August 21, 2017

Owen's first day of Kindergarten finally arrived!  He was so excited! We were a bit shocked to get assigned to afternoon kindergarten, but we are taking it in stride.  Austin and I have been riding the two-man bike to school pulling the bike trailer with Owen and Lance inside.  We live a mile and a quarter below the school.  It is actually about a mile up and then a steep quarter mile down.  So on the way home, it is a steep quarter mile up, and then a good mile downhill.  Both ways are excruciating, especially pulling a hundred pounds behind the bike.  Austin and I have to push our legs to the max.  I definitely feel him helping me up the hill.  We are both exhausted by the time we get there.  I think it is so great for us.

Today was the big solar eclipse day that we had all been anxiously awaiting.  We woke up to a totally cloudy day.  I had signed permission slips for all of the kids.  The schools had bought special eclipse glasses for all of the students. I had thoroughly frightened my kids about getting their eyes damaged if they looked without glasses.  We were all set!  It was funny because Austin was getting a little scared about it (I probably didn't even need to warn Austin about the dangers!) and he said, "But if your eyes get blinded from it, can you ever get better?" and Owen quickly piped up from his bed across the room, "Only if Jesus heals your blindness."  It was so cute and so funny.  Then I spent the rest of the time convincing Austin that there was no way his eyes would get damaged!  So much for explaining the dangers!

But the day dawned cloudy and people were pretty devastated.  All morning I kept looking outside.  Finally, right during the eclipse time, the clouds parted.  I really hoped the kids were seeing it. I didn't have any glasses, but I was jumping on the trampoline with Lance and Owen and I noticed a change in the lighting outside.  All the kids came home so excited to tell me about the eclipse.  I'm so glad they got to see it.  Apparently for those in the path of total eclipse, it was one of the most amazing things.  It was neat to read about and hear about those experiences.  A day to remember for sure.

Cloudy day, pre-eclipse

Owen and I went back in the afternoon for his class.  He was so excited and so ready to go.  Lance and I went straight to the grocery store where Lance fell right asleep in the checkout line.  It was so hectic trying to hold him, load the groceries back into the cart and pay.  Somehow we made it home.  Once Miles got home, I left Lance and went to pick up the little boys.  Owen was so excited to tell me about his day.  He was THE only one in his whole class to move his behavior clip all the way to the top so that he could choose a prize from the prize box.  That's pretty good considering everyone is probably on their best behavior the first day of school!  I'm so proud of Owen.  He is so cute and so grown up.

Owen is all ready for Kindergarten!