Back To School 2020

Whoa. We just flew through 2 weeks!  I swear I don’t know HOW it happened so fast. Let me recap it for you.  It all pretty much pertains to school. 

The week before school started, our family was able to go on a tour of the new school.  Since no one has ever been inside, they lead some guided tours for families to help ease the first-day jitters for the kids.  They only allowed 10 people in each tour group (and masks were required), but at least we were able to see it.  It is BEAUTIFUL.  Lucy and Piper are both upstairs, but Lucy is on the “Intermediate” side (4th-6th grade), and Piper is on the “Elementary” side (Pre-K- 3rd grade). Sullivan is going to Pre-K at their old school because the new school filled up too fast and we didn’t get a spot for him there.  That’s ok though- he got Piper’s Pre-K teacher and she is the world’s best teacher for preschoolers EVER.  So it all worked out exactly the way it was supposed to.  Going to 2 different schools for drop-off and pick-up each day is a juggle, but we will manage and all 3 of them will be there together next year :)

We had a little neighborhood get-together the Friday before school to celebrate the “last day of Spring Break 2020”....Longest Spring Break EVERRRRR!

The kids then had a very DIFFERENT “meet the Teacher” this year.  We had some technical difficulties, but they did get to “meet” all of their teachers! (Well, in 4th they only meet their homeroom teacher). The teachers were all more than willing to let me get my kiddos pictures “with” them since we couldn’t be there in person. ALL 3 of them are AMAZING. Seriously- the Gilley kids really scored (again!) this year with some of the BEST teachers in our schools! #ItsAGreatDayToBeASpartan

Lucy has Mrs. Landrith as her Homeroom Teacher, math and science teacher and has Mrs. George for English/Reading and Social Studies. Everyone I’ve talked to who had them says they are a “dream team” and Lucy will LOVE them! They are sisters!

Piper has one of the most sought after teachers there is! Mrs. Poston. She is hilarious and laidback and I can tell Piper is going to have a FANTASTIC year!

And Sully has one of our favorite ladies in the world- Mrs. Cotton. We just adore her- it’s always nice to have such a good relationship with a teacher that she gives you her personal cell phone number! His picture with her was so cute that the school featured it on their website!

The night before school....they get to take baths together in Mommy’s BIG tub on special occasions. Although, soon we are going to have to stop the community baths, haha!

And then... it began.

We had 4 days of school before we switched to “distance learning.” I was SO excited for them and loooooved the quiet in my home more than you know. BUT. That doesn’t mean that when they walked into their big new schools without me (I couldn’t even get out of my car!!) I didn’t cry like a baby.... especially for my “baby.” I WAS A WRECK. Sully started school at a REAL school and I couldn’t even walk him to class. The sobs that escaped me when we drove away were ugly. Talk about a rough morning for me on their first day. I knew I’d cry; I always do- that’s why I opted for no makeup- but without being able to walk my babes’ to their classes on the 1st day brought on a whole new kind of heartache for me. HOWEVER, all 3 of them were SO excited! My prayers for them that day was that they felt brave and confident, that they’d be sweet to others and have fun, but my heart was with each one of them.

Sully said over and over “I so ‘cited!”  I was proud of him for being brave!

1996 vs. 2020

1994 vs. 2020

 You have NO IDEA how hard this was for me... watching my baby boy walk away from me....wearing a MASK inside a big school that I couldn’t go into.  It was by FAR the saddest first day of school I’ve ever had with my kids.  It hurt to send all of them away in their masks and in new schools for all 3!  But to send Sully, 4 years old, by himself was brutal. I cried for hours.

But!!!! They all had THE BEST 1st days! Sully’s teacher said he is “a little rowdy but, darn- he’s cute!”Piper’s teacher said “oh my goodness- she is such a sweetheart! She did so good!” And I didn’t hear from Lucy’s teacher but according to Lu, today was AWESOME! First Day 2020 was a major success!

We always end the First day of school with Slushees.  They all had SO much to say to me.  It was non-stop chatter about how amazing their days were! Music to a Mama’s ears.  Sully is IN LOVE with the Pirate Ship on his playground.  Piper said she knew EVERYONE in her class (remember, they only had half the school that week and lots of them are joining her from Kinder and 1st) and the obstacle course on her playground was a blast.  And Lucy said she made a new “best friend” named Blakely.  They hit it off, AND she lives in our ‘hood- she just moved in.  Also, Lucy loved sitting at round tables for lunch, rather than rectangles.  They were in Heaven!

I took pictures of them everyday, because who knows when they’ll get to go back :(

When I was home *alone* I was in Heaven too! The whole 4 days were simply wonderful. After 5 long months, it was such a pick-me-up for my SOUL to have some alone time.... And, since all 3 kids were in school for the first time EVER, I celebrated a bit! One of the days, I even got to have a lunch date with my man. and then TOTAL PEACE AND QUIET while waiting in car-line to pick up the girls because my monster child actually fell asleep in the car!!!! It’s been at LEAST a year since he did that! Pre-K totally wears him out! :)

Please, oh PLEASE let the kids go back after Labor Day! Last week was a dream come true 

On their last day of in-person school, we celebrated a successful week with a trip to our neighborhood park.... And then.... the next day I almost died when I had to do Distance Learning.

So, this was our Distance Learning “classroom”.  It was a MESS- literally AND figuratively. 

I know the teachers have worked so hard on creating them content! I’m not blaming them at all! WE were the ones who couldn’t seem to get it together.... lots of emotions in our household that day!!! Try having 3 kids online at once while they all need me 100% of the timed.  One of them has ADHD and could not get her stuff completed because everything is a distraction and being online is just a lot for me.  One of them has high anxiety and feeling like she had to complete all of these assignments online stressed her out BIG TIME.  She cried soooo many times.  When the teacher was explaining certain things and it glitched out or she couldn’t hear something, she would get so overwhelmed and leave the chat just to go cry.  And last but not least- have you ever tried to teach a 4 year old an online lesson?? Getting him to sit in front of a screen is like trying to nail jello to a tree.  It’s just not going to work for us.  He DOES have a physical binder full of papers he can work on while he is here, and he gets to work on cutting and writing his name and alphabet, but making him watch their lessons everyday is a joke.  I know we will get better and it will get easier and kinks will be smoothed out.  But for now? It was literally Hell.  Heaven for 4 days, Hell for 1.  Now we have a WHOLE week off to recover, but then it’s back to 100% distance learning the week after that until they give us the OK to go back.  I honestly don’t know HOW I am going to manage..... :(  This week we will swim a lot, maybe go to the park if it’s not too hot and try to relax as much as possible until we start full time school.  In the meantime, I will be praying SOOOO much for this to all just END and we can move on with our lives!