Monthly Archives: September 2021

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This week I had my final 2 runs before my half marathon, and since Gussie is home with me on Mondays and Fridays, on Monday we went to Como so I could run around the lake. A 45 pound toddler and a stroller made running a LOT harder than I’d expected. At the beginning of the run, Augustus was singing along to my music and cheering me on. By 1.5 miles, I thought I was going to fall over from exhaustion, and he actually fell asleep. 

On Tuesday the boys started the next session of swim lessons. This time around, they are in different classes, but they were both very excited and did well! 
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On Wednesday, Augustus was home with me because Grandma Debbie was in New York this week. He’s my little helper and we love hanging out together. 
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On Friday we went to the community center to swim and he kept saying, “I’m having the best day!” which was so cute and fun. We had the whole play to ourselves, so we called it “mommy and Gussie’s water park” and ran around and played and it was a blast. 
 

Neighborhood hang outs are still happening every moment we’re not at school, which is the best. 

On Saturday, I ran a half marathon, which was a goal I put on my 2021 vision board and have been training for. I have been running and exercising every day since January and my long runs have gone pretty well, but I was SO nervous all week. 

The run was in Maple Grove, so I invited myself over to Danny and Heather’s house and also demanded they make me and my family a post-run lunch. Luckily they love fitness and fitness events and they were very supportive. On Friday night I headed over to their house so nervous I thought I was going to pass out. Heather has run a full marathon and approximately 1 million other races, so she gave me some advice and also tried to re-assure me. She was the PERFECT person to hang out with that night. I went to bed at 8:15 and got a wonderful night of sleep. I was up by 5:30am on Saturday, and spent the next hour actually shaking with nerves and trying to mentally prepare for the challenge ahead. The race started and ended at the high school just 10 minutes from their house, so at 6:50, we all headed out. 

Heather was a rockstar who had a whole plan for she and Danny during the event. I originally thought they’d just drop me off and then go out to brunch or something while I ran. No. Not my dream team super fans. Heather mapped out a separate course for them along the trails so they could meet me at mile 7 and cheer me on. I underestimated how much I would need that, but by mile 4, I just kept thinking, “get to Danny and Heather!” I was VERy happy to see them and it was really helpful. 

I was SUPER nervous the first few miles, but eventually I calmed down and the first 10 miles flew by. Miles 11 and 12 were not as smooth and by 12.5, I was DONE. I know that a half mile isn’t very far, especially when I’d already run 12.5, but I really didn’t think I could do it. And then I saw my brother come running towards me (in birkenstocks) and I nearly burst into tears. He ran the last 1/2 mile with me and I truly don’t think I could have done it without him. As we rounded the final corner, Heather, Nate and the boys were there cheering me on, and they all watched me cross the finish line and accomplish my goal. It was SO SO nice to have them all there. I felt so proud of myself and so grateful for all of them supporting me while I did this. It was an awesome feeling. 
 

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Afterwards, we went back to their house and I showered while the boys played. Danny made the best lunch I’ve ever eaten and I got to wear their super fancy recovery things that fill with air and squeeze your legs (kind of like a blood pressure cuff) while were AMAZING and I want to buy an entire suit just for relaxing at home. 
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When we got home, I napped for an hour and a half while the boys played outside with the neighbors. After napping, I went out to hang out too. 

Dinner was supposed to be pizza on the couch, but we ended up going to Surley for pizza and beer with our neighbors. 
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I was exhausted, but when another neighbor texted, “I feel like a root beer float, is anyone else interested?” we obviously had to say yes, so when we got home from dinner, our amazing next door neighbors set up a root beer float stand and all of the other neighbors joined in, and once again, the yard was filled with kids, dogs, footballs and bubbles flying through the air, bikes zooming around… just pure joy. 
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Saturday was the longest, fullest, most perfect day I could have imagined and I fell asleep with a smile on my face. 

A few doors down is 23 year old Joe, who Xander recently said, “can I go see if Joe is home?” to which I replied, “the adult?! No, you can’t be friends with a grown up!” But Joe happens to be a Pokemon expert and also the most patient person I’ve ever met, as he has spent several hours sitting on his front step, VERY patiently explaining a complex game to 3 little boys who don’t even know how to read yet. He’s quickly become a hero and at first I was worried that the boys were bothering him, but whenever they knock on his door, he happily comes out to trade cards or teach them how to play. 

On Friday, we had our first ever (but not last!) Camp Juliet, which was NOT my idea and I was a little skeptical, but was AMAZING. We had regular neighborhood happy hour like usual, but that extended into grilling and potluck dinner. 

