Catching Up

Here are a few things to get you all caught up on our life….

Last week we completed Hybrid-learning for school. Yea!!!! Tomorrow starts in-person, full-time learning for both boys. They are excited. We are excited :)

Zane was riding his bike and trying to pop a wheelie when he crashed and cut open his chin. On the way to the doctor’s, as he was crying, he asked if his wheelie was big - lol! Although I did not know, because I did not see it - I told him I bet it was. He was good after that!

And he was even better when he received a popsicle at the doctors office! No stitches were needed, but they had to numb it to flush it out and get a better look to see if they would stitch or not. 

Zane also had a stye on his eye this week. And then woke up with the opposite eye swollen. Poor guy! I think he is all better now though!

Jaxen is still playing football. They lost this week’s game, but he seems to still be enjoying it!

We have also enjoyed having company this week! Rusty and Diane stayed with us a few days. Diane and Jaxen did some science experiments one afternoon while Zane was at school - so fun!

This week concluded our outdoor services for church. Can you see “fall” arriving?! Next week, we go back to in-person church. Although I have enjoyed church outside, I am looking forward to being back in the building and having the boys join in children’s activities again. 

Nik was off work this past week, and I took every afternoon off so we could spend some time together and then have time with Rusty and Diane - and it has been a wonderful week! It’s always fun to hang with your favorite people, especially since Nik was able to get out on the golf course and I was able to do some garage sale shopping! 

School Update

Want to hear the best news I've heard in a long time?! My kiddos are going back to school in-person, full-time beginning September 28 😀

The Hybrid model has worked okay. Not great (technical issues, confusion of assignments, arguing over subtraction, etc.) but I guess it could be worse. The first week was rough. This second week has gone much better!

Each morning Jaxen is home, he has to be ready to log into Zoom by 8:30am. On the white board, I write his schedule for the day or at least the assignments that need to be completed (along with chores for the day). Each day, he is a bit more independent with his work - although I am right in the room with him, to help as needed.

He has been kind and included Zane in some of his "brain break" and "recess" activities.

Zane stays occupied with playing in the living room, coloring, using his ipad, taking baths, oh - and watching the window to see when his girlfriends can play!

 

 

On days when Zane has to do school from home, he and Nik log into Zoom by 12:30pm. From there, Nik works with Zane on assignments. It's been pretty easy and low-key for Zane so far.

We are making this schedule work - but I am so thankful the school district made the decision early to send students back full-time. One more week of Hybrid and then Jaxen and Zane will return to school! I will still be working from home each morning (taking Jaxen to school / keeping Zane while Nik sleeps / taking Zane to school) for now. We will once again see what our new 'normal' will look like!

Bits of Life

 Last Thursday was the start of the NFL season and of course, I had to represent the Chiefs!

We also enjoyed watching football outside Sunday afternoon - thanks to Nik for carrying out TV out!

It was the best way to watch the games we wanted and keep and eye on the kiddos playing.

 

The last two weeks we have had some beautiful fall days...which leads to random campfire nights during the week - my favorite!

 I helped a friend with her son's wedding by baking 6 dozen peanut butter cookies and 6 dozen mini chocolate chip lava cookies.

Nik and the boys had some fun going on a bike ride and playing at a nearby park.

It's been fun hanging with Zane more! We enjoy lunch outside pretty often. He choose spaghetti and popcorn. Why not?

Jaxen: Flag Football

Jaxen does not play sports year-round and actually opted out of soccer last season. I wanted to get him into something this summer, but all of the sports around here were cancelled due to COVID. When I saw the Flag Football sign-ups for this fall, I asked if that would be something he might be interested in. He was pretty excited (which surprised me). Nik and I did our best to talk him out of it (or really, make sure he was going to commit, because I just was not sure) and the day before sign-ups closed I registered him. Also - at the last minute his friend Brooks signed up too!

Jaxen and his team have been practicing twice a week until this past week, when games started. Now it is a weekly practice and one game a week. The one practice last week was really cold - I stuck it out for the whole practice (1 1/2 hours) thanks to my layers and blanket!

Jaxen has been so funny about flag football. The first day I signed him up - he and Brooks decided to practice everyday and started doing sprints, push ups and riding their bike (in intervals) that very night. That quickly wore off - haha - and they no longer practice when they are not at practice!

Jaxen asked me one day if his games were going to be televised. I told him no and he exhaled and said "Good. I don't want everyone to see if I mess up." He has also told me he doesn't need to practice because they have the fastest runner ever on his team. As if one fast runner is all it takes to win flag football games :).

I am so proud of him. He has never played before and does not know that much about football - but he is doing well. There are times he goofs off in practice and times he does not listen, but he is having fun. 

They played their first game on Saturday and they won! It was really fun! Jaxen played on both offense and defense (#4, in black pants). When on defense, he pulled the opponents flag during a 4th down. He (and everyone else) was super pumped about that!

I think this is going to be a good season for him!

Zane: Pre-K

The start of last week was pretty hard on Zane, seeing his brother go off to school Tuesday and Wednesday. He wanted to go to school, too! Instead, he had 2 days of very short Zoom meetings with his class in the afternoon.

I have tried to keep him busy in the mornings while I work. He has enjoyed coloring, then cutting up the page with scissors and then vacuuming up the mess - haha! He also normally takes a bath and plays outside for a bit (the office window is right over our driveway so I can hear him and keep an eye on him).  Thursday was the hardest day to keep him entertained though. He woke up asking when he gets to go to school. I told him he would not go until after lunch. Know what he asked next? "Can I have lunch?" Haha! In his mind, once he ate lunch, he could go to school!

 

He got dressed in his new dino shirt and tried on (then cleaned out) his backpack. I had to basically take his backpack away from him for the morning so he would leave it alone! He took a bubble bath and rode his bike in the rain to help kill some time. 

Finally - he got to eat lunch, we fixed his hair in a mohawk and then we were off!

The whole way to school he talked about how the rain was going to mess up his hair. I assured him it would not. Thankfully, the teachers on duty had umbrellas and we asked them nicely if they would cover Zane with one, so his hair would not be a mess :) Good thing most of them know (and love) Zane!