I have been majorly sucking at making time for scripture study. I did, however, manage to flip open my scriptures this morning and just read a quick few verses. I feel like it was meant that I found these this morning (I just flipped to a random page)... I've been reflecting on my post from almost two weeks ago about how I googled boarding schools. things got significantly easier after that. one major issue just basically all but vanished... or at least the ill effects of it. it made me think of when I was dealing with infertility right after we got to California and Heavenly Father pushed me to my breaking point and then I finally got pregnant and was relieved of that heartbreak I'd been experiencing.
I feel like that Wednesday was a breaking point for me. I'm not sure if that specific trial is going to be a thing of the past now or if my burdens are just being eased for a time. either way, I'm appreciating it.
these kids were having so much fun playing with the donuts. I was thinking the other day that they're maybe the best toy in our entire house. thanks Emmy!
she must have had Brady help her get her helmet buckled. she sure loves that helmet. it's hard to get it off her even indoors.
she almost always rides this scooter while sitting down. she just reaches her hand up to press the red button or walks it with her feet.
I was filling out Brady's paperwork that I needed to take to orientation with us (whoops... a little last minute on that. I saw that they requested a full body shot and head shot and groaned at the thought of running to Walmart to get it printed. but it didn't request a number or size so I just took them on my phone and then, when I got to orientation, emailed them to his teacher. what a cute kid. so insanely excited for preschool.
also, I love when he requests that I take pictures of him on his bike. he's obsessed with riding his bike now. he just takes off and rides around and around the block. never really cared for riding a bike with training wheels, but once he learned how to do two wheels, he's LOVED riding his bike.
my favorite little fatty.
orientation was great. I think there are maybe like two other kids in Brady's class... not sure why since I think there are a lot of kids in the other class? his teachers seem really nice. they also tried to help me figure out a solution to the fact that the district requires an adult signature to sign your kid in and that means that I'm parking and lugging my kids with me to walk Brady to his classroom to sign in. we'll play it by ear I guess and hopefully be able to figure something out... y'know, since this will be four days a week for the entire school year.
Brady watched some paw patrol and Elizabeth took a nap from 2-4 until it was time to get Abigail. I took all the kids to grease monkey with me to pick up free eclipse glasses and luckily the guy gave me five pairs. I called ahead and they only give out one per person present so I couldn't pick up any for honey or Abigail if they weren't with me. so we went after we got Abigail from school and the guy saw Andrew in his carseat and winked and said "I'll give you a pair for this little guy and maybe he'll want to share with his old man." ha. so now our whole family is covered. except then Abigail told me that her teacher had those in her classroom (so Abigail is probably already covered) and honey told me he has a meeting that day at 12:30 or something so he'll be watching from the highway or wherever he is at the time. Brady will be at preschool at the time so I'm going to send his glasses with him and hope that he'll get to go outside to watch. and I'll have two littles with me and will take them to the library eclipse viewing party that'll be happening.
so after getting our glasses, we went to the library. I try to take the kids to the library on evenings that honey won't be home because it helps pass the time til dinner and bed. it's our second home. also, see those clouds? this has been the summer of rain every afternoon/evening. it's nuts. our grass is actually green this year!
can you tell which books on hold belong to us? Abigail is nearing the end of her rainbow magic books. she probably only has 20 or so left but there are three mini series that I haven't found on our library website even though the wikipedia list doesn't mention them as being only available in the UK. I'll need to ask a librarian about those. and in the mean time, I'm trying to find other series that she'll like. I've found a few other fairy series and I think mermaid tales sounds promising too. we'll see. Abigail just keeps telling me that she's going to reread her current fairy series. she loves them so much.
not sure what they were all looking at... I just mostly thought it was precious that they chose to all share that chair.
and then they went back to eating their granola bars.
who's pumped?
Brady and Elizabeth are both really helpful to me with throwing stuff away... especially diapers. Elizabeth though has decided lately that she only want to put things in the recycling. so I have to remember every so often to remove the dirty diapers from the recycling and put them in the trash can immediately next to it.
my honey. cracks me up.
I feel like a champion for doing so well with the kids for Sunday and Monday. I provided activities for them and was patient and we stayed engaged. I think the word that stands out to me the most is "intentional." I never checked out and sat on my phone while yelling at the kids to play with their toys or stop making a mess or doing stupid things. we kept it simple but kept it intentional. that's my goal going forward... to stay intentional as much as possible.
I'm thankful for this new school year and the fresh start it brings. the start of last school year was completely magical. I remember I kept telling mom over and over that Abigail in first grade was the best thing to ever happen to me. Abigail was great, Brady was great, Elizabeth was great, I was loving life, and everything was perfect. and then I got pregnant in October and everything fell apart near instantly. SO, chances are, I'm not going to fall pregnant anytime this school year and I'm wondering just how long we can keep the magic alive. crossing my fingers here!
