Fall Things

I affectionately refer to this time of year as the “Start of School Crazies.” It starts to die down around three weeks in, which is helpful, but of course, there’s always plenty to do. Here’s some of what we’ve been up to the past three weeks:

We went to Great America on Labor Day with some passes from my cousin Kimberly, who works in their costuming department (Thanks, Kimberly!). Aiden loved the carousels and splash pad. We saw the new 49ers stadium next door.

Aiden started preschool. It’s a few mornings a week at the Presbyterian church .6 miles from home, so it’s an easy walk. He loves it so far and always asks me how many “sleeps” it is until Preschool again.

I started back to work (again teaching Eng 7 Honors and Yearbook and Eng department chair, but teaching six periods instead of five) only to find that one of our teachers got a district office job, so we hired a long-term sub, and I have been spending a lot of time helping her out, mentoring a second year teacher and advising the games club twice a month. I’m sure lucky to have a supportive family that is patient with me and helps everything roll along smoothly.

cute bib from our Union:

Isaac & Dad cut down the branches from the olive tree in our yard. I’m all for having a big shade tree, but this one was SO messy, it was frustrating… so there it goes.

It might take months for us to chop it all up and get rid of it in our green waste bin little by little…

Mandy came to visit for a week while Bryant was out of state for work. We went shopping for lots of little girl things. At least I can shop for my nieces if I never have a little girl of my own.

We are still having this awful drought, but the upside is that Aiden can ride his bike whenever he wants since the weather is always good.

Mandy and I made these delicious Oreo Cheesecake Cookie Dough Bars, and we had a girls’ night to see The Giver, which I teach every year and practically have memorized… so the movie was kind of a let-down, honestly, but it would be interesting for class to contrast maybe.

Aiden, Landon, and I got sick but are doing fine. We went to the Newark Days parade, and Aiden decided he wants to play the drum. I’m not going shopping yet because he’s a little indecisive… he changes his mind about what he wants to be for Halloween every day. It was Olaf then a plane then Captain America… who knows what it will be in a month?