September in a Nutshell...

It would need to be a very large nutshell to contain everything that has been happening around here!  But here goes.
Ben: Started another year of Seattle Children's Chorus: Brio choir.  Started another round of Level 5 swimming lessons.  Breaststroke is his nemesis.  But he's vowing to get it this time so he can be done with Level 5.  Went to Stake Primary Family Dance with mom.  Watched her dance with that "you look ridiculous" face.  Ran around with friends and ate cookies.  Loved having dad come as Officer Norton to Cub Scouts, but said, "I don't need to write a thank you note--I'll just tell him thanks!"

Ben at Stake Primary Family Dance with mom.

Ben in handcuffs in the back of the patrol car.  

Sarah:  Started another year with Seattle Children's Chorus: Intermezzo.  Started Ballet 1/2 and Jazz 1/2.  Started her patrol job at school--starts daily at 8:40 am.  Applying for Executive Committee.  Fingers crossed that she'll get in.  Auditioned for the Nutcracker at ADS.  Got 2 parts.  Jester and one of the two maids.  Super excited!  Loving spending time with friends at school and outside of school (TWEEN NIGHT!)

Shoreline Rec Tween Night was hopping! 

Sarah rocked the Move-A-Thon dance floor! 

Libby: Started the next level of Seattle Children's Chorus:  Arioso.  Started dance:  Ballet 1/2 and Acro.  Enjoying Cross Country--most days.  Enjoying Middle School.  Most days.  She did quite well in her first two races.  She placed 16th with a 16:27 time in her first race.  In her second race she placed 28th with a 16:24 time.  She was disappointed that she didn't shave 2 minutes off her time.  She has a little to learn about running.  She got new glasses that she picked, and then decided she hates.  Learned that she wouldn't be getting smart phone.  Refused the flip phone.  Would rather keep her Gizmo Gadget. 

Our little runner!  

Trish:  Feels like she is running but should be sprinting.  With a cold.  And now a headache (again).  But actually proud that she has been able to up her running to 3 and 4 miles.  But now that the headache is back, might need to dial back.  With the help of an awesome committee, put on a successful Sip-and-Paint activity at church.  Student Council elections season has started.  Got our school Move-A-Thon ready to happen on Friday--(sadly we had to move indoors after the hail and pouring rain that we started out in did not let up)--and now the fun of doling out prizes, etc. 5th grade camp coming in 2 weeks.  Last week we did 4 hours of counselor interviews.  Did I mention there is also teaching going on here?  Don't worry though, negotiating for times with our Christmas picture photographer and purchasing Halloween costumes while sitting in a staff meeting where people are debating about whether or not we should celebrate Halloween at school.  Working on Sarah's photobook, so reading the blog more than posting on it.  Gave 2 curriculum night presentations.  Attended 2 live podcast events, "Happier Hour," and CRIMINAL.   Went out to dinner with a bunch of Derek's cop friends.  And it seemed like a good idea to head to UT for a weekend for a Husky Home game?  Ridiculous. I don't have time to socialize. (But actually it was all really fun!)  Yesterday helped put on a baby shower and attended a funeral.  Recognizing the full circle of life. And thankfully my cold is abating.

 Derek: Worked many Mariner's games, attended many Husky games (home and away), and picked up some of the slack at home.  (Made many dinners, even folded some laundry, drove kids around, etc.)  Starting to think about the upcoming wrestling season (did he ever stop thinking about it?)

Huge thanks to Maren and Clark and Grammy and Grandpa, without whom our kids would never have gotten everywhere they needed to go this month! 

So yeah, it was a bit of a blur.  So much to be thankful for...maybe a little too much 😉

Office Update

I have been dying to redo my office.  In fact, I've been looking for a desk since we moved into this house in 2013. It's just been a hodge podge. I finally decided to just at least find a printer stand, since I was using an IKEA TV tray. (This is not a true "before" pic, because I had already built the new printer stand--seriously, I am a before pic failure--but you can see the old red desk and everything crammed into the front corner of the room.

Derek and I went to Office Depot and found this instead...

I was worried about putting the computer in this spot--and I kid you not almost put it in a terrible place so that the sun wouldn't be in the eyes of the person working on the computer.  It was only the next day when I woke up that I thought--CURTAINS!  Yes, they make these things that block sun if needed.  Duh. (Thanks Amazon Prime for getting them here in 2 days.) Anyway, this isn't really an AFTER photo.  Maybe next summer--wallpaper peel, new carpet, etc.  But for this school year, this is my new office.  So exciting!

First Day of 2019-2020 School Year

Ready or not, here we go!  Here is my door for the year.  Let's take some risks!  Get out there!  Go out on a limb.  Play!  I am going to have to keep reminding myself of this throughout the year.  

So crazy that Libby is in Middle School.  I am struggling a bit with letting go...But I have to trust that she will manage her academic life without  me right there.  And that she will make the bus every day.  Yikes.  Busses stress me out.  There is no wiggle room.  Gotta be on time!  She only has to leave a few minutes earlier than we left last year.  But still.  She had to run on Friday.  

