Monday, September 19, 2022

Back to School

All four of my darlings headed back to school after Labor Day.  Maggie is in fourth grade, Evie is in second grade and Ben started preschool!  Jamie is back at Lakeview teaching and also teaching an evening course at Atlier downtown.  So far things are going really well, everyone seems to like their teachers and is making friends.  Life has resumed its hectic pace with non-stop scheduling issues!

Ready to go!

Ben's first day of preschool
A little scary for him, but he adjusted quickly!

First day of second grade!

First day of fourth grade!

We got to visit Ben's new school the week
earlier and he was very into all the toys

Dad got them all Slurpee's to celebrate the start of school
Poor Maggie was very tearful before the bell rang
with her best buds in other classes - she's doing great now!

Psyched that her best bud is with her
again this year!

Soccer is back in full swing as well, both girls are playing.  They have the same coach this year and I'm helping out with Maggie's team.

Unicorns waiting to start the game!

Look who joined the team this year!

Girl Talk getting ready

We had a fun time celebrating Dad's birthday this year.  Grammer had all sorts of fun games ready for the kids and they even got a ride on the motorcycle!

Happy Birthday, Pops!

Evie went out on the "real" roads this year, she loved it!

Maggie had a blast!

Second round of tug-of-war: Jamie vs. all the kids
(Jamie won)

The things we do...

Egg balancing (Ben just held on to it the whole time, but
still continued to walk very slowly and carefully)

Jamie has been promising Evie a laser-tag outing all summer, and they finally had a chance to go this past weekend.  The only place still open is Jamie's old stomping grounds, so Evie got to see where Jamie and I met all those fateful years ago.  Turns out laser-tag is really intimidating and Evie was not a fan; the arcade was all she needed though!

Winner winner!

Best date ever

Jamie's high school mural is still up
(note the holly bush in outer space
he painted just for me, ha ha!)

Jamie does a "print exchange" every fall with a large group of artists. Basically you design a small print and mail out 20 copies, and then get 20 copies in return.  In a moment of tipsy-ness I've come to regret, I said I would do a print along with him so he could get 20 more prints this year.  It turned out ok-ish, but I'll leave the artistry to him!  It took way more time and effort than I expected!

My traffic light series

Jamie's highly detailed dinosaur series

Jamie taught the girls how to do their own, 
which turned out pretty cool too!

Some others:

5-girl sleepover (thankfully not at my house)!

Checking out football practice after school

No one wants a puppy more than this girl... sigh

Sylvan Esso with Will and Kim!

Getting silly at Pine Knob!

Kid swap with the Rabines!

Last swim date of the summer with these cuties

Grammer knows how to do ice cream right!

The kids just love being on Grammer's deck

Snuggles after swim lessons