Back to School for Four Days.

We had the last few days of summer, and then school started Thursday. To keep busy during the final days of summer, I introduced the girls to a game of my childhood. Stickball. Okay, maybe I'm not THAT old, but we did play "Guess Who".

I haven't played this game for quite some time, but I do remember thinking I needed to ask tons of questions in order to narrow down the card that the other player had. Now I realize that you can pretty much get there in four questions--gender, hair color, hat/no hat, and glasses/no glasses. 

But my kids have definitely NOT figured that out yet. They ask the worst questions. June will look at the picture of ONE possibility, see that their names has an "L" somewhere in it and ask, "Does your person have an "L" as the second letter in their name?" And when you say no, she puts down that ONE card. Painful.

Gwen repeats the same questions over and over. I believe I was asked if my person had a "moo-stache" three times in a row during one especially hot game.

But I can't beat them too easily. I always have Harris on my team, and he loves to knock down as many people as he can, set them back up, and do it again. So I get to memorize who is really up versus down, and my 4-kid mom brain can barely keep up with it.

A bunch of detectives, my kids.

We had a Back to School Feast. I had planned to do an amazing dinner, but we had so many leftovers in our fridge, I just couldn't justify it. So we ate boring leftovers, but presented the girls with a scripture theme for the year, as well as a small present to wear every day.

The theme:

Dan and I thought and prayed about this and felt that our family could make some really huge changes by doing some small things. So we are hoping to focus on that this year, teaching the kids how a small amount of preparation can lead to more successful days. The first thing we want to focus on is listening better. That's something we all really need to work on.

And a present:

The girls and Dan and I each received a heart necklace, so we are all connected throughout the day. Dan is going to hang his on the rearview mirror of his car, and I will probably have to do the same since it fits like a choker on my neck.

The night before school, I had the girls make their own lunches. I've tried this before and have failed miserably. This year is going better because of two combined factors--1. I made all of the sandwiches beforehand, and 2. My expectations have lowered significantly.

On Labor Day, I spent some time making several loaves' worth of sandwiches, slicing them diagonally, wrapping them in foil, and storing them in ziplock freezer bags. So now when the girls "make" their lunch, they grab one of the frozen sandwiches, and then they really only have to throw things into their compartments, and then they are good to go.

They also need a snack every day and can pack that in these handy dandy reusable snack bags I bought.

The First Day of School!!!

The most anticipated day in Gwen's little life finally came, and she got to start school.

I think it was a bit of a disappointment to her because she said she didn't make any friends the first day. I think she expected to run around on the playground all day and then made the realization we all arrive at eventually--school involves a lot of sitting.

Don't get me wrong--my girls both seem to like school. But Gwen especially is not the world's best sit-ter. And she told me she will start getting homework soon. Kindergarten homework has got to be against the law.

Of course, we had to reenact the photo from Dan's childhood when his older brother left him behind for school:

And here's the one from last year again (which was unintentional but inspired us to make this reenactment a "thing"):

Can you believe how much my girls have changed?

And the glorious backpack and lunchbox choices. Gwen went with a rainbow unicorn motif, but not to be outdone, June went with a rainbow heart FLIP SEQUIN motif.

I feel like such a chump when I buy stuff like that. Like the Claire's Icing store just barfed all over my living room.

Harris wanted to be included with the cute doggie backpack I bought to carry his diapers and wipes that we take to the gym when I work out. He loves the backpack and has yet to actually wear it once. That's what I'm for, I guess.

We walked over with some friends, and I showed the girls where to get in line for their classes. Some boys in June's class were obviously BFFs who were reunited after a long summer. They bro-hugged, and then their moms stepped into take a picture of the two of them, arms around each others' shoulders.

June, not to be excluded, marched right up, put her arm around a shoulder and smiled for the picture just in time. June, the unintentional photobomber.

The first two days went well. By well, I mean yes, I picked them up late both days and apparently I bought June the wrong folders and I had two out-of-control screaming boys in a stroller when I finally got to pick up on Friday, but yes--I'd say that's pretty well.

I kinda set out this year to fool everyone into thinking I've got the four kid thing down, but nobody has been fooled. I feel like a mess of a mom, but everyone has been patient.

Luckily, we only had two days of school and then the weekend. The weather was perfect, so Dan biked and pulled a trailer full of kiddos over to the park while I drove Beck and me.

We got there by 7 AM. We are early risers. The kids rode bikes, and I took another turn on Dan's bike. I'm getting better. I'm learning how to start turning earlier so I don't crash into inconvenient things like curbs and fences and huge playgrounds. Dan wants me to try pulling the kids into the trailer soon, but I am not quite ready.

I often joke that Dan is Captain Forced Fun. I think every dad probably is, and I get such a kick out of it. Gwen climbed to the top of this spiderweb thing with a little help and coaching, but June was ready to quit. But Captain Forced Fun (CFF for short) stepped in and forced that girl to achieve. And you know what? She was glad.

And Saturday afternoon, we went to Hanover Township Day, a little festival our town has every year.

They had free food, which pleased me greatly. I had corn on the cob that changed my life. It was the most perfect texture, the most perfect amount of the most perfectly-flavored butter. It was sweet, but not too sweet. I'm a new person. All things in my life shall now be placed in time in relation to the perfect corn on the cob I had at Hanover Township Day 2019. There have been events Before The Corn, and there will be many After The Corn. The moment I ate the corn shall just be The Corn.

(There is no picture of the corn. No picture shall do it justice. Also, I ate it faster than the speed of light, so no picture would register.)

Besides The Corn, the girls did some science experiment thingies, and we walked around and did some other fun stuff.

And here's Gwen holding Beck after baths one day. 

To continue my reputation of being the on top of it mom that I am, we are ditching school for the next six days and going to Florida. Yes, I know I am probably known as "that mom" up at the school, and I totally deserve it.

The End.