August is traditionally a month of transition. Transitioning from the depths of Summer Heat and out of control work sagas to the first day of school and all of the fun drama that goes along with that. This summer, I have to say was not as brutal as years past. I was grateful for that. Work was stressful, but manageable and I am to say the least... so glad it's over.
We celebrated summer with our Sunday School Class. This is only 1/5 of them. We have 28 kids in our class on a good day. And while this year has been challenging, it has also been so rewarding. I have learned a ton this year and will forever be grateful for the opportunity that I had to be a teacher of this unbelieveable curriculum.
My teaching partner, Sarah had an amazing hook up and reserved this super fun house in our neighborhood for our kids to have a Summer Blast. It was a total success. They had a great time. Ryker had the most fun and he is a fabulous wall climber. Thank you, Sarah for a great memory for all of us.... you are a spectacular person and I have enjoyed every minute of my friendship with you.
An underground tunnel
An ice blocking hill
A pool with a dunk tank
I had a little procedure in the first part of the month.
Since I met my deductible in May with my incredible emergency room visit, I thought.... why not take care of everything in my body that needs to be taken care of??? Every single part of my body from my brain down to my hips has been scoped and/or fixed. I have written proof that there isn't a part of me that isn't in the clear. (With the exception of my raging out of control blood platelets) that still continue to plague me. I had my one month follow up visit and the doctor walked in and said
"well....you don't look like someone with critically high platlet levels".
YIKES. You can't say things like that to me!
He doubled up my medication and we will see where that gets me.
Nevertheless, there is something to be said for knowing that every organ in my body is gorgeous and my body is in as good a condition as it can be for my age, which incidentally is OLD.
This is a wealth of knowledge for a life long hypochondriac.
I currently have THREE chronic illnesses that are totally manageable with medication that I will have to take for the rest of my life, but at least my liver and kidneys and heart and brain are plugging along nicely and doing their jobs.
I am blessed for sure and for certain.
I took a week off following my little procedure, mostly because I was quitting and I needed to use all of my vacation hours. I thought it would be a good idea to have a couple of days to recover and then use the rest of the week to just enjoy being with my family, getting everyone ready to go back to school...
I had the best week ever. I completely enjoyed it.
Peyton and KK and I had the BEST day one of the days ...
First, I took the girls to the Intermediate school. Peyton took Kaleigh all around the school teaching her how to get to her classes.
It was the cutest thing to watch them together.
They have a great friendship. Peyton's friends have totally embraced KK as one of their friend group and on her first day of 6th grade, her 3 best friends will be 7th graders.
How cool will she be?
We went to the mall and bought a new back pack for Peyton from Papa and Nana for her birthday.
We went to the health department and had 7th grade shots...
And she was as cool as a cucumber
When she was finished, we congratulated her for being brave, by going to Michaels,
so she could buy a sketch pad that she has been wanting for a very long time.
She is an amazing artist.
Then, we went to Back to School nights
Ryker was first.
He is in fifth grade this year.
Our last child in Elementary School
Kaleigh is in 6th grade this year
and it is her first year in Intermediate School
And Peyton is in 7th grade
Kylie and Lilah have been fun friends this summer
The first day of school could not have been more successful.
The girls woke up at 6:30 and were out the door by 6:53 walking to the bus.
I could tell KK was so nervous, but she hid it brilliantly from everyone else.
We braided her hair the night before and her hair looked big and fabulous.
Peyton was a cool chick 7th grader, who took really good care of her little sis.
She had a great first day. She is so awesome. Everybody likes her and she is NO drama.
And she doesn't give two bits about what she looks like
Ryker was SO excited to go to school
He is the last kid standing at the Elementary school.
He doesn't even mind riding his scooter to school by himself
While they were gone at school, I worked on some work stuff, since I am going to be passing the reins onto someone else next week, I want everthing to look clean and easy. The last thing I want to do is leave a mess to the poor person who is taking over for me. Even though, no matter what I do, it will be a mess.... NO ONE has a clue what I do and how much effort and emotion and stress it takes to pull this job off.
Someone, actually multiple someone's called me every single day of my "vacation" where I was supposed to be "recovering"... no one cared about that. Every single day, someone called me to say "how do I do this, or what do you want me to do about that, or can you help me with this, or what should I say to so and so about that." Please people, just let me staycation in peace!!
Peyton turned 13 in August...
