School Year Kick Off!

It happened...almost 6 months to the day after COVID-19 put a halt to schools in the US...our kids have returned to school 😳  

COVID-19 is still very much present, so school looks different, but it's back nonetheless.  

Nora started second grade.  She would have been at her last year of primary school (K-2), but classrooms were reconfigured to give more space and the second graders were moved to a different building for the year to allow for social distancing in class.  The plan to begin the year is for elementary-aged kids to attend in person each day with masks and in larger classrooms.  

Nora started the day with some tears, but rallied and had a very good day!  She said she walked right past her classroom and had to be directed to it, hardly noticed her mask, met a new friend (Alexa, who is not a robot), and rated the day a 9 out of 10.  We couldn't ask for much better than that!

Luke started ninth grade; his first year of high school!  The plan to begin the year is for middle school and high school to attend 2-3 days a week online at home and the other days learning in school to allow for only half the students in the building at a time.  Luke kicked off his high school career in his room, on his couch, watching/participating in class via the laptop.  

Luke got to sleep in later than normal because school start times had to be altered to allow for busing.  He settled in for three class, got about an hour lunch break (a few minutes of which we shared), then finished out the last four classes of the day.  It was really a quiet day at home compared to the past 6 months when we were used to at least 4 of us being home nearly every day.  I was in my make-shift office and Luke was on his couch.  

The night before...

The first morning of school...

Neighbor and buddy, Emma

Fancy "desk"

My heart is full after a successful first day and I'm hoping that it is the beginning of a beautiful year 💗

Kindergarten is Done....Already???

I am so grateful to have gotten the chance to get to know all of the little people in Luke's kindergarten class as well as his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Brown, this year.  I loved helping out in Luke's class regularly and seeing the kiddos learn and grow together.  Luke didn't have any sadness about finishing kindergarten, but I couldn't help but shed some tears as we said goodbye to Mrs. Brown after a fun-filled last day of school.  Luke told us when he went to bed tonight that he was ready to start first grade tomorrow:)

We are so grateful for a wonderful school, sweet kiddos, and a creative and experienced teacher to start out Luke's 13 years of public education:)

Last Day with Mrs. Brown

First and Last Day of Kindergarten
I think it's safe to say he's grown:)

First and Last Day with Daddy and Mommy
I think Mommy wins the most change since September!

V.I.P. Day

Today is V.I.P. Day for the kindergartners at Luke's school.  Apparently a V.I.P. will be visiting them, but they don't know who it is.  We were talking over lunch about who the visitor might be.  Brent suggested, Kobe Bryant.  Luke's reply was that Kobe Bryant wasn't important.  He then listed off some people he thought were important: God, firefighters, police officers, bus drivers, mom, and dad.  He explained that these people are important because they help people. 

My sweet Luke, I couldn't agree more:) 

Proud Parents

We have a precious son, who makes us proud everyday.  As you know, he is also quite timid.  So, last week, Brent and I were beaming when we learned of two situations in which Luke showed his kind and sensitive heart while also sticking up for kids around him that he recognized as the underdogs or in need. 

First, Luke told us about a situation on the playground at school.  He said that there was a preschooler who was being picked on by some kindergarten and first grade boys.  He said that he told the boys to stop bugging the preschooler.  He never told us who the boys were that were picking on the preschooler or what all the situation involved, but we were SO proud that he confronted the situation when he saw someone in need.  As a funny side note to this story, I asked him if he told a teacher about the situation.  He said that he didn't want to bother the kindergarten teacher who was on the playground because she's really pregnant and wouldn't want to bend down:)  Can you tell he's noticed me trying to avoid bending over as I've gotten further along in this pregnancy;)

Then, at MOPS last week, one of the moms told me how her daughter who is in Luke's MOPPETS class shared a recent situation.  The little girl said that some of the boys were chasing her and that Luke intervened and asked them to stop.  Once again, we were SO proud to hear of him standing up for another kiddo.  Later when I mentioned the story to Luke, he didn't remember it specifically, which leads me to believe it wasn't a stressful moment for him to intervene. 

I have to say that hearing situations like these gives me great relief when it comes to Luke growing up.  He's always tended toward being timid, while being very caring and sensitive at the same time.  We're so glad to see that acting on his sensitivities was not stifled by his shyness in these situations.

Sprinkler Fun!

May 14, 2012 was 84 degrees, sunny, and beautiful...obviously it was time to get the sprikler out!

Some of Luke's sprinkler fun...



No more photos please

Mother's Day?

