So….the kids went back to school! And it’s been pretty great so far. There was a moment of panic when the district released a back to school video at the end of the summer to show them what it would look like with the new social distancing and mask policies, but they don’t spend 100% of their day wearing masks like we’d feared. Whatever they are doing seems to be working though, it’s been 10 weeks, and school is still in session! It’s been great for the kids to be back at it. In home instruction didn’t really work that well for us. We tried, but it must take special kind of person to get their kids to cooperate. I really only had success with Anna. One out of three isn’t good!

So…better late than never….our back to school pics. lol.

Anna looks exhausted because she got up so dang early! She did that every day for about 6 weeks, and finally stopped. She was just so excited to be back at school!

For a while Meredith really preferred the face shield thing, and when they got easier to find I actually bought her some cuter ones made for children with animals and tiaras and stuff on them, but now she seems to have conformed to the simple mask l… — For a while Meredith really preferred the face shield thing, and when they got easier to find I actually bought her some cuter ones made for children with animals and tiaras and stuff on them, but now she seems to have conformed to the simple mask like everyone else.

And that was about all I had for school until just a couple of weeks ago when Anna came home wanting to do a storybook pumpkin. The kids have come home with the fliers before, and I always try to “lose” them quickly. The last thing I ever wanted was another project…especially one that was “just for fun”. Yikes! But Anna begged this year, which was a new level of effort on her part. And, I’m working from home for now, so I’ve got a little more time on my hands and a lot more patience. So, I okayed it. She’s also in 5th grade now, so I figured it would not be a Mom project, which was always what deterred me from this project in the past.

Anna’s a huge Dog Man fan, like many 5th graders, but she didn’t want to do a typical Dog Man pumpkin, so she decided she wanted to do 80-HD. I thought that was rather clever of her, and I also love the fact that 80-HD doesn’t have a face that would have been hard to replicate! We were told we couldn’t use a real pumpkin this year, which at first annoyed me, but in hind sight, I think that made things easier for us. We worked right up until the last night, and Anna was pretty stoked with the results!

This is actually 80-HD’s superhero alter ego Lighting Dude. He’s not on the book cover, so if you aren’t familiar with the character, you’ll just have to take my word for it, we did a great job! :)

Well, since we aren’t doing any sports right now, this is about all that we’ve had going on. I guess I should take some photos of the kids doing homework or something! Haha.