First Day of School 2022

 There is something magical and nerve wracking  about the first day of school. Everyone woke up eager and nervous. Teeth and hair were brushed, lunches packed, prayers said and off they went.

Matthew, the first grader. He has Miss Stratton this year and has a lot of friends in his class he didn’t have last year. In case you were wondering why he is wearing a coat when the forecast I supposed to be 102 degrees: it’s so when the girls chase him and catch him, he can slip out of their grasp easily. 

What a stud!

William, the third grader! William has Mrs. Robertson. He was very nervous for school since his teacher was new to the school, so out of the three it was the only one he didn’t know! More so, this is his first year since preschool that he didn’t have his best friend, Luke, in his class. (He only vaguely knew one boy in his class this year!) 

William and Baby-mode (knees in his shirt.) All. The. Time.

Johnny. The man. The myth. The Legend. The SIXTH grader! His last year in elementary! 🥺😭. Johnny has Cate’s old teacher, Mr. Finnegan. He is so excited. Also for the first time he is with his best friend Max, among other good friends. He was more excited than I can ever remember going to school the first day.

Goodness I love him. His favorite teacher is the librarian, and every year he makes a stop first thing to tell her hello!

Cate the Great, starting year eight! Her final year of middle school. Her first day was technically next day, but because she is in Leadership, she got to help out with orientation for the seventh graders at Mcloughlin. 

Goodness, if I could just hug a picture!! I love these four!

Per tradition, I promised Johnny we could walk to school. We drove a few blocks away and enjoyed the beautiful crisp morning. As I trailed behind these three, I realized this was the last year I would have all three of my boys at the same school! I felt so grateful the school district is waiting until next year to move sixth grade to the middle school. I love having these three together.

Johnny took off as soon as we got to the school, but William and Matthew wanted me to walk them to their classroom. They each got their teachers a plant and treat for the first day.

Dropping off the little boys ended up being much more dramatic for my mama’s heart than I anticipated. William was in a nervous daze as he entered his classroom. He couldn’t find his chair and I watched his eyes panic as he read all the name tags, not recognizing any names! He sunk into his chair and just looked at his desk, not sure what to do. (Spoiler: everything turned out fine, but it was not an easy visual to walk away from.) Matthew insisted he wasn’t nervous, besides; he’s not a kinder anymore! He marched into his classroom, followed directions and found his cubby. As he clearly didn’t need me, I turned away and then thought—“I’m going to snag a quick picture to send to John.” 

Here is what I found when I turned back toward the classroom:

His head was buried in his hands. I walked back in and asked if he needed a hug. He nodded “yes.”  I asked if he was OK, and he answered with flushed cheeks and watery eyes, “I didn’t know I was going to miss you so much.” And instead of melting into a puddle of tears right then and there I put on my brave mom face and said, “You’re not going to miss me! You are going to have so much fun today and before you know it, I’ll come pick you up and we’ll have cookies after school together! How does that sound?” He smiled shyly and said it sounded good, gave me a hug. 

Then I left.

And held my hormonal pregnancy tears in until made it to my car, and absolutely cried the whole way home. There was something so lonely about walking into an empty home after the often chaotic, messy, and crowded home of Summer. I called John to ask how Cate’s drop off went and he said it was fine, and she talked a lot but he wasn’t paying attention (ha!) and she said some jokes he didn’t laugh at and she responded with “OK, I guess I’m not using that one on my friends.” And I thought about how nice it must be to be John and not neurotic and an emotional mess over basically nothing. 😂

I ate away my feelings then got to work on some organizing projects that have been on my list, and prepping dinner and cookies for after school.

The boys all had the best day. Everyone loves their teachers and it was an afternoon of fielding three conversations simultaneously. It was such a happy feeling. After my worried morning, I was so grateful to see what a great year this is going to be for all of them. 

We filled out all the back to school paper work (ew.) and the kids played with friends until it was time to pick Cate up from Cross Country.