I'm finding it hard to believe that Mother's Day is just a day this year because I have been so blessed already this week and it's not even the official day yet!  Luke's elementary school, Gibbs, sure makes Mother's Day special:)

On Wednesday, Luke's class went to the Mother's Day Store at school to shop for their moms.  Each child could bring $1-$5 to purchase a gift for their mom.  Luke came home with a paper grocery bag decorated with a bow and stapled shut.  It will be fun to see what he picked out for me:)

On Thursday, Luke's teacher had the kids fill out worksheets completing sentences about their moms. I volunteered in Luke's class that afternoon, but was working in the hall with a few kids so didn't get to see Luke's worksheet until we got home.  It completely melted my heart!

Luke's worksheet for Mom (I wrote underneath what he was spelling if you have trouble deciphering:))
Click on photo to view larger.

On Friday, Luke brought home a small plant that they started from seed in their class last month while learning about planting and plant growth.  It is just a few leaves now, but it will be a flower soon!  Again, this gift was in a brown lunch bag, that was decorated by Luke, and stapled shut.  He let me open this gift tonight so we could water it and get it in the sun. 

Proud of his plant

I'm telling you, my heart is already full from these precious gifts...I cannot believe I have the Mother's Day Store gift and another gift from Brent and Luke yet to open this weekend.  I am truly a blessed momma to be loved by such a sweet son and loving husband.

P.S. I just love how Luke is so like me when it comes to gifts.  He loves picking them out for people, putting thought into it, and he gets very excited to give the gifts as well. He already asked Brent tonight if he could give me the other two gifts to open.  He is certainly a boy after my own heart:)  I once gave Brent his Father's Day gift on Mother's Day because I was so excited to give it to him:)

May Day

May Day 2012 turned out to be a busy one!

We started the day with Luke's follow up eye doctor appointment.  You may remember from one of my March blog posts, that was patching his strong eye full time (pretty much from when he woke until about bed time) for the month of April with the goal of strengthening his weaker eye.  He did a great job patching, as usual, and was very patient with the longer days of wearing the patch.  Today we learned that it paid off!  His vision improved considerably and for the first time (that I can remember) he was able to see some of the 3D images during their testing!  This exciting news after about 9 months of patching prior (for 6 hours a day) that wasn't making any improvements.  Our eye doctor wants Luke to patch for another month, this time for 8 hours a day, to see if his vision will improve even more.  So, the patching will continue through mid-June. 

Playing with the hypercolor board in the waiting room at the eye doctor

Fun, random tidbit from our drive to the eye doctor today:  The topic of conversation ranged from who was the strongest super hero to why do people smoke.  Luke thought the strongest super hero was either Hulk or Thing.  We had a tricky time explaining how your body gets used to having cigarettes, but that it's also bad for your body to smoke them.  Deep thoughts for a six year old:)

At school today, the kindergarten classes had Construction Day (or in Luke's terminology: Destruction Day...he has a hard time saying construction and instruction, they both usually come out destruction:)).  They built buildings out of boxes, cups, and paper plates, made building plans for their construction projects, got to try out different building toys, and played with some levers that catapulted cotton balls.  Exciting, hands on fun for everyone! 

One view of Luke's construction project

Opposite view of construction project

Building plans for construction project

After school, Luke had his first of four Community Ed math class.  In his words, "The class was boring because the kids kept interrupting while the teacher read a book 'Once Upon a Dime'."  We're thinking bored was probably not the word he was looking for, maybe distracted or bothered??? Not sure, but we'll see what he says about the class next week:)

This evening we had another class (see, it was a busy May Day!) as a family with Mayo's prenatal education.  It was a sibling class that explains some of the realities of having a baby at your house, and what it will be like when Mom and Dad go to the hospital to have the baby.  They got a tour of the postpartum unit and got to see a brand new baby in the nursery.  They also practiced changing a diaper on a doll and swaddling a doll.  Luke said his favorite was the tour:)  We're very excited to see Luke in action as a big brother in just a couple months!

Diapering practice

Swaddling practice

T'was a busy May Day for the Pickers!  We're all vegging in our own way at home recovering: Luke watching a show, Brent with his Kindle, me blogging:)

From the Mouths of Babes

I've had a few good comments/questions from the kindergartners in my life recently about my being pregnant and wanted to document them:

Last week while I was at the gas station with Luke, a woman asked when I was due and chatted a bit about pregnancy.  After we got back in the car, Luke asked "How did that lady know you were pregnant?"  If you've seen me lately, you would have no trouble knowing I was pregnant just by looking at me.  I thought it was so great that he thought it was our little secret or something;)  Since this incident, Luke has mentioned a couple times after I get dressed for the day, "I still see Nora."  Love it!

