Saturday, August 2nd: Pull into the driveway from our road trip to Colorado. Unpack. Do several loads of laundry. Get re-oriented. Write a Welcome Home “speech” for church to welcome back the Warners from sabbatical. Before we left, this week had the potential to be off-the-charts crazy, so we planned for my Momma to come into town to help. A couple of things were able to be dropped from the calendar, which was incredibly freeing. Momma still came to help, but we were able to play more than we expected before school started.

Sunday, August 3rd: WELCOME BACK, WARNER FAMILY! Oh, how we celebrated as a church that morning! The staff and Vestry were able to gather at their house that evening for an amazing paella dinner and hard-core laughter and sharing about the last four months.

Monday, August 4th: Speech therapy and a baseball game. 

Tuesday, August 5th: Momma arrives, praise the Lord!

Vestry meeting, special financial meeting, swim lessons for KJ, swim team for Brennan, KJ’s 3 year old check up.

Thursday, August 7th: Speech therapy and swim lessons for KJ. Swim team for Brennan, Missions Team meeting.

Friday, August 8th: 

We love our Meesie! Brennan got to go to Acrotex for the morning while us girls had a splendid time roaming through IKEA. Meesie had to leave today, and we were so sad to see her go. She helped me tremendously this week, and we had a lot of fun together!

Today would have been Molly’s 13th birthday.

Saturday, August 9th: The event we were going to host was moved, so we ended up having a free Saturday! This guy knows how to do it.

Monday, August 11th: Meeting with Cliff. Speech therapy where the three of us got to play “Three Little Pigs” with KJ!

Play date with some good buddies we haven’t seen in a long time.

Clean up big, muddy mess from the big, muddy dog before leaving for Missions Team meeting.

Tuesday, August 12th: 

No words.

We discovered that one of Matt’s coworker’s sons was going to the same school as Brennan, so the dads/sons went to a Round Rock Express baseball game to give the boys a familiar face to await them at their new school.

Wednesday, August 13th: Bowling and lunch with some of our favorite people to play with. A perfect last summer hooray!

 Thursday, August 14th: 

10 a.m. MEET THE TEACHER!!

4:30 p.m.: Kindergarten orientation for parents

And thus, we were ushered into kindergarten and all that comes with this new season of parenting/scheduling. I thoroughly enjoyed both events, grateful for Brennan’s kind teacher whom we’ve come to deeply appreciate and enjoy. And then a meeting that had school supplies to organize? Clear instructions and syllabi for the semester? I mean, this Meyers-Briggs “J” girl who loved school was in a very happy place! 

Friday, August 15th:

I don’t know who was on the table first: the puppy or the children.

Drop Brennan off at Acrotex. Get Kensie situated with a babysitter and grab lunch with my friend, Amy, to celebrate the upcoming arrival of her third baby. Pack like a mad woman, which is always what happens the day I leave for a retreat. Kiss my precious family goodbye as I head out to my last Vestry retreat with an amazing team. To have a focused time to hear Cliff talk about his sabbatical was something I’d been anticipating for a while. 

Saturday, August 16th:

The usual “please send me a picture of my babies” picture Matt sends me when I’m away from home.

The last baseball game of the season!

Monday, August 18th: Our last official day of summer.

Speech therapy. Then a special treat at Foodie Kids where they can decorate their own cupcakes.

Tuesday, August 19th: FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!

I don’t think he’s had this nice of a breakfast since.

Normally, Matt drive him to school early on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Kensie and I will pick him up. You better believe that on the first day of school I was in a second car following along to walk him inside. My baby boy!! He was brave and excited. 

And apparently gave his first day a ‘two thumbs up’.

Wednesday, August 20th: 

First day of homeschool. It took us about 6 weeks to get into the groove. I can’t tell you how many times those first few weeks I asked Brennan, “Is that something you would do with Ms. Carlson?” The answer has never been a ‘yes’. We’ve had our ups and downs with this process for sure, and Brennan knows more of my weaknesses and I know more of his. It’s also been a privilege being a part of his learning process in a very hands-on, personal way. Little KJ has gleaned a lot listening to us as well. Most of the time she colors or plays with her dolls, but her ears are attuned to what we’re doing and likes to participate as well.

Thursday, August 21st: 

KJ and I have lunch with our dear, “Ms. Polk” at her office. Speech therapy. Pick up Brennan from school. Try not to absolutely lose my mind and explode in frustration (more because of the naughty, naughty puppy)!! It took me almost an hour to clean his mess. Missions team meeting.

Friday, August 22nd:

We were apparently at Chick fil A.

Saturday, August 23rd: 

Kensie and I meet our friends, Lauren and Charlotte, for a lovely girls breakfast at The Steeping Room.

Sunday, August 24th: 

“Welcome Home” Sunday at church! Who doesn’t have fun when you get to have your face painted?

Matt and I get to have a date over at Bill and Yvonne’s, whom we could sit and talk to for hours and hours. We were spoiled with cake and ice cream set at a table for royalty.

Monday, August 25th: 

My little girl’s first ever dance class with Miss Lori.

Popsie comes for a little visit, bringing us lunch from Rudy’s and taking us to the library!

Tuesday, August 26th: 

Still getting used to the routine.

Having a tasty treat after school is my sly way of pumping Brennan for information about his day at school.

Thursday, August 28th: 

Meet Kensie’s pre-school teacher!

This was an emotional moment for me. First, it was marking my baby’s first time going to “school”, and I’ve tried to savor every bit of time with her these past 3 years. Second, her pre-school was in a season of transition that we were unsure how was going to play out. When I found out that Kensie had one of Brennan’s same teachers, Miss Heidi, I burst into tears of joy and thanksgiving. She had no idea why I was crying, but it was a simple yet significant confirmation that it will all be ok. It was a big deal. Matt was teary, too <grin>.

Meeting with Cliff; little Aggie girl (in honor of college football weekend) comes along happily.

Someone is always up a for a Gigi’s cupcake.

Friday, August 29th: 

I love them.

Saturday, August 30th: 

Vet appointment and obedience school for Gatsby. Yard work with this beauty.

He’s tuckered after a big morning.

Sunday, August 31st: 

Church, lunch with a girlfriend, and a birthday party for a buddy all not attended because Brennan was sick with a tummy bug. Drop off clothes for the consignment sale (gives me a chance to read a book while waiting). AND...

HAPPY FALL!!