Back to School

It was official (and a wee bit eerie) in May...  I was going to have a Bennett kindergartener for the 2015-2016 school year!!  We giggled one morning after I'd turned in the paperwork and walked out of the office in a daze.  So my AP and Nurse Sherri insisted we take a picture, compliments of our Principal.

It was a crazy, busy, fun summer that absolutely flew by.  I still don't have any idea where it went!!  But it is what it is...and August arrived all too soon.  Reid enjoyed two weeks at Holli's while I was in staff development, playing with Carter and all the kids.  She got a fabulous picture of them one day.

 

Jason brought Reid to Kindergarten Screener one day...and that was the first official "oh-my-goodness-my-kid-is-going-to-be-with-me-this-year!!" moment.  It has been strange and fun being teacher and Mommy simultaneously.  One thing we do every year during staff development is a huge teacher pep rally, for lack of anything else better to compare it with.  Convocation is off campus at Prestonwood, a huge Baptist church far away from our school in Plano.  We have to carpool there and it's quite a beating because it's on a Friday afternoon, with terrible traffic on the way back.  But this year, I was so refreshed after hearing our speaker. 

 

 Um, yeah.  That was really him.  And he was hilarious!  But the best thing was that Dr. Adolph Brown is an amazing, faith-driven man with quite a story.  He dares to put little snippets in here and there about his faith.  I noticed Bible verses woven in here and there, which I'm sure went over the majority of the audience's heads, but how refreshing!!  Check him out if you have a chance. 

 

 Jason flew to New Orleans that day for his friends' annual fantasy football draft, so it was just the boys and me for the weekend.  Reid had been begging for someone to sleep with him, so I promised him I would.  Reality hit me that I really didn't want to sleep in his bed and get kicked in the face or back all night, so I let him sleep in our bed.  Ahhh...temprapedic king sized mattress--THE way to do it!  Reid did great and seeing this face made it all worth it for sure.  Notice all his friends...T, caterpillar, new caterpillar, lil' turty (turtle)...

The following Friday was Bennett Blastoff, our version of Meet the Teacher night.  The families come and bring students and their supplies to meet their teacher, see the classroom, etc.  I knew it would be absolute chaos and Jason would have Carter with him, too, so they came early.  I had to take advantage of the photo op, even if my new kindergartener wasn't too excited about pictures.

He was all goofy smiles meeting Mrs. Ray, who teaches across the hall from me.  Notice the shoe?  I'm not even sure how he managed to do that.  And yes, this was the best pic I could get.

I also have Stacey Ray's daughter, Hailey, in my class this year.  It has worked out perfectly because Stacey and I have compared them for years with "does Hailey do this??" and "glad Reid isn't the only one" stories.  We teachers had to create a Twitter account and tweet things this year, so what cuter kids than our own??  :)

Day one arrived.  Jason dropped off Carter at Holli's, then brought Reid to school so I would have time to get my room just right and breathe before the masses descended on the kinder pod.  My little kindergartener looked pretty darn adorable, if I do say so myself!

Still couldn't get a very good picture with them, but it's a memory.  That first day was really odd, almost like a dream.  I'd be in total teacher mode and look across the hall and there was Reid!  I can't imagine it any other way.  Don't get me wrong--Reid is still the immature follower who karate chopped Mrs. Douglas in the hall when he was aiming for his friend (because apparently, planning to karate chopping a friend in the hall isn't nearly as bad as a teacher?!) and I'm ready to wring his neck, but how fun it is to see kindergarten from your own child's point of view!  It's fun and trying to be a teacher mommy, but I would have it no other way.  I'm thankful Reid is a Bennett Bear this year!

To celebrate a successful first week (or in my case, surviving the first week!), we made a slush run to Sonic.  I nearly didn't get my mint slush back from this little sweet tooth.  Apparently we have another Sonic lover in the family.

Summer Cousin Fun

What fun would summer be if you didn't get to hang out with your cousins??  Laura and the boys got to come see our house before school started back up and we had to take full advantage of our new community's amenities.  The boys loved the playground (which I always thought was ridiculous and weird because it's very odd and quirky...and not at all friendly for little ones, but the big boys thought it was great)!  We enjoyed a couple of hikes before it was too blisteringly hot.  They even found a tree to climb.  We chased frogs, caught minnows, hunted grasshoppers, and picked sunflowers.

Everyone would have a little quiet time with movies, devices, or naps.  Then it was round two!  It was so hot that we had to nix any additional outdoor activities except for the pool.  It was hard to get a picture, but Laura managed to snap a super cute one...and everyone was actually looking!  Reid is such a follower that we'd had a long talk before getting in the water about how he can't swim independently quite yet (although he insisted he could) and since I have to be right next to Carter, Reid had to stay on the steps or wear the puddle jumper.  In one ear and out the other, I guess, because it wasn't five minutes before he took off after Alex (who can swim independently) and scared himself to death.  Needless to say, he had to wear the hated puddle jumper the rest of our time at the pool, no matter how much he complained.

We somehow managed to squish everyone into the car for trips to other places.  I loved this picture of all of them!

Evenings were full of playing outside, scarfing down some dinner (Carter loved eating with all the big boys), showers/baths, and storytime.  Then we adults looked forward to some yummy meals or take out, since Papa John's is still the only place that delivers here.  In usual sleepover fashion, it takes some separating and warnings of "go to sleep!" before any boys would snooze.  It was wonderful and a teensy bit sad that Ben shared Laura's room.  It means he's getting older, but how wonderful that he wanted to read for hours before going to sleep.  And let's face it...he'd never be able to read with Reid and Alex ganging up on him, lol!!

We snuck in a very quick trip down to Laura's house, too, or Reid wouldn't have ever let me hear the end of it.  He got to join them on their last day of VBS at their church.  I was a little bit surprised that he was so timid about going into the classroom and hope he hasn't inherited my social anxiety!  He ended up loving it, of course.  That day allowed Laura, Carter, and me to make my first trip to Torchy's Tacos...mmm!  Oddly enough, we ran into a friend's wife who had just returned from living in France for several years.  Her son and Carter are just a few days apart.  Small world!

It was a short, but fun trip.  I happened to check on the boys one night and managed to snap a picture of this cuteness...Alex was reading to Reid.  It's amazing that they're all growing up so much.

But the funniest thing?  Carter couldn't get enough of Casey's cage.  I literally couldn't keep him out of it!  Poor Casey was probably super excited to get rid of us so she could have it all to herself again.

I'm so glad my sister is state side and that we can enjoy time with our boys.  There's never a dull moment with four of them!  And how wonderful to spend time with her.  God knew what He was doing when he created the sibling bond :)