In which I get some mom points

Sometimes I feel like a total failure as a mom because I can't be involved at Ellie's school.  She asks me to eat lunch with her and I never can because my lunch is at 10:00 and is only 30 minutes long.  She asks me to come read to her class and I have to say no because it is in the afternoon when I am teaching 5th period. But, yesterday, the school fundraiser (Boosterthon) coincided with my conference period and lunch. I was even able to be a marker so I got to stand on the couse and mark Ellie's shirt for each lap she ran. It was pretty awesome. Ellie ran the entire time...partly because she was trying to keep up with her BFF (whom she totally has a crush on).  He is the blonde boy turning around in the picture...the same one she did the Harry Potter act with in the church talent show.  They are kind of adorable.

Soccer Saturdays

We spend our Saturdays these days at soccer games.  Usually it is boiling hot outside, but a cold front blew in today and we watched the game in cool, rainy weather. I would rather be wet and cold than hot and sweaty.  Tom's cross country meet got rained out so he was able to join us today. Jack had a by-week so it was just Ellie.  She is not as competitive as Jack.  Tom and I are very different in our view of sports...he wants her to leave it all on the field at all costs and I just want her to have fun.  But sometimes it looks like she is having a little too much fun!

Back to School blues

I always have such a hard time transitioning from stay-at-home mom to working mom.  It isn't that I don't like my job, it's just that I am terrible at juggling work and parenting.  During the school year, I always feel as though I am falling short. Plus, summers are just so fun!  Part of the problem is that almost my entire social crowd are stay-at-home moms. I get to hang out with them and play all summer, but when summer is over they keep having lunches and playdates without me.

I have decided that I just need to pretend like my weekends are summer.  We were quarantined for most of last weekend since Sam had his white-trash illness, but we deemed it safe enough to go to my brother's Labor Day party. The kids had a blast.  Now to keep recreating that all school-year long...

Back-to-School traditions

For the past four years, we have taken the kids to the Galleria to go to The Cheesecake Factory and then to Build-a-Bear to celebrate the new school year.  So, we went this past weekend to continue the tradition.  We enjoyed a late lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and then walked over to where Build-a-Bear has always been, only to find an H&M in its place.  I asked one of the vendors and he said Build-a-Bear closed at that mall!  Oh my gosh, the disappointment!  Luckily, the Galleria has a Disney store and  Lego store.  Ellie picked out a stuffed Bambi and Jack got a Lego Movie Lego set. I was kind of getting sick of Build-a-Bear anyway.

Firsts

I am playing a bit of catch-up on the old blog today.  We had a few "firsts" recently that I want to document. 

Last weekend Jack had his first soccer meet.  I wasn't really sure what to expect since Jack can be a bit of a wild card sometimes; you never really know how he is going to act.  Sometimes he is sweet and obedient, sometimes he is off in his own world, and sometimes he just flat-out refuses to cooperate.  He was really excited about his first game, though.  When he first got on the field, he kind of froze and the coach had to literally hold his hand and run him toward the ball. He quickly overcame his fear and got into the game.  The kid is good.  He has a natural instinct for soccer.  I was completely in shock.  He did run off the field in the middle of a play to hug us and another time he was on the sidelines and just took off onto the field to play, but I think that is kind of par for course for 4 year olds!  

Monday was Ellie's first day of 3rd grade.  I had a really cute outfit picked out for her, but she insisted on wearing her Harry Potter tee. 

She had a great first day and was happy to discover that she knew most of the kids in her class and her switch class.  She also informed me that she is making a schedule for who she is playing with each day at recess.  I tried to convince her that she could play with ALL of her friends together at recess, but I guess different groups have different things they like to do.  Um, ok.