Bella, Gabe and Josiah

It’s been quite a week over here. I knew it was to be. There was no way it could not be. But still… Now that Gabe is in kindergarten and doesn’t go to daycare anymore, my entire schedule has gotten complicated. I drop him off at school in the morning, then I drop Josy off at school and work for a few hours. After school he goes to a friend’s house for a couple of hours and then I pick him up and work from home for the rest of the afternoon. Pat’ll pick up Josy from school. It’s crazy, but I think it’ll work. Plus, we’re have no daycare options for Gabe in the afternoons and it’ll mean that I’m home when Bella gets home from school too. However, this schedule gets significantly more complicated when Pat is out of town for work and I get to pick up Josy also. That’s what happened the week. I knew things were going to be crazy, so I spent all Sunday afternoon making freezer meals. I figured that was the only way that I’d be able to feed my family. Also, a friend of mine was having surgery

I’ve posted a lot about Gabe over the last couple of weeks, but that’s because starting kindergarten is huge and I’m not okay with it… However, my other son has also been doing some pretty amazing things too. He’s determined to start potty training. I’m definitely not ready for this and I’m not starting this process this week while we’re starting school, but next week he might get to start wearing undies over his diaper as we get this whole process started. But last night he wanted to sit on the potty, so I let him and he pooped!! He’s ready for this. I’m not, but he is. We had some extra time to do puzzles before bed last night. Gabe picked the puzzle and I was all prepared to help Josy get a letter or two in, but I didn’t have to. The kids put in at least 5 letters all by himself without me even giving him a hint on where they go. Last night he found his slippers that Great Gram bought him, announced they were “pip pops” and insisted on wearing them to bed. We had to have a long conv

Gabe had his first day of kindergarten that week! He was so ridiculous excited. He ran into the classroom, but his backpack in his cubbie, hung up his jacket and sat down at the table so far that I didn’t even have the chance to cry. How is this sweet little boy now in kindergarten???

I used to think that preschool graduation was completely ridiculous. Why would a bunch of 5-year-olds need to wear caps and gowns? It’s preschool, for crying out loud. Then I got a preschooler. And preschoolers in caps and gowns are one of the cutest things ever. Plus, my preschooler was so ridiculously excited about it, that it was hard not to share the enthusiasm. Pat even had to rearrange a work trip, just so that he wouldn’t miss it. The graduates all walked in while we cheered. Then they sang a song that they’d been working on, followed by each kid getting a flower and a diploma. How adorable is that??? And now he’s officially a preschool graduate, easy to take on kindergarten. How is that even possible???

This has been a pretty emotional two weeks. There’s been all sorts of drama as far as which schools Gabe will go to, drama about getting Bella into her classes, Josy has decided that he’s going to potty train (which I’m definitely not ready for!!) and I’m trying to deal with the fact that my baby is going to kindergarten. But as he gets ready to start a new chapter, he’s closing up another one and I’m not sure if it’s harder on me that he’s going to kindergarten or that he’s leaving preschool. For five years, I’ve brought him to work with me every day. We’ve had fun conversations in the car and chased garbage trucks and picked up leaves. Sometimes he’d come hang out in my office for awhile and steal my snacks and color pictures. And often we’d walk through the capitol building. We’d look at the pictures and admire the busts and slide on the banister and talk to everyone. He’d take over elevator button pushing duties for everyone who walked in, even when he could hardly reach button num

School started yesterday and we now officially have a 10th grader. She wasn’t particular thrilled that I was taking pictures of her on her first day, but at least she let me take them!

Since we got back from our trip, Gabe had spent a lot of time working on his art. Seriously, every day he comes home with a new picture he’s drawn…and every single one of them in pirate themed. Most of them are a variation of the exact same pirate ship. But he’s actually gotten really good at it and I’m totally impressed with his attention to detail. They all have captain’s quarters and cannons, as well as elaborate sails. I’m impressed!

The last two weeks have been a little crazy… We got home late last Sunday night. So all last week revolved around unpacking and cleaning. I like to leave the house clean when I leave so that it’s more pleasant to come home to. But I left four days before everyone else and no one else in my family shares that desire… So the house was a mess, the bills needed paid since it was the first of the month, there was National Night Out and Pat went out of town for three days for work. Friday morning Bella woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose, so we all stayed home Friday (which actually worked out well since I got a lot of cleaning done around the house…). Josy also had a stuffy nose, so they both got Covid tests and Bella slept all day. Literally… Saturday morning the tests all came back negative, so Pat took the boys to soccer and haircuts, I took a quilting class with my mom and Bella slept all day. By the time I was home, I’d caught their bug and just wanted to sleep all day too, bu

Tuesday was National Night Out, so our neighbors hosted a block party. Gabe had soccer practice first, which is always highly entertaining. I’m not sure his you can spend that much time on the ground while playing soccer… But once we got back home, the street was blocked off and all the neighbors were out. We had to wait a bit before the police and the fire truck came out, but it was definitely worth the wait.

We woke up on our last night in the RV ready to go home. Don’t get me wrong, we were excited about exploring Sisters, but I was single ready to be done with the RV thing.  Once we were packed up, we headed for Sisters Coffee, at the suggestion of a friend that used to live there. (Oh, and to top off the drama, my contact was bugging me and giving me flashbacks to that nasty eye infection I had two years ago, so I freaked out and took them out, wearing my glasses for the day.) Then we wandered for a while. We found a farmers market and a quilt store. The kids played at a toystore for awhile. Then we walked back and forth around town trying to find lunch, which may have tried the patience of the shorter-legged family members who were super excited about eating in a saloon and were devastated when it was closed and we had to walk all through town again to find someplace else… But we did manage to find a fun carriage to play in and the boys would have played there a lot longer if they were