September happenings

It's apparently the last hot day for... months. Or so. The long-range forecast shows cooler temperatures, an even vaguely chilly nights.

I say, bring it on.

I love fall. Ornamental gourds (!), cardigans, cooler bug-free outdoor time, autumnal foods like stews, soups and homemade bread (who wants to bake when it's 33 degrees outside?!), colourful leaves to admire and also jump in, oh and fleecy footie jammies on my sweet little children.

And, for the first time in our family, this fall brings back to school time.

I was unreasonably excited for them. Yes, excited for me, too, to have less noise and mess generated from 8:30 - 3 every day, but mostly just excited for them. School was fun for me as a child and I love watching them having some of those same experiences... plus some wonderfully unique-to-our-rural life experiences, too. I mean, come on, snowshoeing at recess?! Awesome.

Noah started Grade 2. He has his own desk now, instead of a table shared with three other kids like last year. His teacher is very warm and has a lot of patience from what I've seen and what he has said. He's excited for the Partridge Run where he'll be running an 800m run, and is happy to have made some sweet friends with whom they are trying to rescue animals during outdoors time. He asked if he could bring some bandaids to school, in case any of their rescues had any injuries.

Isaiah asked to wear overalls, rain boots and a straw hat for his first day. He wanted to look like a farmer, as it is his life's ambition to become one. He also wanted to impress his favourite teacher who happens to have a little hobby farm of his own, and was the one who gave him the straw hat. Sadly we couldn't find the straw hat the morning of his first day, nor do we own overalls in his size, so he had to settle on jeans and a Beauti-Tone painting hat from our dress-up bin.

He is in SK now and has the same teachers as last year. His classroom is so much fun -- lots of scope for the imagination there, and the warmest teachers I could hope for to guide him.

He's looking forward to his field trip next month, to playing in the dirt at recess and riding Plasma cars up and down he hall. He was given a bit of HOMEWORK recently, much to my surprise - just a few sight words to play games with -- but it was a big game for him and he asked me if he could do it (despite Noah's protests that "homework is boring and you won't like it!" Gee thanks, kid.)

Anna wanted to be in charge of something their first day, so Noah "let her" carry his lunch kit for him.

A certain someone also had his first day back to school. He can. not. resist. the lure of higher studies. Hence he enrolled himself in Latin. Just one class. It's going well.

As you can tell from her expression, Anna is slightly pleased to have some more one-on-one time with me.

She's at a wonderful age now. We play restaurant a lot, and princesses, and when I need to do a household task but she's campaigning for some attention, I tell her a familiar story, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, as she "helps" me. Today I rolled meatballs while she stood at the table with me as I told her the story of Beauty and the Beast.

It's fun.

It's also a nice reminder that I am, in fact, a great mom. A terrible homeschooler, mind you, but very good at creating a little home of peace and connection with my little people.

(It's probably worth pointing out that we needn't conflate "good mom" with "good homeschooler" as they are two decidedly different things. There's certainly overlap but not one does not and must not mean the other.)

And oh my, how this photo makes me smile but breaks my heart all at once. It reminds me I have only 12 months left with this little girl before she starts school. I'm not convinced I would send her every day when she won't even be four when September rolls around next year, but I do intend to register her and gradually increase the days she is there.


Anyway, the reason she is dressed in a backpack was because on their first day, Isaiah's teachers scheduled a meeting with us (that was cancelled, but that's another not-especially-interesting story), so we needed her to be babysat while we went. Instead of using a diaper bag, she insisted in using her backpack just like the big kids do. She may look so grown-up on her way to a playdate (where she happily, unceremoniously called out "bye Mommy!" oblivious to my expectation that she might, you know, miss me). Yet inside that fuzzy purple backpack are diapers and wipes. She still gets to be my Baby Girl a little bit longer.

And as for me, I'm chugging along. Postpartum time is going well, because I don't expect much of myself (ha!) but food on the table and clean clothes in the drawers (or even sorted into different baskets). I find myself startled at how happy I feel. I really do love my life, and I am wonderfully privileged to live it as I do: a happy marriage, four healthy children, a community of friends and a parish with beautiful liturgies populated by people from all walks of life: the garbage man to the the theology professor to the mom of many to the questioning teenager, all kneeling as equals before Christ to receive Him. I think it's a great place and way to raise a family.

Happy September! Autumn begins tomorrow officially, so get out to the local grocery store and buy your ornamental gourds with abandon.