Back to School 2014

It was not a simple first day of school this year. Three kids in three difference schools lead to a week of back to school activities.

B was up first on Monday.






B is 1) standing nicely smiling for Mom, 2) being excited about third grade, and 3) showing how he really feels about the end of summer.






It was very strange walking him into class all by himself, but I think he kind of liked it. His teacher wasn't in the classroom yet, so I didn't get that picture. Another mom told the boys to hold up three fingers for third grade. Of course B took it to the extreme.

Tuesday was Opening Ceremonies at J's new school.


I neglected to take pictures of J by himself. I did take pictures when he tried on his dress uniform on Monday night.








Here are pictures of the boys together. Of course they had to be goofy. The repeated eye-rolling led into all out back to school craziness.




DH took J to his first day at his new school, Cistercian. I thought he'd be more nervous, but he wasn't. Hopefully that is a sign of a good year to come. They had Opening Ceremony (which was just a mass with all the boys in the blazers & dress pants) and then eye & hearing check, pictures, and all the other first day of school necessities.

Thursday was A's first day of Freshman Orientation at Ursuline.




She missed taking pictures with her brothers so she tried to get the dog to stand in. It didn't really work.








We picked up cousin E. They smiled prettily for the first couple of pictures and then turned as goofy as the boys. I think they were attempting to recreate the past pciture, they need to work on the pose!




Carpool line to drop them off took forever! All the parents were getting out of the car taking pictures of the President and Principal of UA shaking hands with the new freshmen. I told them I would skip it and just took a picture out the window of the car. I still can't believe the twin cousins are now high school freshmen. It was just a minute ago they were little girls!

A still has her first day of classes on Monday. I'm working on convincing her to be ready early enough to get a picture of all three kids in uniform. We'll see if teenager sleepiness overrules family photo time.

Daddy Day

This whole working full time has its drawbacks. Yes, it pays for private school education, but it doesn't leave me time for summer day trips with the kids. The kids (and I) were disappointed but I'm looking into something over Thanksgiving and/or Christmas break.

Meanwhile, DH stepped in to give the kids a day with Dad at the Perot Museum.











We bought a 2 year membership last August. I think we've gotten our money's worth.

The Great Room Swap IV

I spent last week doing very little work on the bedrooms. I am still going through stuff. I've made 3 runs to St. Vincent De Paul. It has been nice to clear out a lot of the extra junk. The boys got new comforters for their bed and decorations for the walls. J needed some furniture. We did what most people do and headed to IKEA. He and I spent most of Sunday putting together a desk, a dresser, a desk chair, a laundry hamper and a filing rack. It wasn't fun, but it all went together and I didn't kill anyone.

While J & I were busy in his room. A spent the day cooking a meal from scratch for the family. (With a bit of help from S#5, thank you very much!) We had homemade pasta with butter onion tomato sauce, pesto sauce, parmesan green beans, lemon vinaigrette zucchini & caesar salad. It was delicious dinner after a long day. Thank you A!






We've put a lot of work into the house over the past 3 weeks. The boys' closets could probably use some organization which will happen at some point in time. I still need to go through photos and find places to store the stuff from the office that we're keeping, but as far as bedrooms, we're done

P.S. Bad photos. Sorry! That's as good as it gets right now.

Saturday afternoon of fun

Saturday was typical. Lots of stuff to do, errands to run, places to go. At 3:30 we found ourselves trying to decide what to do next. Summer is coming to close, the kids start school in a few weeks, the weather was nice and we wanted to take advantage of the day.

We ended up at Free First Saturday at the Nasher Sculpture Museum. B decided we need a willow tree to run through at our house. He loved it. A posed in front of the Picasso and the boys joined in. After the Nasher, we walked to the downtown Cathedral for mass. We had about 30 minutes until Mass started so we walked through the Crow Collection of Asian Art. It was nice and small, perfect for a few spare moments. After mass, we drove to Chicken Scratch. It has been on DH's list of places to try, and I think everyone wants to go back again.

Last baseball of the summer

Last Sunday, DH & I went to B's baseball tournament in Waxahachie. It was a stinking hot day. They lost both games on Saturday, so I wasn't expecting to be there long. I planned to be home by noon and organize closets in the boys rooms. They won the first game, so my plans for the day were done since we had several hours between games. Unfortunately, they lost the second game. Good for me, sad for the boys. B had a great tournament and had fun. Since we hadn't had enough baseball, we were home in time to go to dollar ice cream day at the Rangers!

The Great Room Swap III

I last left off with A's room and the bathrooms painted. I finally found time to start painting the boys' rooms on Thursday night. It was after 8pm before I started. I decided to get the edge done in B's room before the night ended. If I finish the edging on Thursday night, I might be able to finish painting by Sunday or maybe Monday.

Things didn't go quite as planned. B picked a deep green. It wasn't a forgiving paint. I don't normally tape when I paint. I keep a steady brush and a wet rag to clean up as I go. Well, let me tell you that green paint doesn't quite clean up. It just sort of smears. I got frustrated quickly. Lets just say that within 45 minutes, I edged one wall (horribly), cried and quit.

I went to bed and decided that I would go buy tape for the edges and start again the next day. Luckily DH knew I was at my limit. He was probably at his limit with me too. He called me before lunch the next day. He booked painters for 8am on Saturday to finish the two rooms. It was sort of pricey but well worth it. Three guys, 4 hours, several hundred dollars and the two rooms were done! I got to spent the day sorting through all the stuff.