I went to bed that night exhausted, grateful, and happy. Despite the bold declaration that time is indeed passing, I sure love the first day of school with its new school shoes and fresh school supplies. The routine of fall is a familiarity I fell asleep looking forward to.

Cate’s official first day of school!

The boys’ second day of school!

(William’s peace sign, Johnny’s “Hi best friend!” Shirt he had custom made because that is his motto, and Matthew’s that’s-how-I-smile-mom face. Love them.

Cate’s third day of school.

MMA Morning Wake up Call

Excuse the following series of blurry, abstract photographs. They represent an attempt in capturing what I endure every morning as consequence of both sharing a bed with my husband and giving birth to three boys.  One by one those boys make their way to our bedroom, and give us a play by play of how their last night's sleep went. Johnny is typically chipper and usually let's us know he's been awake at least three hours already (usually not true.) William is always pretty proud of himself and happy that the sleeping portion of his 24 hour routine is now completed, "I 'WAKE!" He'll then curl up in a ball next to me so I can hug him and rub his back.  Matthew is a bit of a wild card. Sometimes he comes bolting into our bedroom all squeals and excitement, other days he is pretty livid with the world and just yells "Nooooooo!" while gathering his bearings.  No matter Matthew's mood, his requests are typically the same: that he weasel his way between John and me, and that I go warm up some milk for him.  While I am away serving that two foot tall tyrant, he excitedly arranges his blankie around him and nuzzles into dad. He'll then take a deep breath of anticipation as if he is saying, "All systems go! Momma, bring me my milk!" Then, I'm pretty sure fireworks go off around him spelling, "Youngest Child Right Here!"
These mornings are all fine and dandy for the brief moments that the five of us peacefuly enjoy each other's company.  There is chatter and joking and cuddling...then IT happens.  What is IT, you ask?
The wrestling. The crawling. The throwing. The growling. The swinging. The clamoring. The hitting. The pulling. The pushing. The creeping. The jumping. The landing. The legs in the air.
Our bed quickly transforms to a wrestling arena.
What was once a cheerful, quiet morning turns into a mixed martial arts display of their mother's nightmare and their dad's dream come true. They're animals. And their father relishes in it. To be fair, I do find it rather endearing in the early stages of their morning wrestling match, it just escalates so quickly!
Cue the pictures:

Today as I watched their brawl, introspective thoughts cascaded my mind. First, what a great dad. I am so grateful they have these moments with him every day.  Second, I have THREE boys; three dirty, mischievous, tender-hearted boys. Third, in ten years, I will have three TEENAGE boys; I will have stinky, hungry, taller-than-me boys, that probably won't want to cuddle and tell me all about the best and worst parts of their day. They will probably just want pizza rolls and more Axe Body Spray or something like that.
I guess I don't really know.
What I do know is that this phase of little blond boys clamoring for their mama's attention has an expiration, and it is quickly creeping upon me. I am excited for their lives ahead of them, those boys have magnificant spirits. It is my role as their mother to stengthen them for the mountains they will be called to move.  This morning, my heart swelled with gratitude that I get to be a nurturing influence on their journey.
Then I got kicked in the face, and everyone got kicked out of the bed.  The get-ready-fast-because-we're-going-to-be-late-again morning routine throttled into high gear.
I thank God for the moment of perspective that inspired me to squeeze my boys a little tighter, and laugh with them over something silly a little longer.  I am grateful for the realization as we knelt down for morning prayer, that no matter what lies ahead; I am not alone in my work and God is watching over His boys.

Bath Time

They are going to love me for posting this someday.

(Matthew's face!!)

I know, this post is probably entirely inappropriate, BUT I love bath time. In the summer the water literally turns a brownish color and we have to empty out the water and refill the tub. I feel like I can judge how much fun they had during the day based on how dirty they are! They get to scrub their tan arms and their white back-sides and they see how much water they can get out of the bath tub "accidently." They play with motorcycles and slide their little bums back and forth on the bottom of slippery bath tub. Their favorite part is when I wash their feet, because I kind of massage the soap into their foot. I'll do the first foot, drop it in the water, then they'll raise their second foot and afterwards, I'll plop it in the water, then suddenly Johnny has a third foot, then a fourth...until I'm like "What the heck!? Are you an octopus!?" And he thinks he is the funniest person ever and he can't stop laughing.