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While volunteering in Luke's class recently, I had the typical "pregnancy conversation" with a table full of kindergartners:
One girl asks "Are you having a baby?"
Me: "Yes, I am."
Another girl asks "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"
Me: "We know she is a girl."
Another kiddo asks "Do you know her name?"
Me: "Yes, her name is Nora."
A sweet boy, who had heard this entire conversation asked with a confused look on his face, "How do you know her name already?"

Keep in mind, I volunteer weekly in Luke class and this was the first time any child had asked if I was pregnant...funny in itself since they are eye level with my growing belly:)  The remark from the little boy got me good though.  I'm not sure if he thinks babies are born with name tags on or if the baby should tell us her name when she comes out, but I loved the innocence of his question:)

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All I can say is I'm glad none of the kiddos in Luke's class have asked where babies come from or how she comes out.  I'll leave that education to each of their parents;)

Spring Break Highlights

Luke had his first spring break from school this past week.  He was certainly a stay-cation for our little man full of lots of fun!

Monday - Day at daycare with friends, the first day in quite a while that he was able to spend an entire day at daycare with his buddies.

Tuesday - Went to the Blue Gma's house in the morning for a two day stay.  They colored eggs, made sun catchers, played games, went on bike rides, went to the park, and kept VERY busy!

Wednesday - With Gma the all morning doing much of the above until I got off work and met Luke and Gma for lunch and a trip to TJ Maxx. 

Thursday - Morning at home with Mommy, then Color Me Mine in the afternoon with Gma & Aunt Bridgy (first time for everyone but me)

It was Luau Day at Color Me Mine, so Luke got a tattoo, lei, and sunglasses when he got here.

After painting our pottery - Luke's penguin pencil holder, my piggy bank for Nora, Gma's blue pot, Bridget's watering can

Thursday Night in our front yard

Playing a combination of La Crosse and Hockey with Daddy

Friday - Ethan spent the day with us and the boys kept busy, busy playing inside all day!  They even got to play that evening at Ethan's house so Brent and I could see Hunger Games.

Intently playing Legos on the kitchen table

Saturday - Got up early to help out at the Chop Drop (mega egg hunt that our church co-sponsored where eggs were dropped from a helicopter for the kiddos).  Luke went early with me and we got to ride a trolley from church to the high school where the Chop Drop was done.  After the morning at the Chop Drop, we had lunch with Greg, Cally, kiddos, Gma & Gpa at North Mr Pizza then they all hung at our house for the afternoon.  Saturday evening we went to the other Papa & Gma's house for dinner and an egg hunt. 

In the trolley on the way to the Chop Drop!

Checking out the goodies in his basket from Papa & Gma, including a tooth fairy pillow.

Checking out his loot from Papa & Gma's egg hunt

Flying his new helicopter from Bridget & Ross

Sunday - Went to church, then headed to Faribault for the day to celebrate with Kesters/Howells (Brent's mom's side of the family).

Looking for eggs on another hunt at Mary & Mark's house

Playing with empty eggs with his little buddy, Basil

It was a fun filled week for our little man, with lots of family time, lots of egg hunts, and lots of later nights than he's used to.  We've got him to bed early tonight to get back on the school schedule.  Only two months left of kindergarten for Luke...SO hard to believe! 

Making the Move

Luke made the move to his new bedroom downstairs today.  We've been talking about doing it for few years, but never had a real reason to "have to."  How that Nora is on her way, we thought it would be nice to get Luke settled in for a while before she's born, which in turn allows us space in her room (Luke's former room) to store and prepare baby gear for her.

It was Luke's idea to be in all the pics of his new room.  He's pretty excited about it:)

Looking into his room from the doorway (his window looks out under our deck)

Looking to the left from the doorway

Looking at his bed/doorway wall from the window wall

Luke requested a pic next to his "sports guys" on the bookshelf:)

Finishing off the day of moving with story time in his new room

As I write, he is sleeping like a rock in his new room.  He seems to like being on the same floor as our TV, because he knows there is a pretty good chance that Daddy will be watching TV in the living room after Luke's in bed.  I can relate, I remember liking hearing my parents in the other room when I was going to bed as a kid too:)

Now, on to getting Nora's room set up.  Thankfully we still have a few months!