Shoe shopping and filling up backpacks and routine planning are taking over our lives over here! The house is a wreck, we haven’t cooked since who knows when, and Chloe really needs to get to the groomers, but time waits for no one!

I’ve broken these prep events into side quests that were completed during that crazy first week.

Back to school shopping

My dear grandma took the kids shoe shopping and a treat from McDonalds. Isn’t she glowing like an angel?!

And she was an angel for wandering the aisles of Kohls trying to find the right shoe sizes with me and the kids. Thank you so much for the shopping date, Umma!

Back to School night for the kids

One of the highlights, of course, is getting to meet the new teachers!

Arrow was filled with trepidation about meeting a new teacher. She doesn’t like change, at all. But she warmed up, just a little bit, when her teacher gave her a cool book about dragons to read on the first day. 🙂

When asked how he felt about his new teacher, Archer shrugged and asked if it was time for popsicles lmao.

We are really lucky to share the school with Taylor’s cousins and their kids!

Built in buddies right there. Really grateful to have family nearby.

Back to School night for Taylor

We decorated his bulletin boards just before students started trickling in.

Last year’s set up was themed primarily around the color ORANGE. It was hilariously hideous. Luckily, pinterest and nitpicky wives exist. 🙂

Decoration credit to Rise Over Run Teachers 🙂 My heart is in social studies but Rachael makes math teaching look so fun!

Piano lessons

This technically isn’t related to school, but I’m throwing it in because it happened the same week. Arrow jumped right back into piano with her wonderful teacher. Archer just joined this semester! He’s on a trial basis for now, because we’re not sure if he’s totally ready. So far, so good, though!

Soccer Practice

Ok, this is a big new thing for all of us, and possibly the most stressful lol. We have 3 new soccer players in the house!

And two new coaches as well!

Tay and I had two days of training before the first soccer game came around. This also happened right alongside piano lessons and back-to-school business and wrapping up my internship duties.

Yeah. It’s been chaotic.

Taylor coached soccer way back in Virginia and loved it. I was content to sit on the sidelines and read a book. This year, Arrow’s team needed a second hand, so I signed on. Thank goodness for my partner, because he actually knows how soccer is played. And thank goodness for my husband who can quickly fill me in on drills and kid rotation.

But these kids are loving it. Especially when they share a team with their best friends from school!

Phew. What a week! Excited to settle into the normal – calm – routine. 🙂