She is so much fun. I really enjoy being with her.
She has a great sense of humor and she is respectful and helpful.
Her birthday was kind of a bummer.
With second day of school chaos and me being off my game because I was on vacation, we just didn't plan very well... but.... she did not notice because Raleigh bought her an iPhone12 and she wouldn't have cared if she fell into a pit of snakes as long as she had that phone.
She chose to go to Bishop's Diner for her birthday dinner...
Hahahahahahahahahahahahah, that is so her!!
She ate scrambled eggs and white toast for her birthday dinner and she was as happy as a clam.
SO easy to please
Papa and Nana saved her birthday and rented a campsite at Pine Valley and we went up on Saturday and celebrated up there. The weather was devine. Cool Temps. Thunder. A little bit of light rain. Just enough rain to mess up our hair. We ate great food. The scouts among us, started our fire with flint and steel because our fire starter was out of juice. That was so impressive. We managed to set up and take down two canopies with very little effort. I just loved the whole day. It was so fun
And a herd of cows just made themselves at home in our camp
They ate our ashes out of the BBQ and the fire pit
And we just let them because they were way bigger than us
and seemed a little unpredictable
My wonderful, beautiful friends decided if I was leaving Arcadia, they would too.
We have worked together for 4 years. They have been trusted and loyal sisters to me. They are the closest things to perfection I have ever known. We love all of them. My heart truly was breaking this day when we had to say good-bye. I cried. And they gave me beautiful flowers and took a picture with me that I will always treasure.
Every time I look at this picture, tears come out. I love these girls so much!!!
The young women stopped at our house and showered Raleigh with candy to say Thank You for going to camp with them and doing all the hard work to set up and tear down their campsite.
He loved going and helping them.
I am so glad he was there with our girls
My miracle tree continues to be more and more amazing every single year.
Raleigh trimmed it up and it makes me so happy to look out the window and see it waving in the breeze and getting rained on.
Any day now, I just know it will be cool enough to start working on the back yard again. We have so many plans but it is way too hot to execute any of them right now.
I have been so proud of Kaleigh. She has done amazingly well at school. She was SO terrified to move to the intermediate school. Because she internalizes her emotions, there was potential for her to really come unraveled. But the exact opposite has happened. Overcoming her extreme fears, has made her personality come out more. She is more talkative and animated and is a completely different girl than she was last month. She is fully addicted to Netflix Dramas like Riverdale and Vampire Diaries and she and her new friends chat wildly about them during free time in class or at lunch. She also picked out her own clothes this year and she looks SO darling everyday as she thoughtfully chooses every outfit.
Peyton, of course continues to be obsessed with BTS and Stranger Things. She has a million friends. She is growing a ton and learning so many new skills in her new calling. She is a natural born leader and it has been so good for her to know that she has to be an example for the other girls in dress and speech and actions. She is funny and fun. She continues to have NO CAVITIES and is two teeth falling out away from BRACES. Which is good because she needs them. I have a personal problem with putting braces on kids when they are too young to properly take care of their teeth. So, I make my kids wait to get their braces until 13-14... mangled teeth and all, until I think they can handle themselves. She'll be gorgeous.
Ryker is quite the little farmer obsessing over his watermelon plant several times a day. He will be the saddest kid if he doesn't produce fruit. I hope for his self confidence, that plant grows a melon or he will consider it a personal failure. His teacher loves him and says he is so obedient and such a pleasure to have in class. He is spectacular at math and has gorgeous handwriting. He has a very strong testimony and an innate desire to always do what is right in every situation.
Raleigh's job is going amazingly well. He is SO happy. He loves going to work upstairs in his office that is so big and bright. He loves looking out the window and watching all of the neighborhood activities. I love that he is just home, keeping an eye on things, keeping everyone safe. He goes to auto-generated Parent-Teacher conferences at 1:00 in the afternoon, representing both of us because HE has a job that lets him do things like that and I do not. I love that he says to me... quit your stupid job and just stay home with me... we'll be alright. Maybe someday.
I could not be happier that we are in August. I LOVE August. Not the heat part. But, the monsoon/thunder storms part, the football part, the school starting part, the summer nights part, the ending of busy season part, the fall approaching part ushering in boot season.
All kinds of new and exciting adventures for all of us. I am pretty excited for a new attitude and a new adventure or two... a little vacation and growth opportunities combined with the making of some memories.
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