When all is said and done and their shivering little bodies are wrapped in towels and they smell like lavendar baby shampoo I decide it's time to bribe them with story time so they will cuddle with me.

Packin' Dem Cheeks and Stackin' Dem Blocks

 There are few things I enjoy  more than eating....babies are one of those things, so maybe that contributes to my obsession with watching babies eat.  It is just so cute! The chunky risks, the clumsy fine motor skills, the excitement and engaging conversation...I just love it.

Matthew basically hates baby food, I think it is too liquid-y for him, if I add green beans to puried squash, he seems to like that, basically I think he needs to feel that he's actually eating something. I don't think he'll be much of a "soup person." Not to mention, he likes feeding himself over being fed.

So, excuse the loooong video, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut it down because I find every second so darn entertaining from the urgent grasps at an orange slice (despite having seriously three already packed in his cheeks), to imitating my words, to the little giggles and snorts at the end. His mom can't get enough of this video.

However, I recognize, not all of you are his mother...so here is the reader's digest version:

Did I mention, this boy SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!? Hallelujah!

Bless him. And please let it be a new "thing"...not counting on it, haha.

After we scrubbed those sticky arms and cheeks, we headed over to play blocks in Caity's room with the boys. (Yeah, we need to clean up our mess before she gets home or else we'll be in big trouble, haha)

Also, can I just point out Superman shirt is going on day 7!? I have him change when we go into public so people at least think I don't let my kids wear the same dirty clothes every day, but as soon as we get home, off goes the polo shirt, on goes Superman.

Johnny was pretty proud of this tower.

I love watching these three!

Matthew is obsessed with William. William has been into coloring lately and is getting better at recognizing "lines" on the coloring page. He is so methodical and still while he colors and it gives me a chance just to watch and enjoy him.

Matthew's reaction when William left the room. It stopped as soon as he came back!

And seriously: this concentration face? 

And later, they moved on to legos.

So I was trying to get Johnny to show us around the house he made out blocks....fail. Then I tried to get him to describe the special powers his shirt has...also fail. However, I love watching Matthew squirm around!

Kickin' it on a Monday Afternoon

Today as soon as we got home from Caity's school, we all changed into short-sleeved shirts and shorts. It was 76 degrees today!
Despite the darling polos and cargo shorts in Johnny's possession, he rotates between the same three shirts every day: his truck shirt, his Cars shirt, and his basketball shirt; always paired with athletic shorts.  William didn't quite fit into Johnny's hand-me-downs we pulled down earlier, so I particularly enjoyed watching his little toddler belly bounce after his older siblings. Caity came out of her room after she changed and exclaimed, "Free! Free at last!"
We broke out some capri-suns we have been saving for such an occasion and unanimously decided a game of soccer was in order.
Caity naturally ran inside to grab supplies to make a score board and a notebook to make sure every knew all the rules.  On her way to the sliding door, she hollered back, "Johnny! You'll be a goalie- it is so fun, I promise!" So fun that she opted to coerce her brother to be it as opposed to herself- haha. Perks of being the oldest, I suppose. :)
Johnny ran up to me out of breath and said, "I better go get my boots!" And he did. Because if you're going to play backyard soccer, you might as well go all in- in cowboy boots.
Caity's organizing took too long for her little brothers' attention spans so they decided to go ahead and warm up while they waited.
It started with William sitting on the side of the deck, clapping for Johnny every time he kicked it through the two Easter basket goal posts. (After each time Johnny informing him it was time to clap, of course.) But also making sure to say "Uh-oh" and looking concerned every time Johnny missed the ball and fell Charlie Brown style on his back.
Then, Johnny said, "Come on, brother! Let's play soccer you stinker dill pill!"

And they were off.

These two playing together is one of my happy places.