Winding Down

The days of summer are winding down. After coming home from the beach, it caught me by surprise that the school year is right around the corner. I have just one week left before I return to work! My school district released their decision that we would begin the school year with virtual learning. We will be remote until at least September 21st, in hopes of then meeting face-to-face in our buildings. School districts have had some flexibility with their re-opening plans, and in Boomer's district, they will be following an "A Group/B Group" schedule, with students attending two days a week, with distance learning on Wednesdays for everyone. There are still a lot of concerns over student and staff safety with any of the plans, but hopefully we will all stay healthy. 

With the restart of school, we've had our own concerns about our plans for Emmy and Eli going to daycare. Both kids were on the books to start back on August 10th, but after Emmy's previous daycare had a second COVID "outbreak" in July, we started to consider other options. We were led to Triad Baptist Preschool, where we go to church and also were Zander and Maddox have attended. The preschool program has a great reputation for preparing children for kindergarten, and since it is at our church, there is a Christian focus, plus a familiarity with the people and the physical building. The only drawback is that they have an age requirement of 2 years old, meaning that Eli would not be able to attend until 2021. In trying to figure out a plan for Eli, my parents offered to watch him full-time for the next school year - what a huge blessing! Since Eli still does not have all of his first-year vaccinations, a traditional daycare setting makes me a little nervous. I am so thankful that my parents are willing to keep him. There is a chance that I will be able to work from home some, but I have such a peace knowing that he will otherwise be with Grammy and Grandpa. Grammy has already started to gather toys and other fun things for them to do together. Boomer and I plan to divide-and-conquer with drop-off and pick-up, one heading to Triad and the other heading to my parents' house. It may take a few weeks to really get in a groove (especially since we are quite out of practice with the whole morning routine!) but my prayer is that this arrangement is best for everyone. 

A few other new things this week, Eli is babbling away, and we feel sure that he has said his first word: "Da Da." He continues to watch his big sister and likes to imitate the noises that she makes. They will often go back and forth, matching each other in volume, until Mommy has to end their little game when it gets too loud. After teething at the beach last week, Eli is back to sleeping through the night, thank goodness!

This week included more summer adventures. We started the week with a pool day with our friends Sarah, Josh, Luke, Laurel, Ashley, Harrison, and Griffin. On Tuesday, we met more friends for a walk and donuts at Reynolda. We were surprised to find a beautiful waterfall just below the trail. Emmy loved exploring in the dirt. On Wednesday, Boomer had a late evening for work so during the day we made him a special treat to come home to: his favorite, peach cobbler. Emmy dressed the part in her apron and did a wonderful job mixing up the ingredients. We used some of our peaches from Kalawi Farms. That evening, we met Caro for a picnic, and she snapped a few photos of the kids. You can tell by their rosy cheeks and sweaty smiles that it was a hot evening. Temperatures this week have been consistently in the upper-80s and 90s. On Thursday, we ventured up to our neighborhood park for a picnic. Although public playgrounds are still closed, we were able to play on the swings and the other equipment. Emmy looks so big in the baby swing, but she insisted on getting in that one. On Thursday evening, we headed to the ballfield to watch Maddox and Zander play baseball. After watching another girl on Maddox's team, Emmy seemed somewhat inspired to play herself next year. We'll see! Both boys did well, and Zander even made a double play while he was playing pitcher! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the ball players that night, but check out their headshots that Megan shared with me. 

Since Boomer had a few late nights this past week, we have enjoyed time with him during his last three-day weekend. We had our tour at Triad on Friday and then dinner with the Williams and Houstons that evening. Today, for the first time since before COVID, we went to the Science Center. There were definitely some noticeable differences from our last visit. They are using a reservation system, and face masks must be worn while indoors. There is also a designated route to follow through the aquarium and then out to the zoo, with several of the hands-on exhibits closed. The one-way path was sometimes tricky with Emmy, who wanted to explore on her own. You'll notice she has a mouthful of peanut butter crackers, which we used to lure her along the path. As I write this, we just finished a Movie Night (Aladdin) and now the Braves are on. It is strange to see the empty ballparks, but I know one guy who is very happy that baseball is back! We are looking forward to our Sunday tomorrow and then one more week of summer. The kids and I have plans for another pool day, more donuts, plus a visit to Daddy's new office!