We are officially under contract! We close on Sept. 30th and begin our new adventure as Oregonians. Dan will fly out to Portland next week to check out some houses that we are considering and then we will make our choice and begin the process of buying a place to move into also!
David wanted Anna to do his hair, so she sprayed his hair and combed it. She's just laughing at it all, but his little face is so serious!
Monday was the day for meeting the teachers and picking up schedules and such. We had an appointment with James' teacher, we parked, went in, had a covid screening and went and talked with the teacher. We got his stuff for school and then we went home excited and ready for the first day of school. The elementary school has one teacher per grade that is in charge of the online students - she is wonderful and has the ability to adjust things that don't work well and the time to devote to the kids since this class is her main responsibility. It's great!
Monday afternoon, we had to go to the high school, the middle school and the 6th grade center. We got to wait in line in the hot Texas sun for 45 minutes at the high school before going inside to wait in more lines. More than an hour after we got to the high school, we left and headed for the middle school. There was another line. Not long after we got there, an ambulance showed up - then about 45 minutes later they managed to figure out a way to move the line so it was inside so no more people would get heat stroke... Thankfully once we got in, it went pretty quickly. But by this time, it had been more than 2 hours since we had started this journey and we still had one school to go.
Thankfully Dan met me at the 6th grade center and took Evelyn to get her stuff and I took Anna and Aaron home. I think I got dehydrated that day - I hadn't brought my water bottle because I didn't realize I would be standing sweating in the sun for 2 hours....
The middle and high school students who chose online school are basically just sitting in on classes via zoom meetings. It's hard on both the students and teachers - the poor teachers are being given twice the work with no extra help or pay. The kids aren't getting nearly as much out of it because they often have problems getting into the zoom meetings because teachers have to admit each student one by one - and if they are late (for example if they are coming back from band and don't get there on time) then they have to wait for the teacher to admit them - but by then the teacher is trying to teach and it's hard for them to have to keep going back and admitting students.
Wednesday was the beginning of school. It was great for James - but everyone else had issues. Evie had lots of problems getting into her meetings and problems with computers. We finally just decided to get a cheap computer for school purposes.
Evelyn's friend Emily is also doing online schooling, so the girls are alternating houses and doing school together. I think they are both really enjoying it - at least enjoying being together.
David on the other hand has not been crazy about not having as much attention to himself. I've needed to spend time checking on the kids and problem solving and all he wants to do is play cars with me. So he isn't happy when I need to go down stairs and make sure James is still doing school work instead of playing Prodigy.
Thursday we had to be out of the house in the afternoon so the inspection people could come. So we packed the kids up and went down to swim at my parents house. I chatted with my parents, the kids swam and Dan went hunting for a cheap computer. Apparently we aren't the only ones, because most places were sold out of the one we wanted...
Friday was the usual crazy of back to school, but it finally feels like we are finding a routine. Next week we get to throw a new wrench into it with seminary, but we're getting there.
Saturday was crazy busy. we started out early with Anna's first high school cross-country meet. She did well and then had fun at a team breakfast after the meet. Then at 1:00, the kids had a primary ice cream drive through activity. Evelyn's friends came with us, and we had a fun time getting sticky and cool.
Eileen and Anna went to a birthday party for a friend from church who was celebrating her sweet 16 birthday. They had a great time, then we picked them up on our way to the Hendrickson's house for dessert and swimming. We brought the creme brulee and had a great time swimming and chatting. The kids loved it and want to go back... right now. They especially loved the lights in the pool - which they only got to see since we let them stay up much later than usual - which meant they were all exhausted by the time we got home.
Today was wonderful. We had a great church at home - we talked about Joseph and his coat and his dreams and about being kind to our siblings and respecting them. We played some games and the kids had a blast playing with daddy after scripture time.
Evelyn taught this to David and it's adorable!!
No comments:
Post a Comment