Enter: Real School

My first babe has entered real-everyday- all-day school. Granted, it's pre-k4, but it's at a big neighborhood elementary school and it feels like she just entered kindergarten. We couldn't be happier.
  For the long version of how I felt about entering this Real School Phase of life, read below.

 Standing in front of our rent house just a few blocks away from our New Old House, which I'm very ready to be living in. We've still got a couple of months.

She woke up when she heard my feet hit the floor, ran to me with the biggest excited smile, and then jumped in her collared shirt and plaid jumper. Didn't even complain about brushing her hair this morning!

They have the best PTA ever. They had cute burlap banners strung and Starbucks coffee waiting on coffee lovers like my husband. WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS TODAY! Happy birthday, wonderful super husband:)

He says having a bday so close to the first day of school was the pits. Is the pits. I can finally see why.

 Meeting her sweet teacher. Check out that wide smile. 

The familiar ECERS procedures. Must wash hands often, including when you first walk in to the room. 

So thankful for familiar friends from Dance and St. Marks.

Wish this friend was repeating pre-k4:)

So pretty, especially with my crazy charlie in the foreground. 

This beautiful 100 year old school seems like just the right fit for us. It's filled with the familiar faces of our kind neighbors. It's a school that is set up much like the school I taught in for 5 years. Same type of instruction, similar schedule, but with tons more parent involvement. I'd like to say I'm excited about doing 'room mom' duties and PTA stuff, but I'd really like to put my ole whistle around my neck (yes, I've kept it:) and be the one signaling students to line up after recess. I want to dig through my pile of carefully collected trade books and read the stories to them using my teacher voices to those eager ears and wide eyes. Oh, how I'd love to. But not for now. My job now is to be this girl's momma. 

I'm enjoying the classroom from this perspective. Glad I'm not having to grade papers after I put the kids down. I don't miss stressing over administering the district's newest assessment to all 20+ of my students while we are all in the same room. There are so so many tough parts of being a teacher. I must remember that! I also don't want to be that parent that makes teachers run the other way. I remember those parents all too well. And y'all all know I have a tendency to share my opinions and I have lots of opinions about teaching. SOoO, I'll be keeping my lips closed as much as I can. 

Enough of my reflections on teaching.

How did Annette do?

She was happy as a lark when I left her at her little table next to Sam and Eli. 

And when I came to pick her up, she started crying  loudly saying to please let her stay. So, I think it was a success. Her first day of real school. 

Her favorite part was playing with the dress up clothes and the clothes line. She said she wanted to eat the school lunch instead of my packed one. That will make my job a lot easier. 

I miss her of course. When I was at the grocery store with my two boys, I kept thinking....I need to have a daughter with me. This doesn't feel right: me and boys. It's usually 'us girls' to balance out the boys.  I should have a sign that says, We have a big sister in our family, she's just at school. 

But mostly I'm excited for her. She is such a confident leader with extreme amounts of energy. She loves a challenge and is ultra eager to learn. The perfect child for school. 

We will encounter something this year that won't seem quite right, I'm certain. But these first couple days have been such a blessing. 

Happy first week of school!

~Morgan 

Now I feel like I have 3 kids

For some reason... no, I think I know the reason... these last two weeks have felt increasingly harder. As in, I'm finding that I have even less sit time than in the last 6 months. Taking care of 2 little kids plus a non-moving baby just got stepped up a notch. 

Set isn't crawling yet, but he's scooting, rolling over everywhere (even off my big bed, oops://), grabbing everything, eating everything, etc. Taking way more energy than just his nightly feedings. 

So now for the first time I feel like I have 3 wildly moving parts and only two hands. 

He's such a goooooood baby. Super easy. Never knew what an easy baby was until I had him. Yet, he isn't just sitting in a swing anymore. Here is all 7 months and 20 lbs of him. 

Here are the last two weeks as I've hit a new type of survival mode. 

Super fun gatherings like this make my version of survival mode much more fun. 

Isn't Brooks CUTE!?

I'm always feeling like I have to have help from other moms with less kids. Like, 'Do you mind pushing Charlie on swing for a sec, while I change a diaper?' Or, can you carry this or that? The list of my needs for help is pretty embarrassing. 

Then I see other moms of 3 who are further down the road than me and they've managed fabulously. 

Visiting friends from PA= renewed energy:)

VBS at Pulaski Heights. My kids loved it. And helped in entertaining my kids. 

This is me pushing 3 kids in the huge cart that I'm so grateful Target provides. 

I sometimes think my blood pressure reaches crazy levels when they are all begging for something by the end of the Target trip. 

And then my mom gives me a break and takes the older two so Isaac and I can go to the lake for the afternoon/night with just Set and some friends. Those breaks are a huge gift. 

We got to visit with uncle Thad and aunt Rachael over at nonnie and doc's house the other night. 

Family dinners with amazing food and company remind me of all my many blessings. 

Isaac plays 'rough house' with kids every single night. His energy level is off the charts. He also lets me have help two days a week. My precious babysitter Callie comes over and helps me with kids while I tutor (and get a chance to use my teacher brain and make a few bucks) and then go to store, or make house building meetings, or whatever else I am struggling to get done with 3 kids around. So it's not like I don't have lots of help. I do and am hugely thankful for it. 

Keeping up with things (keys, phone, paci) is another suit I'm not strong in. Had to call Pop A Lock the other day. Charlie was sure he should cover his ears thinking there would be a loud POP :). This is another reason I will make sure to have a code box thing on my new carport door. 

Speaking of new house stuff, the grant street house is coming right along. 

I'll be posting about that progress sometime before we head to the BEACH next Saturday!!! 

I love that last picture. Watching my family grow up. Even amidst the tired arms, my very tired back, and a lot of dirty clothes/cars/dishes/kids/hair/bathtubs/diapers/floors....You name it, it's dirty right now... I can handle the survival mode feel of it all. I know it's just a phase that's going to pass by way too quickly. 

Happy Saturday! 

~Morgan

Not super interesting weekend fun

We took the kids to a breakfast place over near us, and then to the museum of discovery on Saturday. 

It's about as old fashioned as you can get at the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse.  

He seriously said, "mine's not big enough!" We had a little lesson on what big means. 

A quick daily walk thru the house. Framer Gary was busy working on our porch/front door area. He seems to love the challenges that come with mixing new house with old house. I like that about him. And that he likes working on Saturdays. We had them move our front door Over about a foot to be more centered between the outside square columns. It's a little change, but one that we think makes a big pretty difference. More on that, and where that 'new' front door came from in another post. 

Museum time 

Molding pennies

My personal favorite spot... The tinkering room. This homeade robot thing reminder me of the Inventions Hugo, which I read a couple of months ago. It was SUCH a great book. 

Charlie lost Interest. As did Isaac. But Ann and I had fun creating a non flying helicopter. 

Annette has such determination. Her strength and pure will was worth two pictures here. 

 

Set shadows 

And here my lovelies are this morning. All squinty from that beautiful sun. 

Three in a tub. Love it. 

Goodnight,

Morgan