Kind of fun that this was exactly 7 years after her first day of school.  Love that girl of mine!  Her biggest woes during the first week were that she got denied contacts at the eye doctor (who asked if she kept her room clean as a sign to see if she would care for her contacts...love that.  She couldn't say yes--so DENIED!) and that more of her friends got phones.  Now EVERYONE has a phone but her.  We are working on this.  She has written a contract that we are going to sit down with this week to negotiate the terms of her having a phone.  I don't really want this little girl to grow up! Cross Country starts this week!  

Sarah's first day of 5th grade.  She had a great day.  Loves her teacher.  She has made a new friend--a new move in to MP.  

Ben is excited about 3rd grade.  His teacher is "strict," he said.  That of course makes me happy!  I am a bit worried that they don't have snack.  He had a total meltdown on Thursday when his lunch box went missing (still hasn't turned up).  I made sure he got some food.  Poor guy.  

My new short hair for school.  I'm not sure I love it.  But it takes less time to dry it! 

The new banner we made with Student Council is up.  I went to school yesterday and saw a guy walking his dog stop and look at it for quite some time. It is pretty cool.  Hand drawn cheetahs by around 90 different MP students.  

Summer Six & Summaries

This summer I decided to have us each make 6 goals, our "Summer Six."  I suggested they each think of something they wanted to read, something they wanted to do every day, and then a few other goals.  It was fun to have something to work toward.  We revisited our goals in early August and made a few changes. 
The thing I was most proud of was Sarah learning to cook 10 things.  She really did it!
Ben was sad because he wasn't going to get a medal from swimming.  But then we got them for Volleyball!
We have written School Year Six too.  It is fun to see the kids working toward something (even if they need frequent reminders that they have something they are working on.) 
Some of the worst failures were my fault.  They all wanted more time with friends, but the coordination of that fell to me.  It was hard to make it happen.  I could have done better there.  But I did let them each take a friend to Wild Waves for a whole day.  So that counts as a few playdates, right?

To help reduce the amount of screen time they watched this summer, I made a rule that if they watched something, they had to write a summary.  They couldn't watch anything new until they had written a summary of the last screen time.  Epic.  They improved their summary writing so much, AND sometimes it even served as a deterrent.  I'll just go play because I don't want to write.  Perfect!
I should have scanned more of them in, because they were all so fun.  Especially when they got creative and wrote packing lists for Moana, or a list of reasons why a character accomplished their goals, etc.
Here are a couple of gems.  I wish I would have been more diligent in scanning them all in.

I want to keep this up for the school year...we shall see.  There is usually a lot less screen time because we just don't have time! 

Mom's First Week Back

I was really happy to be back at school this week.  My kids were also happy to have me back at school.  Each day I left them long lists of things to do, but in addition to jobs, I made sure that a bunch of them were fun.  For example, play a board game with your sibling, play outside, watch a musical and sing and dance along.  Unsurprisingly they had almost 100% completion of their lists.  (Our definitions of "clean room" do still differ, but for the most part when I came home, the house looked good.)

I am in a much better place than last year.  I don't have the "split or no split" problem hanging over my head.  I also have a great new teaching partner.  We are alike in lots of ways, but she has way more experience, so I'm learning a lot from her.  I am going to teach all the English Language Arts and Social Studies and she is going to teach the Science and Math.  It is a win win!  Kids will get to experience having 2 teachers (to prep them for middle school) and we each have 1/2 the prep.  There will be lots of coordinating because an elementary school schedule is so wonky.  But I am excited to make this happen.

In the evenings at home, we worked on building the furniture I went on a spree for last weekend.  It was a 3 paycheck month.  And you know when you start fixing up some things in your house, you notice just how shabby other things are getting?

Here is the red bench that I noted in March needed replacing.  It had gotten really bad.  (I think kids were flaking off the pleather every chance they got maybe?)  I finally got on the internet (after my store combing hadn't produced a new one).  Target clearance for the win!  

I have been searching for new barstools for a few years.  I finally abandoned the idea of trying to find sturdier ones like we had (swivel with a low back), and went for no back, no swivel.  Good colors though.  They brighten up the space. I can't find a before picture (sadly that hard drive meltdown continues to haunt me, and of course I quickly hauled them out before taking a picture this week.)  But trust me they were bad. The best part about these is that Derek encouraged Ben & Libby to try putting them together.  Ben got really into it.  It is, after all, a lot like putting together a lego set.  When I got home to help Ben (after meet the teacher & the BBQ) he said, "Watch and learn Mom."  I loved helping him.  

I also put together a new filing cabinet and a printer stand (minus the drawer that had two K and no L, so I couldn't finish.)  The missing part should come on Tuesday.  The desk to go with the set came yesterday.  It is tomorrow morning's project.

I am excited for a new office set up.  I have been looking for a new desk for 6 years (to replace the one we got for free when we got married 16 years ago.)  I guess that post will be for next week.  But I'm going to take some before pics now!