The BIG DAY finally arrived on Sept 5, 2017!
I took pictures of their shoes, just to be a little different from the traditional first-day-of-school pics. The more I look at these shots, the more I realize how the boys’ shoes really tell a lot about them and how they felt on their first day of school.
Tanner’s shoes perfectly illustrate his constant struggle to find the right fit with anything he wears. These beloved shoes were found at a consignment store and became his favorite after a few tries. He wore them until the soles were flapping off his feet as he walked. He was devastated to give them up several weeks before school started and he refused to go shopping for new shoes. So instead of tossing them, I paid a cobbler to sew these shoes back together. When Tanner got them back, it was like he had won the lottery. I love how this shot shows his feet long and slender, belonging to a boy rather than a preschooler. With one foot forward, it seems he is willing to step into a new adventure, but with his narrow gate, you can almost sense his hesitation and anxiety.
Dallin’s shoes are one of dozens of pairs that he has inherited from his big brother. DJ chose these shoes today because they are quick and easy to put on. (He doesn’t like spending time getting dressed). The shoes kind of have a goofy look to them; I keep thinking they are on the wrong feet! But they are actually on correctly. Maybe this is one of his silly, practical jokes. The next thing I noticed is that Dallin’s stance is evenly planted, as if to say he is confident in himself and what lies ahead. His extra short pants show that he had absoltely no care about what he was wearing that day, he was just super excited to get dressed already and get on his way!
In case their shoes weren’t enough proof of how they felt on the first day of school, I got a couple shots of their faces, too! That is Tanner’s “I’m not entirely sure about this, but I think I’m excited” face, and that is Dallin’s “I’m a complete goof and can’t wait to go have fun” face.
I decided to get a shot of my own feet! I discovered how hard it is to take a picture of your own feet without getting half of your leg in the picture, haha!
This was just a spur of the moment idea to take a picture with my own stats. It took me awhile to figure out how many years I’ve been teaching. That was the real shocker for me on this first day of school. Not that my oldest child was now in Kindergarten (it was more of a “finally!” kind of feeling), not that my youngest was in his first and last year of preschool (he was so ready for it). But that I have done this “first-day-of-school” thing as a teacher 16 times. Wow. So THAT’s why it feels like I’ve been teaching for so long.
I found myself reflecting a lot during the subsequent week. All the different schools and classrooms I’ve worked in. All the students I’ve ever encountered and taught. I actually tried to count the kids, since I have my class sizes and school sizes memorized. But I got tired counting and computing after 3,500. I don’t even want to know how many rediculous hours of lesson planning my life has been devoted to. Instead, I can focus on all the songs I’ve used in those lessons, which I know is in the thousands. Hey, I probably average one song taught per student that I’ve taught!
I recalled the many coworkers that were uplifting, along with the ones that weren’t. I thought about my teaching life before marriage, then as a newlywed, then before having my own kids, all of which were so different from teaching now. I realized my first year of kindergarteners are in college now! I thought about the years I taught while pregnant and breastfeeding because they were probably some of my most challenging–and most rewarding years of teaching. It’s wierd to think that my kids are only 4 and 6, but at the same time they are so big. Teaching while being pregnant with them feels like several lifetimes ago!
I’m excited for this year of teaching opportunities. One of the best things about this year is that I got scheduled to teach music both in Tanner’s class and Dallin’s class!! So I get to be in their classrooms every week, and get paid for it. I also get to grow my reach with even more students in this community. Looking forward to many more teaching years to come!
So this year I am working 4 days a week with MacPhail Center for Music as an early childhood music teacher at roughly 7 campuses in town, with about 410 students. I’m also working as a substitute teacher in the school district on days that I have time. And I’ve started doing piano lessons again for beginner students, using a very child-centered approach to music literacy, which has been super fun. Needless to say, with this kind of schedule, I needed to up my game on planning and being organized. I also got a special magnet board like the one above for making to-do lists and schedules with the boys; it’s been awesome helpful. I also got this meal planner. I like it better than ones I’ve had in the past because it includes everything the family eats each day, not just dinner.
I also spent a week organizing my storage space in the garage so that I can better access all my teaching supplies. It wasn’t the funnest of tasks, but I was really happy to have a functioning space again!
Before
After
Before
After
The rest of the pictures in this post show some of the things we did before, during and after the first week of school. Also, note that we had multiple AirB&B guests during this time.
Playing nicely at the HHH.
Can you find my kids in the tree?
Our Labor day weekend was very low key.
Dallin at church.
Getting wiggles out before bed!
Inventing a new game.
Dentist visit. Dallin was so adorable reading the sports illustrated magazine in the waiting room, identifying the team colors, mascots and numbers on every Jersey that was pictured.
Carpool Buddies
Birthday party for Angie’s son!
Had to get a shot of my sweet babies sleeping, all tuckered out from their new school schedules.
I helped host a Clifford event at the HHH.
These butterflies look a lot like monarchs, and they are called Pretty-Ladies. We had dozens of them in our yard for about a week. Notice the nicely mowed lawn? I was the main lawn mower this year.
Staining the porch swing
There are about 15 butterflies in this shot in our garden.
Tanner sometimes makes up worksheets for himself so he can practice making words.
I had the chance to take Dallin out to lunch with me one day. We went to Grinders!
We managed to do another bonfire. September evenings are so beautiful here!
This is seriously the best sandbox a mom and two boys could ever have.
We didn’t eat outside much this year because our table was broken. Then we got a new one and tried to enjoy a meal with it. But all our food got covered by knats. Sigh.
The boys decided to use our garden hose and water to turn their awesome sandbox into a wading pool! We’ve wasted so many gallons of water from our boys playing with the hose.
The boys rode their bikes to Japan Panda one night.
I found the ninjas.
Our sweet friend Alainea.
Drumming time during family home evening.
Working hard to trim the bushes so that our house could be painted.
Dallin was really proud about the way he arranged these toys, and he asked me to take a picture.
DJ helped fold laundry and was so pleased with his stacks of wash cloths that he asked me to take a picture. I gotta say, having a phone that takes limitless pictures is really amazing.
