Movin' In to a New School Year!

Here we are with two weeks of school under our belts, just starting to feel like we might be able to pull this off yet again, after starting a little shell-shocked.

Here is some back-to-school good news:

1.  Delia was having the hardest time with the idea of going back.  Sixth grade was tough for her and she had lots of feelings and anxiety about seventh grade.  But, she is off to a great start with a bunch of good teachers who care about her and two weeks of success grades-wise.  She is encouraged.

2.  Ella LOVES high school.  She is already a part of the yearbook staff, the robotics team, a movie club, and a girls' Bible study.  Her most exciting news is that her 3 day audition for the fall musical just landed her a huge part for a freshman-- Dora Bailey, the funny announcer lady who opens the Singin' In the Rain show with a 5 page monologue!  She loves her classes, loves her friends, loves all the new opportunities and is actually currently at a football game as I write this.

3.  After one of the most stressful weeks of my life, which included a 24 hour move in to our new building, I can celebrate the gift that this gorgeous new state of the art facility is for our preschool program.  I am so happy in my classroom, and, though there are the usual challenges and exhaustion that come with training a new crop of preschoolers at the beginning of each year, I do already love my little students.

Here's a look back at my workplace's progress since May...

In May we got to tour the construction site and write scriptures and prayers on the beams.  I claimed this corner classroom already back then and was pleased that I actually got it!

We were told we'd be able to move in a week before school started.  But that did not happen.  Delays with PG&E and passing the city's inspection kept holding the project up.  Though I couldn't put any stuff in it till the last minute, I was able to walk through my empty, blank-slate classroom.  I averaged about 3 hours of sleep each night that week, running to-do lists in my head or actually getting up to sketch floor plans.  Yes, I know.  #typeA #controlfreak #OCD

We were then told we could move in TWO DAYS before school started, BUT THEN we failed another inspection, so that was also DELAYED!  This jumble of furniture was actually how my classroom sat TWENTY FOUR HOURS before we opened the doors to students.  ALL THE CAPITALS are necessary to convey our extreme anxiety about this situation.

But, all the teachers, who had been raring to go for a whole week, put in a super long day with lots of overtime hours the day before school started and we got our entire new building unpacked and ready for students.  The new space inspired me to make a lot of new wall decor (in the days that I was grounded from working in my room), and I'm just so pleased with how everything turned out.

The space is bright and colorful and organized and exactly what we need to efficiently run a day of preschool.  My classroom is my second home and I'm just so happy to have a place I love being in so much.  

We even put together a photo booth for our students (and us!).  The mood around work these days is jolly and joyful.  Everyone's spirits seem to be lifted by the new environment.  Yes, we are still waiting for towel dispensers, and window shades, and drinking fountains, and a copier.  We're still learning how to open the doors without arming them with a scary man voice alarm shouting, "INTRUDER!! TAKE COVER!!" resounding through the whole building.  But, at this point we've just had to make it work and laugh.

We're gonna go ahead and bet that the 2019-2020 school year will be a good one!

Fun in the Summa Time!

We had two fabulous family vacations this summer, a number of memorable day trips, and one bout of kidney stones that grounded me for an entire week.  But in between those major events this summer were a lot of little things I want to record for memory.  Not pictured are ALL the lazy days we enjoyed reading, sleeping, and indulging in way too much screen time! :)

We kicked off summer with our annual trip the blueberry farm to stock the freezer with 31 pounds of juicy berries.

We also kept super busy the week of VBS.  Dave and I led the Bible stories once again, our 11th year doing so (we think?), and Ella served as a crew leader, while Delia donned a costume and played the character Irvina in each day's drama.  She also helped lead the singing.  Drama, singing, and dancing proved to be the perfect job for her-- she's already committed to this exact role next year!  Above shows the nightly study sesh as we all learned our lessons and lines.  Below shows one of the dress up days-- Hero Day.  My heart exploded when one little girl, a former student, came to Hero Day dressed as...ME!

We did plenty of embracing rest and enjoying simple things, like roasting marshmallows over a campfire at home.

We also played lots of Just Dance!

One of the girls' ideas for getting us out of the house was to revisit places they haven't seen in a while, but remember well from their days at home before school.  So, we fed the farm animals at the cheese place one day!  It was touching for me to realize on this day how vivid those memories are for them from the days where we would all stay home together.  I appreciated how the investment of keeping my preschool age kiddos engaged and entertained, even if it was just a little drive to the cheese place and park, paid off!

Another day we drove down to see good friends Dorina, Shawn, Meilani, Giada and Zayla.  Swimming, shopping, ice cream, silly selfies, and, of course, delicious food courtesy of Chef Dorina were all involved!

Our Fourth of July was just as fantastic as it always is!  We joined Phil and Jetta and gang, once again, for BBQ, pool, and fireworks.  This year was different, but fun, because we just stayed home to enjoy those fireworks!  My girls have only ever seen the "light 'em up and shoot 'em off yourself" variety one other time, courtesy of Uncle Chris in Chicago, so this was a tremendous treat (as you can tell from the video below).

On our way to Colorado, we had a very early morning flight, so we snagged a park/sleep/fly deal and got to spend an afternoon and evening in San Francisco.  We checked off something that has long been on my city to-do list-- a stroll around and meal at the Ferry Building.  We enjoyed checking out all the small businesses selling handcrafted items and sampling many of their tasty goods.

