Good conferences and getting ready for rain!

This week we attended the school conferences for Olivier and Mason and worked on what classes they want to take next year in junior high!  Yikes!  And then we got home and Anna had information about classes next year when she starts high school!  Yikes!  It was a weird feeling knowing they are getting ready for some major changes but also exciting because they are ready for the new adventures.  

On Saturday Anna took a spill during her ride.  It wasn't her worst but each fall shakes her in a new way so it is hard to watch and then push her to get back on and fight through the fear.  But she does it and her instructor does an amazing job of supporting her through those nerves.

And tonight we are hoping that a rain storm does actually come in like they are forecasting and we get just a little more water to help our very poor rain totals for the year.  We hope!  

Awards at school and visit with family!

On Friday the boys received awards at school for being strategic thinkers!  Matt was able to attend and got these videos!

And photos!

We are proud of all their hard work!  It continues to amaze us that not only are they doing all the work a normal sixth grader is doing but they are also doing another language at the same time.  Not easy but so much easier to learn now than when they are older!

And today we visited with my cousin who was in town with her two kids.  It was fun to see how her daughter reminds me so much of Anna as a kid and how sweet all three of them are with her baby brother.  This is a good reminder of how big they have gotten in a few years!  (Yes, the sun was bright and caused some closed eyes.  We had another week of up and down temperatures with some drizzle yesterday.)

Olivier had a lot of fun on the merry go round with her sweet kiddo!  Just look at that grin on both of them.  Makes a mom's heart melt!

 

Next steps

This week marks the end of masks being required at school for the kids two years after it all began.  I have been struggling to put into words all the emotions.  Part of me feels like we have a big cut that has a giant scab and we are not only taking the bandaid off but we are taking off the scab and just letting the wound fend for itself.  The single layer of new skin may hold, or it may burst open again and be bad or worse that it was before.  We are not ripping the bandaid off but will cautiously watch as others make that move and hope that things going well.  The constant hope that everything will be okay has drained the emotional bank that has been overdrawn.  Not sure if these are the right words but want to give a glimpse so when we look back there is a sense of that what it was like.

We celebrated my dad's birthday yesterday and it was nice to be together, and remember the last to years together.  It was a strange time to remember.

And today, we took the kids to a magic show.  It was at the local performing arts center and we really enjoyed it.  A nice special treat for all of us!

We also said our goodbyes today to Olivier's dwarf hamster Pop who passed away late yesterday.  He had a good life and we will miss his crazy adventures that he went on every morning in his ball around the kitchen and family room.  We think he targeted us and the cats and had gotten good at not crashing into stuff!  He brought joy and will be missed!  

First colds in over two years!

The weather took us on another wild ride this week with Monday and Tuesday having a high of over 90 degrees and Friday it didn't make it over 60!  And the chance of rain they were getting our hopes up for, came crashing down with no real rain.  Boo!  The wind sure did pick up which means the pollen is now out in full force.  Ready or not, here come spring!

And with all this weird weather, we had a kid come home from school with a cold!  To be certain it wasn't COVID we used some rapid tests to monitor but thankfully it was just a cold.  And then they passed it on to a sibling but thankfully the third kid hasn't gotten it...yet!  Let's hope it stays that way!  The mask requirement for the kids at school ends after this Friday (the 11th) and it makes us all anxious because we don't know what's ahead and some of these COVID variant (like the one that just caused huge issues!!) had them telling us to wear high quality masks and that fabric masks weren't enough.  And now, less than two months later, masks are not needed...  We will keep them around a bit longer and see how it shakes out!

Other than that we are getting the garden ready for planting in a few weeks.  I always like having a garden and don't mind the work to get it ready!  Fresh stuff is yummy!