…summer is over and school has begun. Abigail is in kindergarten full-day (and her teacher is going to be amazingly perfect for her) and Joseph is in fifth grade (which is the last grade of elementary school). I was doing the math and realized that this will be the last year that they are ever in the same school. I’m really going to savor that aspect. They had a great first week back! As for Paul and myself, we kept busy with our typical daily tasks…and celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! We went to lunch while the kids were at school and then Paul cooked a really delicious dinner for us all. It simultaneously feels like an eyeblink and forever. I’m so grateful for him, for the family we’ve created, and for the life we’ve built. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else! It’s hard to believe that we’re headed into the last week of August and that September is right around the corner.
A note Abigail’s teacher gave to her at Meet the Teacher and instructed that she don’t open until the night before school.The magic confetti. Funny story: Abigail made me gather it up on Monday morning and put it in a plastic bag. She then proceeded to ask me to re-sprinkle them every night. She forgot on Thursday night, and I didn’t bring it up. 😉All ready for the first day!Kidless for the first time in some time! The silence was a little bit strange at first. I even panicked a couple different times when I couldn’t find Abigail (once at the grocery store and then once as I was doing some things around the house) before I remembered where she was. It didn’t take long to get used to, though! 😉Wearing her awesome “First Day of Kindergarten Hat”My big fifth grader!His teacher sent me this picture. I was grateful for it because he said he was fine walking down to his class on his own. :'( 🙂The first day of school she wanted me to walk her in, but after that, she told me she wanted Joseph to do it. I couldn’t help but snap this picture when I saw them walking away like this. A bit of my heart goes with them every day!School being back in session means waiting for the kids to get out…and getting to see beautiful Texas skies.
Bonus Video: I got Paul a meat slicer as an anniversary present. He used it to cut some meat really thin so that he could put it in his smoker and make beef jerky.The result. It was quite tasty!Abigail’s teacher let her bring home one of the classroom stuffed animals for a sleepover. I glanced over and saw this and thought it was pretty cute.Our anniversary dinner! Salmon, lobster tail (Paul and I split one), corn on the cob, and potatoes…all cooked in the smoker!Another gorgeous Texas sky. This time, it was a pretty sunrise.My pumpkin plant! I was super excited to see a blossom on it! I think it’s grown even more since I took this picture. I’ll probably post another picture next week.Joseph’s class was learning about the scientific method by using jelly beans. Joseph ended up with a puke-flavored one (poor kid). Luckily, since he used the scientific method to formulate a hypothesis that it might be puke-flavored (it was luck of the draw…some kids got good ones and some got gross ones) by smelling it first, he only took the teeniest bite to determine whether or not his hypothesis was correct. He also had his water close by to wash it down, haha.
This past week had a pretty typical start to it, but I wanted to squeeze in one more fun thing with the kids before school starts on Monday. We drove downtown to Hemisfair Park to play and then walked over to the Tower of the Americas, which is the tallest building in San Antonio. We went all the way up to the top observation deck, which is 579 feet up. The building itself (if you count the antenna on the roof, which makes it kind of look like the Space Needle in Seattle) is 750 feet tall. As we were riding up and down the elevator, we had to keep popping our ears. We also got to see a short movie about Texas, but it was 4D; meaning that it was a 3D movie but the chairs moved and we were even spritzed by water and air during parts of it. The kids liked most of the movie, but there were parts that startled them (especially Abigail). Namely when the rattlesnake and the crocodile jumped out at them. Abigail would yell, rip her 3D glasses off, watch for a bit, then decide she needed to put them back on, but would yell and rip them right back off if something startled her. It was a bit hard explaining to her that it was a special effect and not actually jumping off the screen at her. I probably should have explained more before the movie started…whoops! After we got home from our field trip, we came home, relaxed for a bit, and then headed to the school for Meet the Teacher night. Both the kids have really great teachers, so it should be a great year! It’s hard to believe that in two days they’ll be headed back to school!
I spotted a teeny tiny anole! I really zoomed in to get a clear picture of him.She wanted a picture with Daddy before he left for a meeting.While Paul was at a meeting, I took the kids for frozen yogurt.We got a bit of rain right at the beginning of the week and it made our pumpkin plant have a growth spurt!Rope course at Hemisfair Park.This was a fun contraption. It was tilted in a way that if the kids sat in it and started spinning, their weight would keep them going.I wish I could convey better just how fast Abigail got going…but her hair should be an indicator.This mosaic panther was really cool.Abigail wanted to get up onto it in the worst way, but it was sooooo hot. I promised them we would come back to the park after it got cooler.A view of downtown from the observation deck of the Tower of the Americas.I found the Alamodome (and teeny-tiny cars).Looking through the telescope.It was fun to see things up close.We did NOT get our fortunes told, but I had to get a picture of this. It’s just like the one in the old Tom Hanks movie, “BIG”.Getting ready for the movie.You can tell that Joseph is enjoying it and Abigail is…not so sure, haha.She was playing with some toy animals (complete with dialogue), but kept hiccuping. I heard her sigh and then say, “These hiccups are messing up my words!”The absolute only time she’s ever still…and I love sneaking peeks at her.I came out of Joseph’s room (we did a huge purge and really got his room organized) and was met with this, haha. She found his old costume that he put in the dress-up bin and Paul helped her roll up the legs.We found this Zero plush at Lowe’s and decided he needed to come home with us. I’m letting Abigail get one day in with him before I tuck him away with the Halloween decorations. It’s hard to believe we’re almost at that time of year!
This past week the kids had their last week of swim lessons. Neither of them had any experience swimming prior to these lessons and they both progressed a ton. Abigail even got to the point where she didn’t want to leave the pool at the end of her lesson (when she started, it was reversed) and Joseph finished strong with swimming across the pool unassisted. We’re super proud of them! I didn’t get many pictures this week, but I do have some videos to share to make up for it. 🙂
Abigail has been having some concerns with the possibility of having bad dreams, so we made a dream jar. She suggested different prompts for good dreams, which I wrote down and then put into the jar.The idea is that she gets to draw ONE idea every night (what was happening before was a bit tough on me: she would ask me to come up with a bunch of different ideas, which she would veto, and then she’d also come up with a ton of other stalling tactics). It was a bit rough the first night, but we hit our groove when we added that she could leave her door open and listen to (not watch) a specific episode of Baby Einstein (the lullaby episode) to let her fall asleep to. Our pumpkin experiment is growing!Abigail got a play camping set (campfire, logs, marshmallows and roasting sticks, graham crackers, and chocolate) a little bit ago and Paul decided to take it up a notch. He added the tent, a sleeping bag, and the camping chairs. 😁Checking out the tent.
Abigail swimming with the kickboard.
Abigail swimming on her own with a bit of help from her teacher.
Joseph swimming one way with the kickboard and then the other way on his own.