After dinner, we headed to our backyard to set up tents. When Sean came up with the idea, I was hesitant because it seemed like a good way to end up with overtired, crabby kids. But I went along with it and I am SO glad we did. 3 families planned to camp. Putting up tents while kids and dogs ran wild and free was a test of 3 marriages, but we got all of them up and everyone was still smiling. We had a campfire, and then set up a backyard movie theater for the kids. We projected the movie on a white sheet. I had buckets of popcorn and all of the kids were wrapped in blankets. At one point in the movie, all 7 kids burst into laughter and it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. 
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While the kids watched the movie, the adults sat around the campfire and chatted. We paused at one point for everyone to make s’mores, and then the kids went back to the movie and the adults played flip cup (which I haven’t played in a long time, but was SO fun!). Several times throughout the evening, different people made the comment that the whole thing was magical. And it was so so magical. 
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When the movie ended, we put the kids to bed in their tents and continued to sit around the fire. As I had expected, my children had a tough time falling asleep in the tent, and at 11pm, I made them go inside and go to sleep in their beds. 

Augustus slept until 10am the next morning, which is a record! 

We woke up the next morning and took down tents and cleaned up the yard. But fun with friends and neighbors was not over yet. 

Nate was off to spend the day at a kittenball (like softball, but a different ball) tournament in honor of a friend lost a few years ago. I had to run 11 miles for my 1/2 marathon training, which I expected to take me around 2 hours. So our 11 year old neighbor Olive came over. She took her Red Cross babysitting class a few weeks ago and recently sent out a flyer advertising her services. I remember doing the same thing when I was that age and I was eager to support her! Also, the boys LOVE her and have been begging to have her babysit for weeks. I think Xander may have a little crush on her because when he found out she was babysitting, he was nearly floating on air and had the biggest smile on his face. 

She kept them busy and happy while I slogged through the miles. She made them lunch and kept them alive. It was outstanding! 10/10 will hire her again! 

But wait, our weekend of fun was not over yet! 

After running, the boys and I got ready and drove an hour to Sarah and Grayson’s house (Nate met us there after the tournament). Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Iowa Cyclones– YAY sports! Sarah and Grayson had made so much amazing food and so I was content to eat snacks while the kids all ran around and the football fans actually watched the game. 

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Today we had our family photos taken, but otherwise is just a day of rest. The boys are back to playing with the kiddos down the street and Nate and I are catching up on laundry and house stuff. We are all taking it slow and enjoying a day of rest after a marathon of fun on Friday and Saturday. 

What an amazing weekend of fun and friends. I am overwhelmed with how lucky we are to live in a magical world. 

Hello again families,

It felt great to be back together as a class! The students are making so much progress with settling into our routines.

I wanted to highlight a multi-day project we completed today. This particular project wove together many different topics and skills.

Part 1: We talked about what it means to be a bucketfiller as part of our classroom culture and social-emotional development discussions.

Part 2: Students then created a small paper filled in with ripped paper pieces that they glued on.

Part 3: They added different precut paper shapes above the bucket as a visual representation of bucketfillers. They were instructed to have 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 of each shape. They worked in partners and moved around each table to complete this.

Part 4: We practiced the correct number formation for the numbers 1-5, and they completed a sheet that showed how many of each shape.

Part 5: They spent time playing “teacher” and “student” – they exchanged projects and quizzed each other on how many of each shape their bucket had. There were a lot of communication skills embedded within this task, such as waiting for a partner to become available, giving clear instructions, complimenting a friend who answered correctly, and kindly redirecting a peer’s incorrect answer. 

Part 6: We added googly eyes and a mouth to the buckets! We talked about different words to describe emotions that our buckets seemed to be expressing with their faces. We got some fun ones like “grumpy”, “serious”, and “overjoyed”! 

We love the way that this joyful project incorporated so many different topics and skills, such as:

• Following multi-step directions
• Counting accurately from 1 to 5 (one-to-one correspondence)
• The initial sound of consonant /b/ for bucketfiller
• The correct number formation for 1 to 5
• Vocabulary – Identifying colors, shapes, and feelings 
• Fine motor skills – ripping paper, gluing, cutting 
• Working with partners
• Speaking and listening to peers 

We know that student engagement and achievement both increase with applied, interdisciplinary experiences such as these. It was a pleasure to see this project unfold and watch the many discoveries the kids made throughout the different tasks. We will proudly display these completed buckets on our bulletin board in the classroom!

I love picking him up each afternoon and hearing about his day. He’s learning and growing so fast it’s truly amazing.