With the end of "summer" and the beginning of the school year came the blooming of our sunflowers. It is very cool to see them grow all summer and then one day open in their full glory. This was the first sunflower to open.
The other sunflowers quickly followed over the last week. I took every opportunity to catch them along with our ever growing children. I say this because I spent hours trying to find Phoenix black Asics sneakers for school that were size 3 because she is currently wearing a size 2 in Asics. After 2 weeks of waiting for delayed shipping they were too small and I had to return those and order her size 4! The same thing happened with Axel. He was wearing size 4 all last year. I just purchased him size 5.5 and then I realized he needed another pair of sneakers for gym class. I had to order size 6 because the 5.5 appears to be getting small already after 1 month! Rubix is also growing like a beast and is in size 13 shoes when after moving up to size 12 earlier this summer. It is really cool to see the kids growing so quickly because I have never experienced this much growth in my 12 years of parenting until this past year.
We try to go to the library as much as we can. We had a chance to swap out books about 10 days ago and I just love seeing Rubix more interested in the book than getting out of the hot car and into the cool house.
Love the picture of the little sunflower that just opened!
After heat and smoke we had a break in the weather and I was able to take the kids to the park for the first time in what feels like forever. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Phoenix and Rubix enjoyed the swings while Axel and I caught up in some small chat.
We then all played a really fun game of hot lava where you had 3 seconds to get off the ground and onto anything else.
We then tried to fly the kite. We did not have as much luck because the open field was taken up by a soccer game.
Regardless, it was fun to run and fly it a little!
Keith and I have been busy fixing little things around our house and prepping all of the arrangements on the Montezuma house. Here is Keith holding 2 of our lovely home grown pumpkins under our new LED light fixture. We are getting exciting we close in just over a week. The bank wanted to have us close early on the 3rd of September, but we thought it was silly when our final walk through is on Saturday and the previous owner doesn't plan on moving out until the 7th. We will be very happy to get the kids on the 8th and start this next adventure of ours!
Last weekend we had Kristin come over. The kids played laser tag, badminton and more, but the Axel and Kristin had the most fun working on the Scratch game that they are coding. I should say, Axel is coding the game and Kristin is working on the art work.
On Monday, August 23rd, Axel had his first day of school, which was an all day orientation.
He was beyond excited.
We were really excited for him too. It is a little different since we are not allowed on the campuses so we had to take pictures at home and then drop him off with a quick goodbye.
Rubix had his orientation on Monday as well. It was from 3 to 6pm. Again, since parents are not allowed on campus once school starts they had us take a picture in the classroom during orientation.
Rubix, has Ms. Sandoval, just like Phoenix had. We had him sneak outside for a quick picture without his mask on. If you can't tell, it was a little warm!
Phoenix had her orientation on Tuesday. Keith took her, while I was at work, Axel was at school, and Rubix was dropped off at our friends house to hang out in their backyard, since no siblings were allowed on campus. On Wed, Phoenix and Rubix finally had their first day of school too.
They were beyond excited as well! Unfortunately, it was a hectic morning trying to get Axel to his bus on time and beat the long drop off line so Keith and I had to divide and conquer to get this task done.
On Thursday we made sure to get all 3 kiddos together before school since we were not able to do that the day before. Phoenix was shocked that all of her friends had the Harker skirt on, so she made sure to wear her skirts on Thursday and Friday. it will be interesting to see what she decides to wear each day. You may notice, she did not have her school shoes on the first day of school because of the size debacle. I was very grateful that the second pair of larger size 4 sneakers came in just 5 days and they arrived for day 2. Phoenix was very mature and told her teacher the situation and got the okay for not having black shoes.
Rubix was beyond tired Wed, Thurs and Friday after school. He could hardly eat dinner on Wed. We had to shower him and put him to bed at 7pm. He managed to stay up until 7:30pm on Thursday. He also has been having trouble communicating with us much about his day because he is tired and overwhelmed.
I was very grateful to have my last mentoring session with my resident on Friday. She gave me some yummy honey that her husband and mother in law make and sell as a gift. It was a great 2nd year with the residency program, but I am looking forward to a month off before I start mentoring again. Here Phoenix is enjoying the honey with her favorite hot water and honey drink.
I am not sure when the next time I will post. We were able to clean out the garage today, work in the garden, and wash the cars with another better air quality day. We are hoping for more good air days, but our nervous for those Californians affected by the fires. We are praying for a miracle and for the fires to be contained.
Other news to share before I go, is that a 3rd grader tested positive for Covid yesterday. They are going to test all of the third graders on Wed. We are hoping and praying that the cases will be minimal and that the kids will be able to stay in school and not get too sick if they do contract Covid. It is going to be an interesting start to the school year. We are looking forward to Phoenix and Rubix getting vaccinated and for some of the worry to disappear.
Until next time.... God Bless!