When we returned from the fun of vacation in Colorado, we were missing it and the family we said goodbye to a bit, so we made a silly trip the Bass Pro Shop to go on a wildlife hunt!  The goal was to find all the animals we found in the wild while hiking in CO.  Rams, antelope, moose and elk were sighted!  And quarters were invested in the shooting range game too, as long as we were there.

There has been plenty of time to play with friends this summer!  At least twice a week, we've hosted girls or shuttled ours to others' houses.  This makes me so happy!  When we have friends over, we almost always bring them to the church parking lot to skate.  And now, thanks to Heather's birthday present for Delia, I can pogo ball with them! ;)

One of Ella's happiest times with friends this summer was a backyard camp out she planned with her bestie, Ansley.  The girls spent a couple days together planning all the details and were then rewarded with a super fun and successful 24 hours of backyard fun, including games, crafts, a movie, a bonfire, and sleeping in tents, with their friend group.

We came up with the goofy goal of visiting Dunkin Donuts in our jammies for breakfast one morning each month of summer.  Delia is SO into this, I think we had to make July's visit right away on July 1, as soon as the month switched over! Ivy likes to join us for this car ride too and get her little dog treat from the drive-through window!

We had a fun "play date" with some friends where we went to see two good school friends perform in a local theater's summer production of The Wizard of Oz.  Megan, above, killed it as the Wicked Witch.  And Faith, below, was an enchanting and very sparkly, Glinda.  I love the strong drama bonds my girls grow with their talented cast mates.  It's a delight to support each other!

Having completed reading the Harry Potter series aloud together this winter and given it closure with our trip to Universal this summer, we needed a new thing to enjoy as a family.  So, our family's summer goal, at the 14 year old's urging, was to watch all the Marvel movies.  Twenty two movies in two months is a lofty goal, but I am happy to report that we worked hard and succeeded in achieving it!  When the summer started, I had no clue who Loki, or even Ironman, were.  I had never heard of Infinity Stones or the MCU.  And here we are, such die hard fans now, that we had to hustle to one of the last showings of Endgame that we could find in a theater-- a super late night show!  We each ranked our Top 5 from this summer, and this crazy, midnight, theater-to-ourselves showing of Endgame made everyone's list!

It's just not summer without days of soaking up the sun, chlorine, and background soundtrack of lifeguards' whistles, the diving board boinging, and kids squealing at our community pool!

(Ironman and Spiderman jumps :)

We've had Bake It! and Make It! days.  We've had Game Nights.

This last full week of summer has been full of Drama Camp for Ella.  Any high schooler auditioning for a play this year was encouraged to come to school for a few hours each day to "get in shape" by learning choreography, playing improv games, and practicing different accents while delivering lines on stage.  Ella loved every minute of it!

This summer my Book Club had a 10 year birthday!  We had a sweet time at an extra special meeting remembering all the characters we've met, places we've traveled, and history we've learned over the course of 10 years of discussing the 90 books we've read!

Adventure and rest have blended well this summer to give us that satisfying "We are ready" feeling. The year will be full of many changes, but we've seen evidence of God's guidance and steadfastness this summer and we continue to trust in Him to hold us in His hands through another new season.

Ocean Therapy

Next week I move into my new classroom.  Ella has to be at school every day for play auditions.  And Delia starts her dance class.  We are excited for all of these fun things, but a little blue too that another great summer is coming to a close.  Kinda feeling this week was our last hurrah, we took a day for some beach/ice cream/roller coaster therapy to ease our sadness that the lazy days of vacation are concluding.

  

 All trips to Santa Cruz include a meal at Pizza My Heart.

We explored a new state park that featured amazing, scenic hiking trails.  The paths wound around the cliffs right on the water!  It was gorgeous!

And VERY windy!  But, we didn't mind.  We're into triple digit heat each day in the valley.  The excuse to not just wear a sweatshirt, but to need its hood too, was welcome!

From these cliffs we watched a mama sea otter teaching her baby how to swim and hunt.  The baby was making the most adorable squeaking sounds as it got separated from its mom and had to work to swim back to her.  It was so cute.  It's been a summer of amazing wildlife watching for sure!

 Our hike was rewarded with another Santa Cruz must-- ice cream at Marianne's!

Then we headed over to the Boardwalk to take advantage of a great after 5:00 special on ride wrist bands.  How many times have I shelled out the cash for my kids to ride 1 or 2 rides while I watched during our Mount Hermon Boardwalk Days?  This night was so fun because we could ALL ride ALL the rides unlimited!  

  

We rode the classics, like the Sky Glider and Sea Swings, and the historic carousel.

 And we tried lots of new ones too!  Like this hang glider that made you actually feel like you were flying over the ocean!!

A ride on the classic Giant Dipper, America's 5th oldest, still operational roller coaster, is another Boardwalk Must!  

As the ride lights lit up and the sun set, we took a stroll down to the water to enjoy the pink sky and its pretty reflection. 

 And this seal buddy who swam right up to the shore!

(Delia is dancing in the waves, Ella is drawing in the sand, and I am taking pictures.  How perfect is this image Dave captured?! ;)

This Santa Cruz day was just the therapy I know I needed to say goodbye to another splendid summer and brace myself for all the good, hard, and busy that comes with the start of a new school year.