Anyway, a month in updates using the pictures from my phone:
We'll start with my work! I had my first day back on August 10th. I walked into my new classroom and it was filled with junk. There were boxes and stacks of school supplies, unusable furniture, etc. I honestly spent the first day feeling rather hopeless as I attempted to get things sorted and arranged and set up and went home feeling very deflated. However, by the end of the third day, things had mostly come together and I am so far pleased with the results. I've been back at work for 3 weeks now and it's been an experience. There's some growing pains with a new class and a new director, but we're starting to hit a groove.
Just before school started, we took advantage of James getting some extra hours at work, my first paycheck finally coming in and a night of "I really don't want to cook" and treated our family out to dinner. It was an extremely enjoyable evening. We beat the rush, get to smash peanuts, feast on yeasty rolls with cinnamon butter, and, oh yeah, we ordered food too.
Then, it was nose back to the grindstone and the first day of school (still no pictures of Connor at school, I put my phone away as soon as I get there, since having it out while I'm "in ratio" can get me fired). James got to drop the girls off (and sent me pictures) so I could focus on getting out the door and getting to my first day of school on time. Cadence's teacher called me later that day to tell me how awesome she was (apparently something she does for all her students).
There is a funny story in there about meet-the-teacher the Friday before school started. I parked 2 blocks from the school, loaded the boxes of school supplies in Connor's stroller, grabbed the kids, eyed the storm clouds overhead and decided to chance it. Yeah... we weren't 50 ft from the car when the heavens opened and we were drenched. For some reason, I thought it would let up soon, so we trudged forward. We were that poor family dripping puddles as we shivered our way down the air-conditioned halls. I stopped at the 1st grade bathroom to try to wring out the worst of it, but we still left puddles in both classrooms. (Naturally, it only sprinkled for the rest of the day, the only real downpour was when we were walking).
On our first Friday off, Connor and I got to go to the zoo with other moms and tots from our ward. We'd let our membership lapse last spring, so it was a nice treat. Connor was fascinated by the elephants and the snakes. It was also our first time seeing the gorilla exhibit. I took the picture below and posted it before I took a closer look and realized Connor has the same smirk as the gorilla. Ha!
The past week has been a week of milestones. Not only did I turn 30, but both girls lost a tooth AND got their ears pierced. The ear piercing was a spur of the moment decision. Until recently, when presented with the idea, both girls would refuse to do it, but over the past month, they've been pestering me relentlessly. So... we did it. Cadence wasn't expecting it to hurt as bad as it did and actually cried afterward, which terrified Megan. Then Megan, now expecting the worst, was pleasantly surprised by how little it actually did hurt and uttered only a quick, cute: "Ouch!"
Connor cried the most, though. He didn't get a lollipop.
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| Top tooth gone! |
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| First tooth! |
