Cora - First day of 2nd Grade

Tuesday, August 25

I can't believe we are actually here...  finally the first day of school.  We have been home for over 5 months because of COVID, and there has been SO many changes and adjustments for school and just life in general.  But we are finally here - and I pray so hard every day that these kids and teachers stay safe and stay in school for more than 3 weeks!!! 

Cora's 2nd grade teacher is Miss Butcher.  She's a new teacher, and I pray she can handle Cora!  hahah.  

Cora was excited for her first day, and looked beautiful.  As of now, she is being taken to school and picked up.  I unfortunately dropped the ball with signing her up for BTB.  We get SO many emails a week, that I accidentally missed the sign-up date and now we are on the "waiting list". Big bummer, but hopefully she can get in just so she has that atmosphere, as we think it's good for her.  

 

She, too, had a good day...  When I picked her up, she looked exhausted, and thrilled that I was there.  I was worried, but thinking she was just overwhelmed and tired!  She did great, and I hope the remainder of the days are great too!

Kayson - First day of 6th Grade

Tuesday, August 25

We have a 6th grader!!!  He's in middle school now... and man, that tears at my heartstrings.  Kayson now rides the bus to the middle school (South Middle).  He get picked up fairly early (about 7:15) and then dropped off at home around 3:25.  I pray he does well... is respectful...  kind to others... and has fun. 

K looked handsome, yet tired, I thought!!  Go get 'em Kayson!!!

His day went well... he talked my ear off when he arrived home, which was awesome.  He said he did get lost once, but said it was fine.  That broke my heart a little...  such a big school, a big change!  

Overall, he enjoyed it, and said he liked his teachers. 

Open Houses & Weekend

Friday night was Open House night for the kids.  
Cora - easy peasy, but super odd...  no staff was at the school, so we couldn't really MEET her teacher.  But we were able to tour the room, and put away her school supplies. She's all set and organized...  

Kayson had his open house night too... and it was OVERWHELMING for this Mom.  We walked in, and right away, I felt anxious...  I know it's not about me, but man - it just seemed like a lot.  Especially with no teachers there to 'help' or really talk to.  We just roamed, found his 'pod' (Silver), and attempted to walk his schedule.  It was a little 'all over the place', trying to find the stairs to go down (or up), and just talking through it all.  I know he will do great, and it'll be easy for him by day 2, but at that moment - it was a lot. 

After that...  Cora went and spent the night with Hope and Logan!  I was originally going to stay too, but I got her talked into just doing it by herself.  And she did... they had a quick night, ice cream and watched a little movie, but she slept well.  I was proud of her!!!  

Then Saturday morning Ryan worked all morning, Kayson and I hung out a little, then Hope, Cora and Tricia came, and we had a girls morning/lunch!  We got our nails done (Cora & Trish - toes, Hope & me - fingers), and it was so nice!  I never do that... and it was fun.  We grabbed lunch, then they headed home.  It was a nice little break with them.  

Laundry was done all afternoon... Ryan and K watched Duke play ball.  Then Saturday late afternoon, we went to Klehn's - Tiff is turning 40, so John threw a party for her... and it was great.  We sat outside, kids played in the dunk tank, played hoops... adults just sat around and talked.  It was fun little night. 

Sunday - church, and a lazy afternoon.  I did some organizing, and cleaning... but otherwise, pretty lazy and it was great.  

Kids start school Tuesday!!  I'm going to work a little tomorrow, and try to keep them busy.  We may hit the pool one last time.  

Good weekend!

Cora's 8th birthday!

Late posting!!! Yikes.

Cora turned 8 on Thursday, August 20... and she was excited!!!  She even said she had a hard time falling asleep Wednesday night!  

We started the day with just hanging out... I did have to work in the morning, but it was a nice morning for her.  We opened gifts, she was surprised with a "Happy Birthday" sign outside (so that was fun), and we just 'loved on her'.  She was so happy. 

That afternoon we went to the pool...  beautiful day for a birthday I kept telling her.  The kids did pretty well together, but honestly - they are kind of bored with each other.  I feel them.  It's been a LONG 5 months together...  and they tried hard to be kind to each other on her birthday...  they struggled.  ha.  Ryan did leave work a little early and came to the pool for a bit.  That night we ordered pizza, then we had a car parade for Cora!!  That's the one thing she wanted...  her friends to drive by and honk and wish her a happy birthday... and that's exactly what they did.  She enjoyed it... and even got gifts, which was not necessary.  

