Back in the Saddle Again

Back to work is a harder concept to accept than Back to School. Always a stressful time for me, and I feel like the kids don't get a great start because their mother is half crazy. BUT it is also a very exciting time. TJ starting Middle School (wow), and Douglas starting third grade, and me meeting 42 eager little kinderfriends. I always love meeting the new students coming to my class. I think we will have a fantastic year together. They are so stinkin' cute, too.

Douglas with Mrs. Olsen. He is so excited to be in her class.

Here is TJ's first day of school picture. I didn't really get a chance to take one that morning- he was embarrassed that I even thought about following him into the middle school for a picture. Soooooo I snapped a few photos at his football practice that evening. Football is pretty intense; 6-8 four nights a week. This is tricky because practice often goes late, and he has to catch the bus by 6:40am. If he didn't love football so much, I'd make him quit.
Below is a picture of TJ at his game today. He is #36 on the right in the white/red/gold. They played this HUGE Clearfield team today and got creamed (77 to 0- yikes). TJ did have a reception today which was pretty exciting (especially considering the QB could only get off 3 passes during the whole game). TJ plays a receiver on offense and cornerback on defense. Apparently he has to cover the entire right side by himself as shown below. They have only had 2 games with teams that aren't in our division (one opponent weighed in at 192#). And what's the deal with running up the score? That team kept their starters in the whole game. TJ's little team has yet to score any points in a game. Hopefully they match up better with our own division. We'll start playing those teams next week. This little monkey hasn't been adjusting well to the whole Back-to-School business. She kept asking her dad all morning, "Where's Mommy? Where's Shee shay? Where Lullas go?" Then when daddy took her to the sitter that afternoon, she BAWLED. She also refused to go in her crib that night (which is unusual), and all her potty training seems to have gone out the window. Hopefully the recent trauma of everyone abandoning her will wear off, and Kiki will be a happy, well-adjusted toddler again.

I took this "BEFORE" picture before getting the boys' hair cuts, but forgot to get an "AFTER" picture. But as you can kind of see from the above pictures, they didn't get a whole lot cut off (just cleaned up a bit). They like the longer hair. Since their dad and grandpa are bald, they know that hair won't last forever... may as well enjoy it, right? Douglas was the only one playing nice for mommy's picture. Gotta love these kids!