School Year 2023-24: Week One

 Well, I can’t believe it has been nearly two years since I posted here!  I am really going to try and be consistent about posting here once a week.  Consistency is my goal for life, in my diet, exercise, everything.  So check back in 3-4 weeks to see how that is going.  Lol!

School year 2023-24: I feel like I am in a new season of my parenting journey, with the girls in high school and Drew in middle school.  The biggest change is that Lauren is driving, and I seriously miss her.  We barely see her and I don’t get that car time with her anymore.  It was very strange seeing her and Ali drive off on their first full day of school. (Side note she was not able to drive on the first day at school because she was grounded from driving but we won’t go into the details of that here.  I don’t think any of us will forget what happened.  It was more a lesson in trust than anything.)

For the past two years, we have had three kids at three different schools, on three different schedules involved in three different activities.  This year, the girls are at the same school AND Lauren can drive them to school every day, and home or to activities a couple of days.  Each of them still has their own activity, but Lauren is able to transport herself to her cheer duties, and she can take Ali to gym one afternoon.  I thought I was not going to have to make any trips to pick Drew up at school; however, his bus drops him off too late to get to soccer practice on time twice a week AND he cannot take his trombone on the bus, so I will have to take him on Mondays and pick him up on Fridays, so I hope he does a lot of trombone practicing on the weekends.

Drew is liking 6th grade so far, he has a couple of friends in each of his classes, and he eats lunch with a few of his friends that he doesn’t have any classes with.  He was definitely ready for the independence of middle school and the freedom that comes with being older.  He is playing soccer, and has moved up to 11v11 on a bigger field this year, so that will come with more running but will be good for him to show his knowledge of the game.  He really enjoyed playing baseball in the spring, and he improved A LOT over the season, but he decided he was a bit intimidated by the big field that he would have played on in the fall, and I have to say I am not sure we could have added that to the rota anyways.  He is trying something new by playing trombone in the school band, which is exactly what you should do in middle school!

Ali is a high schooler!!!  She was very nervous about starting at a new school, but she has done well and met some friends over the summer at freshman orientation in addition to a couple of Lauren’s friends who have sisters who are also freshmen.  She and Lauren tried to get into the same World Geo class, but the dean put the kaboosh on that, which is probably a good thing.  They have the same teacher, just different blocks so they can still study together.  She is Level 6 gymnast, and is hoping for an injury-free rockstar season this year.  She is all about skincare and makeup, and she is going to be doing hair and makeup for the musical which will be great for her!

Lauren has entered the most important year of her high school career: Junior Year.  She has challenged herself and is taking a couple of AP and DC classes.  She actually admitted that she was excited to go back to school this year.  She is most definitely loving the freedom of having her license.  She is throughly enjoying being a member of the Saint X cheer team, and we had the best time watching her cheer at her first football game yesterday. I had no idea how hard cheerleaders work and how much time they invest in learning all the cheers and the diddies and the dances.  Not only will she cheer at the football and basketball games, but the team will also go to Orlando to compete in the UCA Cheer competition.  She also auditioned and made the dance ensemble of the musical, so she may have to take a short break from her job at Olive Garden.  She is a busy girl!

I am still being the mom taxi, but I have also joined a “social” tennis team, which is so much fun!!!  I have met so many fabulous ladies and gotten to know some of my neighbors even better, and I have improved my tennis game and fed my competitive spirit.  And I have an obsession with tennis skirts, I cannot stop buying them!  They are just so stinkin cute!

Brad is loving his job: it is challenging and busy and he works with a great group of people.  He will be travelling a bit more this fall, so I am so thankful to have another driver in the house.