CKZCJ

It’s baaa-ack! School is now in session. Hopefull we’ll al be able to settle into a routine by the end of this week or the next. CaseyJ is full swing into homework each day and reading, Z Man has yet to find his homework challenging but I have no doubt it will be, he has much more responsibilty that comes with first grade. Feels like a bit more work for mom too and the getting up an hour earlier is getting old already. Z Man seems to have adjusted to a more rigid scheduled just fine, and is just happy as can be when I pick him up each day. He and his daddy went to their first Cub Scout meeting the other night and he’s going to be a Tiger Scout (CaseyJ has decided to sit this out for a year). Football practice started (flag football) and they have their birthday party coming up in two days already!

Things I’ll miss about summer:

• The boys always wore crocs or flip-flops so now my white laundry loads have doubled with all these socks they keep insisting on wearing.
• Not getting up at 6am.
• Trips to the library and our Thursday arts and crafts day.
• Watching the boys swim and have fun in the water.

Things I won’t miss about summer:

• Dirty, grimy feet from those crocs and flip-flops.
• Sweaty, smelly little boys.
• The boys waking up at 6am when I wanted to sleep until AT LEAST 7am.
• The heat, did I say the HEAT!
• Washing a lot of swimming towels on an almost daily basis.

That’s the number of miles away from home we are. After a slighty wild hair this morning, instead of heading East back towards Texas we turned left and headed East towards Arizona. Ultimately with the Grand Canyon in mind. I’ve been without wifi of any kind really, especially while we were in Durango, but I’ve been keeping my notes so that I can retell the story here. Tomorrow will be another sight filled day (Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and parts of Route 66). I haven’t had a lot of time to sort through and process the photos either, except for a handful. We’ll end up in Albuquerque tomorrow late afternoon I suspect and then a stop in Texas around Abilene before making it home on Sunday. Until I get caught up here are some photos –

The boys have soccer practice on Thursdays with games on Saturdays from now until the first weekend in May. This week was Z Man’s first practice becuase he was sick last week. When we walked up to the field two separate parents asked if the boys were both mine then both asked, “how old is he?” Pointing to Z Man. “He’s six, just turned six in September.” “Wow, really” “Yeah, his brother’s only a year younger.” “He’s pretty tall.” Then I get this one. “Is your husband tall?” You know because I’m so short and all. “No, not really, but my dad’s tall and their uncles are tall…” I think I am going to start carrying around his birth certificate as proof. If you watch him for just a second though he certainly has the coordination of a six year old. A little goofy, smart and knows what’s going on, but a little like this guy over there (remember this cartoon?) ->

The boys partnered up and worked together pretty well, during scrimmage they only wanted to pass to each other and we talked about the rest of the team being involved too. I am so excited to watch Casey J actually play in the game. He just has a new sense of confidence. He was even telling his brother how not to kick the  ball. After practice we were talking about how fast Casey J was and we gave him the nickname of  “El Tornado” because he’s so fast and the Z Man decided his was “Hulkman” becuase he was strong. It’ll be fun to see how they work and grow together this year. I hope.

Big C and I never really had to talk about our education choices for the boys. We both sort of somehow agreed on what we wanted without having to discuss it because we were both on the very same page. We knew we wanted them to go to private school. I’m not necessarily snubbing public school, we just didn’t see it as a fit for our family. We found a wonderful Montessori based school close to work where the boys have been attending since they were just shy of 4 years old. Z Man will be 7 this year (holy cow) and will have completed the 1st grade at his school which is as high as it goes, Casey J will stay for next school year to complete his 1st grade there. We are in the somewhat stressful process of finding Z Man’s next school. In the mean time they both bring home homework folders each Monday and they are due each Friday.

We’ve made a routine of working a little harder Monday – Wednesday night so they can have it all done on Wednesday night and then have four days not to worry about homework. We review for any tests on Thursday if we need to. Homework is pretty much my gig, so we’ve formed some certain routines. While it was very stressful at first with Casey J he now cannot wait to get home and do his homework for the day, he has that confidence now.

And the Zach Attack, well homework seems to be pretty darn easy for him if he’s not distracted. I barely have to check his math work. I caught them in the process of doing their work last week,  I’m pretty sure they are forming good study habits even now at this young age and I hope they stick…