Overall, September is not a very busy month for us.
But, September does feature one important event....BACK TO SCHOOL!
And this year, the kids actually got to GO TO SCHOOL.
Like, physically inside of school buildings.
With masks.
And distancing.
And hand sanitizer.
Katie got to go back to school first, on Sept. 1st.
10th grade.
Taking the bus to her school was way too complicated, so we set up a carpool with her friend.
They drive mornings and I drive afternoons.
Yep.
We made them pose for an awkward first day of school photo.
Maybe next year they can drive THEMSELVES to school.
More on that later.
Gulp.
Mikey spent the last day of his summer like this.
Just kidding.
He did eventually move to play video games downstairs.
I think we also watched some shows or a movie together.
I may have fallen asleep.
The combination of comfort, couch and watching shows/movies does that to me.
Sept. 2nd was Mikey's first day of school.
7th Grade.
These two weren't as embarrassed to take a first day of school photo.
They're both hams.
Sensing a lost opportunity for awkwardness, we made ALL FOUR of them take a picture together.
I'm not sure what happened, but chaos ensued.
As it does.
Off they go!
That evening, there was a PTSA Back to School event at Katie's high school.
We put Mikey and his friend to work at an information table for a local clothing bank.
Their job was to tell people about the service, take in donations and hand out flyers.
After sitting there for a bit, they decided to get creative and fold the flyers into paper airplanes.
They could then ask passerby's if they would like "a flyer" wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Sigh.
The event was a success and was the first in-person school event that we had been to in almost a year and a half.
It was nice to have the kids off at school.
Things were a lot more quiet at home.
I was busy with the myriad of PTA jobs I picked up.
Doing communications for the kids two PTA's, continuing as President of our PTA council whose job it is to help support and advise 30+ PTA's throughout our district, and helping out on the PTA region team for the state PTA.
And, at least in PTA land, we were still operating virtually!
Yikes.
Life was getting very, very busy.
Add to that just regular life stuff and UGH.
Way back in 2018, Mikey had helped students at the University of Washington with some brain studies.
He was invited back for some follow up work.
The goal of the study was to track changes in the brain as kids get older.
He had to answer some questions and have an MRI done.
He was compensated for his time with $100 each appointment!
He said he would have done it for free.
With all this going on, there was only one person who was feeling quite left out.
Nope.
It was not Huzbend.
He was busy working from his office...still located in our bedroom.
He decided to continue to work from home.
Ralph.
Ralph missed everyone.
The evening of the first day of school, Huzbend went to his judo club for a workout.
He got a finger in the eye and ended up with a nasty scratch.
This led to a lot of pain and him not being able to open it.
Like, at all.
I spent the first few days of the school year shuttling him around to eye doctor appointments.
Here he is with a facemask over his eyes to block out the light.
Innovative and stylish.
On my regular weekend "run"/shuffle, I spotted a box sitting on a sidewalk.
Unfortunately, there was a problem with porch bandits stealing people's packages in our area, so I decided to see if this was someone's discarded package.
Um.
Nope.
Inside were two baby bunnies.
Yes.
Someone boxed up two bunnies from their yard and discarded them in a box on a sidewalk.
I couldn't just leave them there.
I took them home.
Our local wildlife rescues didn't take in baby bunnies anymore as there are so frickin' many of them roaming around.
So, I kept them in the box and gave them some food and water.
After doing some research, I decided that I would release them near some woods at dusk.
This gave Katie and her friend enough time to overwhelmed by their cuteness.
And to pet them.
OMG.
TOO. MUCH. CUTE.
CUTE OVERLOAD.
HEART MELTING.
As dusk approached, I drove over to the middle school (where I found the box on the sidewalk) and released them into the blackberry bushes.
Goodbye, bunnies!
Good luck.
We didn't do much over the long Labor Day weekend.
The second week of school, Katie's entire student population attended a day camp for some team building.
Her high school has about 200 students total in it.
She had a good time bonding with some new friends.
That weekend, she made something she had never tried before.
Monkey Bread.
It was a complicated process.
Follow us through the stages of Monkey Bread....
Unbaked rollie stage.
Baked stage.
Dumped on a plate and looking ooey-gooey stage.
Slathered with a sugary glaze to make it even more ooey-gooey stage.
Ready to eat stage.
The Monkey Bread was a hit with everyone.
Katie and Mikey both thought it was super delicious.
Since the kids loved it so much, Huzbend and I only had one ball each.
The whole plate was gone in less than 2 minutes.
The following week...
Katie started Driver's Ed!
She did.
The classes were two times per week for two hours each.
16 total classes. As part of the class, she also had to complete 5 hours of drive time with an instructor.
To get her license, she would eventually need to:
- complete and pass the class
- pass a driving test
- pass a written test
- complete 50 hours behind the wheel (10 of which have to be at night)
That's a lot of driving.
I found that I became the default at-home driving instructor.
Believe it or not, I guess I have more patience (or more nerves) than Huzbend.
Driving with a 15-year-old is scary.
It's really, REALLY, hard to stay calm and collected.
But I do my best.
Katie hasn't cried or yelled at me yet.
So, I guess I'm doing okay.
Do you know what else happened?
Grandma came to visit!
She was in town for a dog show, and we kidnapped her for a few days.
We hadn't seen her since WAAAAAAY back in the summer of 2018!!
(Stoopid COVID)
The kids had a lot to tell her.
Like, over two years of stuff.
We went out to get lunch a few times.
Since it was still early in September, the weather cooperated, and we were able to eat outside comfortably.
This was the first time that I had been out to a restaurant since COVID began.
Grandma got treated to a slide show of Katie's trip to Mexico.
I mentioned the kids had a lot to talk about, right?
It was so great to see my Mom and equally great for the kiddos to reconnect with their Grandma.
Love you, Granma!
Hoping that there won't be such a long stretch before we see you again.
Who's a good boy?
"I am a good boy."
"Now, where is my treat?"
Katie ate a burger WITH A BUN.
You probably don't understand how out of the ordinary this is.
A! BUN!
It's not because they don't exist. There are certainly almost-everything-free buns out there.
She just doesn't like to eat them.
Today she chose to try it.
Pre-COVID, when the kids were going to school, Mikey would eat breakfast and then watch a show in the mornings before it was time to leave for the bus.
This is how he spends his pre-leave-for-school-time now.
With September coming to a close, we had to take advantage of every drop of sunshine that we could.
Any time the sun was out, and the temps were reasonable, the back door was open.
In a week or so, this would come to a drizzly end.
As it always does.
Huh.
I guess this September was pretty busy.
