Before We Got Down Here

I was organizing pictures today and realized I let July go by without blogging (intentionally), but I have some fun pictures and stories to share, so here's a "dump" post on a few things that happened in July while we were between homes and what's it.

Fourth of July we went to a bbq at a friend of Josh's house. Before we left his wife gave me some dessert to take with me. We left, and all was good until we hit Route 80. As soon as my car started picking up speed, Zeke and Finn both went, "Whoa! What was THAT?!" When asked what they were talking about, they said something white went flying past and went splat on the road. I looked at Josh and said, "Where's my dessert?" I'm sure you've figured out where my dessert was. If you guessed all over Route 80 you're correct! Not only was it all over Route 80 though, it was all over the one side of my car:

Ohhh yeahhh.

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The boys did VBS (Vacation Bible School) at the same place they did it last year, and had a BLAST. They put the kids on a stage the last night to perform the songs they learned throughout the week, and that may have been a mistake. After Finn's dance recital, the kid LOVES the stage and totally rocked out all night. 

Zeke is right in front of him and Deacon is off to the left (as you look at the video) a little bit. Finn stole the show. Quite a few moms afterwards told me how much they enjoyed watching him up there, and how much fun he must be to have around.

Yes. Yes he is.

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The day after our movers finished packing us up, the fire department was on our street doing drills. They asked Josh if they could use our place for a few minutes and Josh said, "Of course!" In return, they let Finn check out any fire truck of his choosing. The fire department on Picatinny are seriously some of the coolest and nicest guys. 

We also found a frog hopping about our front yard that day. That's not a ground breaking event, but it was pretty neat.

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Josh got an award before we left. 

Finn got wigged out by the stairs we had to climb to get to the award ceremony, so he was uber cranky until I made a joke of him being in my way as I was trying to take pictures. My joke led to this happening while the ceremony was going on. 

At least Finn was happy and laughing again. Right?

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We also spent some time at playgrounds:

at Josh's parents' house, which means the beach:

and I got to meet my niece, Kara:

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All in all, a great month where we spent 1/3 of it in our house, 1/3 in temporary lodging and 1/3 at Josh's parents'. We had fun everywhere we went and that is pretty much July 2015 in a nutshell.

The First Week

Everything started this week: school for the boys, soccer for the boys, Bible study for me. It was great getting back into the swing of things, and I'm thinking it's going to be a really good year. I've managed to keep myself busy every morning so far, so I it hasn't completely sunk in that I'm home alone all day every day now.

So, Tuesday was the first day of school. Zeke is in 4th grade this year, Deacon is in 3rd, and Finn started KINDERGARTEN!?!

They do full day kindergarten here, so it was a bit of an adjustment for Finn. As soon as we got home from school he just lost it. He snapped at Zeke then put himself in his room. I went to check on him after he'd been up there for a few minutes and said, "Monkey, you okay?" To which he replied in the deepest, flattest voice he can do, "No. And I'll never be okay ever again." OH! This child. I had to leave so I didn't laugh in his face. Eventually he was okay, and came back down in a better mood about 45 minutes later. The subsequent days have gone better.

Tuesday was also Zeke's first day of soccer. He has a really great coach and it seems like a good group of kids. He had a blast running around and learning some new things. At one point he ran over to get a drink and said, "Soccer is SO much fun! And so is school!" And then he ran away. A dad sitting next me said, "Wow. How did you get him to like school so much?" I informed him that we're a bunch of nerds and books and math and learning are some of our favorite things. He said he was going to start sending his boys over to my house in hopes we'll rub off on them. Ha!

Wednesday Finn and Deacon have soccer. Poor Finn. Apparently someone decided the 5 year olds should have practice from 5:15-6:15 (dinnertime), games usually at noon or one (lunch/nap time), and have practice on a field that has ZERO shade. It's still hot and humid most days here, so 3 minutes into Finn's practice he was dripping sweat and ready to go home. Hopefully it'll start cooling off soon. Or rain every Wednesday from now through November 14th. (Did I say that out loud? Oops.)

After Finn's practice is Deacon's practice (at a different location). Deacon's age group had the most kids (30 something) and the least coaches (1) sign up, so their games will be a little different. I'm not sure how it'll work out, but the coach, I was told, used to coach at either the collegiate or semi-professional level, so I have faith he knows what he's doing. He does have some parent volunteers, so hopefully it'll be a fun season and Deacon won't get lost in the crowd.

Then, yesterday, PWOC started. I met some ladies, had some good food, and signed up to take a study on the books of Joshua and Judges. I'm super pumped as I love the Old Testament and history and what's it. 

Saturdays are soccer game days. I think of the 8 or 9 Saturdays they play, ONE of those weeks is a week where there aren't any time conflicts. I think there's also one Saturday where all 3 play at the same time in different locations. Yee-haw! This is going to be fun!

And that, as they say, is that. A good first week getting started and getting things underway. Zeke came out of school yesterday, gave me a hug and said, "I think this is going to be a very good school year." I think so too, and I'm looking forward to it all.