Ten on Tuesday

This post should be maybe six separate posts, but we're going to fly by what we've been up to this week and hopefully I'll write more about some of this later.  To begin, we had our last week of summer vacation.  I took off work Thursday - Monday to facilitate the fun you'll see below. 

1.  First up, Thursday was orientation day at Angie Debo.  B is in Ms. L's class.  Most of his friends are in our beloved Ms. Sheetz's class.  I feel I missed some magic memo on how to make that happen and feel bad about it, but hear good reports about Ms. L so here's hoping. 

2.  For lunch on Thursday, we joined the OSSM Faculty for the back to school cook-out.  I decided this is about my 24th of these both as a child and as a faculty spouse.  They were more fun as a kid, but most things are. We were a little early so we played and wandered around in the heat.  M dubbed this Einstein statue Grandpa and they took turns sitting in his lap (sob). 

B loved climbing on this statute at the entrance. 

Feeding turtles carrot peels

 3.  On Friday, we had our annual back to school trip to Tulsa.  We began with taking the Richards and Wainright kids (all six) to the Oklahoma Aquarium. I think this was Chrissie and my first time taking all six kids somewhere without at least one dad along.  It actually went pretty well.  We spent the afternoon at the Wainright's eating pizza, doing crafts, playing with games and costumes, etc... Our kids play really well together most of the time so Chrissie and I mostly got to chat and smile at baby Maia.  M had a melt down around dinner time so of course we left and all of the kids slept most of the way back.


4. On Saturday, we did back to school errands - hair cuts, baseball practice, new shoes, a few random supplies, laundry, etc.. Then, I randomly (probably to Brent's chagrin) decided it was time to paint the master bathroom, because obviously we had nothing else going on.  In good news, it was completed all in one day and looks great!  Baseball practice was a bit nerve-wracking, and aside from one small incident went really well, which is great news.

4.  On Sunday, we had brunch with Able and Grandma in the morning.  Then, Brent went to work from about 11:30am-9:30pm. Meanwhile, we went to the pool one more time with Granddaddy.  It was great fun.  We only stayed about an hour and a half, and when we left we heard baby Grayson was going to be born soon!  Granddaddy stayed long enough for pudding and some LEGOs before leaving on the big trip to meet the new baby. 

 5.  Then we had a pizza, pickle, and pudding pizza with the Korenak boys and lots and lots of playing.  Grandma even stopped by to join in the fun. (This, and the above shoe shopping trip both ended in M meltdowns and I almost lost my mind as well).

6.  Sunday afternoon, baby Grayson Daniel was born.  We are so excited to meet him in a couple of weeks.  His parents and big brothers are over the moon.

 7.  Then, we spent Monday at the farm.  We played lots of music, helped in the garden, worked on the fountain, swam, did some paintings, ate lots of snacks and popsicles and generally had a lovely day.  (This is also part of our back to school tradition and I'm glad it worked out again this year.  It was a relaxed day with no fits and much giggling).

8. In the evening, we had back to school night at St. Elijah's.  M met her new pre-K teacher and a few fellow students.  E will have one teacher from last year and one new teacher.  His new teacher is B's best friend P's mom.  We love her and are very excited about the year to come.

9.  Basically all week long at any break in the action people have been playing with LEGO blocks.  From the littlest kids through Granddaddy.  They are very much the toy of the week.

B - 2nd Grade

M - Pre-K

Love this photo so much. 

All 3 - E had a fever this morning so could not be pictured without blankets and seems very confused about why we're doing this. 

This is M's traditional school picture shot.  So cute. 

 

Then we drove B to school for his very first day in 2nd grate.  He seemed great and was laughing as we left. 

 After we dropped him off, M held my hand and led me out of the building. I didn't cry this year, but only just.  Then, I dropped her off for a playdate with Zane and took E home to play with me before his nap (which lasted about 5 hours!)

His bus was very, VERY late and I was a bit of a wreck waiting for him.  It already had seemed like he was gone forever even before the late bus.  M & E dashed out to meet him immediately.  They were very excited too.  Then, we had a lovely dinner with the Korenaks and celebrated school beginning and living close to each other. 

 Post script:

B and I finally made cheese this weekend.  It was on our goals list all summer.  It was delicious.  We plan to make mozzarella next!

 Brent had dorm night tonight so bedtime went late and off the rails.  This is B's selfie.

We missed M's hair appointment today due to bus issues.  She wanted to do something with her hair for back to school.  I strongly suspect there are picture of me exactly like this in the 80s from the hair right through the outfit.  Love it.

Tomorrow M& E start school and I'm sure there will be more stories.  I am lonely already.