BACK to SCHOOL 2023

Not gonna lie, this was so difficult.  I would just get to thinking I had a grip on myself after the move then something would happen and trigger my emotions and I'd be a mess all over again.  Registering and preparing for back-to-school was a major trigger.  I hated that I was sending my kids into 'a pack of wolves', to schools where they knew no one, in towns that they didn't know and with teachers and schools that they didn't know.  I just wanted so badly to be sending them back where everything was familiar, DANG! it was SO HARD!!! I cried registering them, I cried days before school started and I cried for the first few weeks.  Having your kids struggle just amplifies everything, it was rough!

The two littles adjusted the quickest and best - Linq loves his teacher Mrs. Crocker, and Lytzi loves her teachers - she has a few of them but her main teachers are Mrs. Bright and Mrs. West!

The two older kids still claim to not have any friends (it's currently December) and I believe they have just learned to tolerate their schools - they still have hard/bad days but mostly are doing good.  I appreciate that they are trying to make the best of it, but I still hate that school isn't an enjoyable place with the people they love!

 

Night before school started we did fathers blessings, they had plenty of things to ask to be included in their blessings, but mostly they were are pretty anxious and nervous about how their new schools would be, and getting used to all the new things. 

The week after school started we got to support a friend from church at his High School football game...it was blasting hot so we basically just sat and melted the whole time!  The kids have all made great friends at church but it is a challenge because the ward covers 4 High Schools which means 4 school districts which means my kids don't have anyone from church in their schools, this has been one of the biggest challenges!

Our stake had a temple day the week after school started, I'm grateful we were able to attend because then the temple shut down until after the beginning of the year for a remodel. My heart needed it.  I've missed being able to attend more often.

The kids had a fun youth activity where they filled balloons full of flour and threw them at each other...I wasn't there but LeGrand said it was a good time - Loa and Dave Walters had a little battle going on - I'm not sure who got more covered!

Miscellaneous July/August

 Just some random July/August happenings... We took the girls to Wicked, Loa discovered her new found love for broadway!

I love that these two play together and always come up with something creative!

This dude lost all his teeth within a few weeks of each other ...okay, maybe not all but it felt like it!

We went exploring at lake Cooley by our house and the girls caught some tiny frogs, so many lakes a fun things to explore around us!

Laexins Sweet 16 + a trip to the beach

 This years move has interrupted a lot of things which has been hard on me, including my own 40th birthday ...but nothing is harder than the interruption of the kids big things.  One of those was Laex's 16th Birthday, there were no big first dates or parties with friends.  We had previously told the kids we would take them on a trip around their 16th birthday and we couldn't even plan that (his dream is to go to Japan!).  So...we asked him what he wanted to do and he opted for a trip to the beach.  We went to Folly Beach near Charleston - booked our trip and it wasn't until we showed up that we realized this is the same beach town we had been in a year prior on our trip through the Carolinas to Dollywood.  We didn't get any pictures of all the yummy food we ate but there was plently, and lots of amazing beach time!

We beached, found Shark teeth, and sea animals...

..got to watch the local conservancy hatch a sea turtle nest and is was SO awesome!

We beached some more...and I got a major kick out of LeGrand searching for shark teeth, ha ha!

Laexin picked out his Birthday key lime pie!

We did a boat tour to the lighthouse we went to last year shark tooth hunting...our hunt was much less successful but we still had a good time and got to see some dolphins along the way!

We were lucky enough on our last day of the beach to have some of our new SC friends meet up with us, the kids were so excited to have friends to play with at the beach, perfect ending to our trip!

I'm reminded everyday how precious these memories are, our trips are never perfect, people get mad and frustrated and things don't always go as expected but the memories are priceless!