I meant to take pictures... and totally didn't, because I was talking with the drivers!  ha.  It was fun.  Colby and Rachel stopped... Hope and Logan... and Niky and Scott too... so we were able to chat with them at the end.  Super nice of them. 

Cora had a great day...  I'll update her stats in a few weeks, but I feel she's grown a ton!!!

Clothes - size 8/10... mostly 8 (still rocking that long torso, so shirts are a challenge sometimes!)

Shoes - size 1 mostly, she does have a 2.5, which is big, but brands are so different!

Loves makeup

Loves dance

Loves iPad/YouTube/TikTok

Weekend

It was our first weekend with no baseball in nearly 3 months.  And we were bored.  ha. 

Friday afternoon I took the kids to the pool... they were so bored!!!  That night we just hung out...  Saturday we slept in, and again, were bored.  I didn't need to clean, I did some laundry, and that's about it.  Pretty lazy!  Kayson had a birthday party to go to, so I know he enjoyed that.  Then Saturday night Ryan and I met some of the baseball parents out for a drink and appetizers (guess we couldn't go a full week without see them!)  That was nice...  We ended up leaving the kids at home, which was nice.  They did well, but I know Kayson was a little antsy.  I found that funny because he acts like he's all 'responsible' and it's no big deal to be home...  but he did ok with Cora, but he wasn't fond of doing that for a full 2 hours.  ha. 

We then stopped over at Showalter's to see them.  We hadn't seen them in several months...  

And then Sunday we went to church!!  Update on that...  Pastor Loren has left us, super disappointing and abrupt for us.  But we luckily have found a young interim to fill in and hopefully start something great with our little church.  Pastor Gray seems great...  very nice man, and full of energy.  I just pray everything goes well and we can get our church back to 'normal' (whatever that is), and get the kids involved again.  I sure do miss that Sunday routine. 

Then Sunday afternoon, Kayson had basketball tryouts with Waukee Warriors.  Man, I prayed that he did well, and those coaches know he's a good kid and coachable... and he'll be chosen.  More to come on that.  

Then Sunday night we took the kids down to Creston.  They are spending a couple days with Ryan's folks and Landry and Tate.  I hope they have a good time, and behave.  

That's all I have...  

Boomer... about 9 months old

Thank you Hope!

Thank you to Hope for taking care of my kids for a good portion of the summer!  It was great having her here - living here too for a bit!  We enjoyed it.

The kids went to the pool with Hope (thank goodness it was open!), Hope hauled them quite a bit for me at the beginning of the summer with some of their activities (which was a huge help!).  They played games a lot...  did puzzles...  Cora made her dance!... and they giggled a lot.  The kids were big brats a lot of the time... which was super frustrating & embarrassing, BUT they fought through and Hope definitely got a taste of how things are sometimes here! 

The kids love their cousin, and we appreciate all she did!!!

State Baseball Tournament (#10)

As of today at about noonish, our baseball season is over.  Man, I was sad (still am!)

Friday, we started our first day of state baseball, at Cownie complex.  We had a terrible day.  No wins that day... we struggled and it was just so disappointing.  We KNOW those boys could have won!!  

Friday afternoon after the losses, we got together with the team at Parker's, and man we had a good time.  They hosted in their awesome backyard, the kids played, the adults talked and drank most of the night.  We had such a good time... such good people. 

Saturday was a new day!!  We got one solid win out of the day, but that was it...  Again, so sad.  We just wanted those boys to win and have fun, and they were bummed.  

Saturday night, again - a little get together with another baseball family...  (Are we ever home!?!?)

And today - the last day of tournament/baseball.  Again, we sure we hoping for a big turn-around with some wins, etc... but unfortunately we were done after the first game.  And I cried.  ha.  I can giggle about it now, but man, it made me sad...  we've had such a weird season with COVID and social distancing and starting baseball late and then PILING the games on every single weekend.  It's a lot - it was overwhelming at first - it was fun - it was tiring.  But it was so rewarding too... seeing those kids play, seeing them have fun (when we won!!) and just spending time with those families. 

I'm proud of Kayson.  He's improved - did so well at 2nd base, which is fun.  This winter, we already have on the list to work on some strength stuff, and hopefully that'll help even more.