sometimes I dont and I just ask them to take their shirt off.  If we don't have piano, I'll let them play for 45 minutes.  Its a fun way to end a school day! 

Blake started preschool a week after his brothers started school.  This might be my last kid in preschool, and I really wanted him to go to a good one.  I feel like kids will be in school all their lives, and really don't need preschool if they are learning and having fun at home. There is too much pressure to put kids in preschool when I think most don't need it.  Wesley didn't go to one, and I loved having him home.  Chase went to one only because he had speech delays and was having a hard time learning letters and sounds.  Blake is my feisty, social, busy one.  He loves playing with kids and loves being kept busy.  Now that Addie and William (his two best friends that he played with every day) moved and his brothers are in school, Blake needs more interaction.  I researched a lot of preschools and decided on a creative arts school located at a dance studio.  They only sit and do school work for 5 minutes each day.  They rest of the time they are doing experiments,  cooking, going to music and dance classes, making art work, and playing.  There is a large room full of different activities that correlate with the theme of the week.  Its full of sensory bins, dress up, toys, blocks, imaginative play, and more.  They are constantly changing it out, and there is always something new.  I think Blake will love it, and it seems like the perfect school to match his high energy.  He also attends a tap/jazz dance class there once a week after school which I am pretty excited about.  I am really looking forward to this year...I feel like its going to be a good one!





He picked out his own monster clothing for the first day of school.  I love those pants!!  He also decided to cut his hair a few days before school started.  It looked really bad. There was a huge chuck missing in the front, and smaller chunks missing on the side, and in the middle.  Nothing I did hid the bald spots.  I ended up cutting his hair pretty short, and styled a mowhalk to try to hid the missing patches.