This past week has been about all the feels. So many emotions, all over the spectrum. I’m glad to have it over with! It was a fun week, for the most part, but also the end of a season and a fresh beginning. Change always brings so much anxiety, and my kids especially, don’t deal with it very well.
On Sunday, we made somewhat spontaneous plans to go to Curd Fest in Madison. Seemed like a very Wisconsin thing to do with our last weekend of summer. Caden ate at home first (because he doesn’t eat cheese), but Shepard was “STARVING.” Never a good thing for him to be when we go somewhere and it happens way too often. Anyway, it was fun! Just a big football field filled with various kinds and styles of cheese curds! I bought some right when we walked in. Fried curds with spicy ranch, bacon bits, chives, and shoestring potatoes. They were okay. Then Caden got a lemon sno cone. We bought a bag of buffalo flavored fresh curds from my favorite Farmer’s Market vendor. Shepard got a hot dog. And then we finished up with some freshly made giant Cajun Munster curds that I kept seeing people walk around with. Those paired with their homemade ranch were incredible. If we ever go again I’m just walking straight to them! We were probably only there about thirty minutes, consumed way too much cheese, but it was memorable!
Since we were already in Madison, Greg suggested we go to Tenney Park. Despite going to Madison a million times in my life, plus going to college there, I somehow never stepped foot in this huge park. We walked through it, the boys played on the playground, and then we walked along the lake for awhile. Caden was being difficult, to say the least. Because we weren’t at home. And we should ALWAYS be at home, according to him. But the weather was gorgeous and it actually turned out to be a fun weekend family outing.
After one or both of them being pretty upset about all the fun things I had done for them in the last few weeks, I wanted to keep it all pretty low key for the last days of summer. I did a lot of sewing and they had Leverett over to play basically every waking minute.
Tuesday night was my last obedience class with Annie! I was so nervous about it all week. We did a trial run of the final Canine Good Citizen test the week before and Annie passed everything, to my amazement. But I figured it was a fluke and was so nervous. Then we got there and they said “Surprise! Everything you tested out of last week in the practice, is actually going to count toward the test.” Which was AWESOME, but also, why did they have to make me stress so much for no reason!? The only thing left for Annie to do was pass the anxiety test, where I leave her with the trainers for three minutes without me. She did fine and we got our award! It was a really tough eight weeks. I’m glad I did it and I’m proud of what we learned. But I’m so glad to be done. The boys were at Noe’s for the night, so after the test I picked them up and we went to McDonalds to get Annie her first ice cream cone. She loved it!
Wednesday was another quiet day at home and then we had school orientation in the afternoon. All went well, no surprises. I finished the night meeting a friend for drinks. It was good to catch up. Again, I really need to make more time for my friends this year. It’s so worth it.
Thursday – the last day of summer! – I decided we needed to keep busy so we weren’t all just sitting at home stressing about Friday. We went to Sun Prairie to pick up some groceries and some donuts for a final donut picnic. It was SO COLD.
They played at the park for about 45 minutes and were having so much fun! Afterward, we had a quick Costco run and then went to Ulta. Which had no purpose, except that I really wanted to try out some perfumes I’ve been reading about. Despite how much they HATE running errands, apparently they love going perfume shopping. They were having the greatest time smelling everything. I didn’t end up getting any (though I did pick up some seasonal apple cider donut body wash that smells amazing), but they each walked out with their own body mists (after I refused to buy them rollerballs of actual woman’s perfume).
I wanted to go out to lunch to celebrate the last day. But, (what a shock) Caden didn’t want to. He finally said that he’d only go to a restaurant if it was a sub restaurant. It just so happened we were across the parking lot from Potbelly – with Mod Pizza next door. So we picked up Caden a sub and then Shepard and I had some pizza. It was delish, as always!!
And it was finally Friday. September 1st. The first day of school. Everyone was up on time, had a good breakfast, and was ready for the annual photo shoot with plenty of time to spare. I’m sure at some point they’ll really resist these first day of school pictures, but so far every year it really seems to alleviate their worries when they can be distracted with making silly faces and poses for pictures.
This is a sweet one!
“Ninja pose.”
We walked them to school. Shepard held my hand most of the way. He was a little apprehensive and kept saying “scary!” but didn’t put up any resistance about going. On the first day everyone meets in the gym and they both walked straight to their class lines, without a backward glance! We followed to give out hugs and then left! Probably our easiest first day of school yet.
Back at home for the day, it felt so quiet!! Greg was working at home so I still haven’t been alone yet, but the house just felt so somber and silent. But it was kind of awesome. We went back to pick them up and it seemed like everything went well! Greg took Shepard back into the school to try and get him to use the bathroom. AND HE DID!! For the first time ever. Greg’s probably been with him to try and get him to go at least ten times in the last year. Never happened. So MAYBE he’s nearing the end of this phase. I’m hoping!! Obviously the real goal is for him to go by himself during the school day. But we’re one step closer!
Shepard started getting mopey soon after and said it was because he only got two chicken nuggets at lunch. This happened to Caden all the time last year and when we tried to talk to his teacher about it, she accused him of lying. I’m SO hoping we’re not in for another year of one of my kids not receiving enough food just because he’s one of the last classes in the lunch room. So Greg took him home to get a snack and I stayed at the playground because Caden was having fun catching up with his friends. We talked about his day on the way home and he seemed really happy about how it all went! I think he’s going to really have a great year.
At the book fair on Wednesday, Caden saw a lego book about making stop animation movies. Greg didn’t want to pay $25 for the book, but he did charge up my old phones and find an app they could use to make their own movies. It was fascinating for them! They spent all of Friday night and most of Saturday making movies. In between meltdowns. That’s definitely the absolute worst part about the beginning of the school year. Reigning in their emotions at home after needing to keep a tight lid on them at school. It was a ROUGH day.
This Week
New week ahead! I’m really excited about getting back in the swing of things. I’m a bit worried about Tuesday’s drop off when we’re back to just leaving the boys at the playground. Shepard doesn’t always do so well with that. I need to remember to tell Caden ahead of time to include him and maybe it’ll go smoothly. There’s sure to still be some anxiety in the first few weeks. But it’ll be good. Especially for me!!
I’m really looking forward to WORKING. All day. In a quiet house. I want the first few weeks of the month to solely because focused on that because the last few weeks get crazy with my trip to Door County, Cranberry Fest, and all of Caden’s birthday festivities. I also want to get up my fall decorations and do some cleaning around the house that I’ve been avoiding forever because it’s useless when so many people are home all day.
There’s nothing major on the calendar except a haircut for me Tuesday morning! Greg and Caden are going to a Badger game on Saturday. Shepard and I will have a date of some sort. He wants to go to Barnes and Noble because he thinks they will have more lego Ninjago books that Caden and I didn’t see on our last trip. We might go to the farmer’s market too. Overall, a pretty quiet week! Which is exactly what we need.
Happy fall, everyone!
