Katie lost her “Class of 2030” shirt…and her desire for a cute first day outfit! And I’m so glad I got her a nice haircut yesterday so she could put it in a ponytail.
First day of 8th and 5th!
Category Archives: School
Meet the teachers!
Owen ran into a few friends in his math classroom!
Katie has the same teacher for fifth grade that Owen did (Mrs. McCowen).
Thank you to Gurnee Nails!
Proud to support a local business that supports the local schools by promoting a YES vote on the upcoming referendum!
Last day of school treats!
Culver’s for lunch and Oberweis for dessert (to support the Woodland PTA 50)!!
Katie’s last day of 4th grade!
Owen’s last day of 7th grade!
Someone grew quite a few inches this year—first day vs. last day!
Katie’s wake up puppy
Katie was oversleeping on the last day of school so she got a wake up puppy!
Katie’s 4th grade open house
I loved seeing Katie interact with her teacher—who gave sass right back to Katie! Both her teachers had great things to say about her.
Owen went with us because he wanted to “check out his old stomping grounds” and visited with his third and fifth grade teachers! He’s now taller than both of them!
7th grade open house
Owen’s homeroom teacher, Mrs. Ancona. We love her. Pretend his eyes are open.
I think I’m going to attract boys.
I told Katie that I thought she was going to get a few comments today because she’s dressed up for school pics (vs her usual sweats and ponytail). Her response?
“I think I’m going to attract boys.”
And an outtake:
I’m with the band!
The band boosters got these shirts for the kids! Can you see Owen?
Yes I picked Owen up like this.
This is what might happen if I’m in the middle of doing my hair when I get a phone call from the school nurse to come get Owen because he got hit in the face in gym. (He’s fine overall but just felt a bit “wonky” and wanted to come home.)
At least my makeup was done?
Middle school band competition!
Typically this would be in person but Zoom is still the way of life for a lot of events. So we were all on the stage in the Cafe watching while the kids played in front of the judges on a huge screen!
Grandma and grandpa and the Chang-Yens were able to be there so Owen was excited about that!
First Jazz band concert!
Tonight was the first time the middle school jazz band has been in person since before the Covid lockdown! They performed at the high school with their jazz bands (well, not WITH, but at the same event).
To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect—especially when the band director said they’d only had 14 practices together. But they were actually quite good!
Oh noooo! A sick kid!
Nothing like being woken at 3:30am by a sick kid (“Mom…Mom…I threw up in my bed”) and having to change the sheets twice in 20 minutes. (Which was especially difficult because a teen boy does not take care of his laundry or keep sheet sets together. So he might or might not have one sheet and a dog blanket on his bed.) And try not to get sick myself because that smell was the most vile thing I’ve smelled in my life. (It was half a day before the smell finally left my nose.)
The first load of laundry went in at 4am with more loads to come (sheets, comforter, mattress pad—oh yeah, we learned that his mattress pad wasn’t really waterproof so his mattress got a quick spot cleaning).
I’ve forgotten how awful this is — no one has been sick like this in years.
Thankfully he slept most of the day. Even took a shower and went back to bed.
I had been worried about having to get him tested for Covid — even though we knew it was a stomach bug, everything is a symptom of Covid so it’s mandatory — but the nurse said she knew the stomach bug was going around, so as long as he followed the normal return-to-school-after-sickness protocol (minimum 24 hours with no vomit or diarrhea) then he could come in to the nurse’s office before school and get tested. Excellent!
He was doing pretty well by that night (he was able to eat a little bit) but still tired. And I started to feel a little off so we all went to bed early (plus I was exhausted since I had been up since 3:30am and only had a short nap).
Kid awards!
This post has been sitting in my Drafts folder forever because I was always going to go through an old bin of schoolwork. But if got hidden in the move and I haven’t found it yet. So I just decided to post it anyway.
The kids had been bringing home awards and I was totally slacking on posting them, so here they are!
Holiday Band Concert
This was the first in-person band concert since March 2019!
Owen’s P/T conferences blew us away.
We just had Owen’s parent/teacher conferences and his teachers ALL had amazing things to say—they all commented on his attitude, empathy, helpfulness, friendliness, kindness, work ethic, class participation, grades…everything. After the shitshow of last year, we could not be happier or more proud.
I managed to record a snippet of his math teacher taking about him and this literally just scratches the surface of all the amazing things they said about him…
Owen is on the Honor Roll!
After the shitshow of remote learning last year, seeing this come home seriously gave us chills! We could not be more proud of him! And he was so excited to show us—made us get together and close our eyes!
I’m not generally one for bumper stickers but you can damn well be sure this one is going on my car!
Way to go, Katie!
She was the fastest out of her entire PE class! (She also said the girls beat the boys overall!)
Cross country completed!
Katie loves running so when Cross Country was offered as an intramural I signed her up immediately! It was after school for an hour for eight days. Their goal was apparently to lower their time for the mile—and she did! She dropped a minute off her time!
Dissecting squid!
Katie’s class dissected a squid this week and it made it into the school newsletter! She’s barely in the second photo.
She said it was fun but it really smelled!!
Pre-picture day photo session!
I probably should have redone her pink hair so it didn’t look super washed out…but she’s still cute!
Fill the Drum!
Tonight was Warren Township High School’s Fill the Drum event! All the local middle School bands plus both high school bands perform for the community in a charity event! Owen had to wear something red, white, or blue since they were performing some patriotic songs. He looked so good we had to take a pic! (We typically only see him in t-shirts and jogging pants or shorts.)
I actually got out my big camera and charged the batteries so I could use my telephoto lens! So I had to take a practice shot!
Owen was so excited for this and had a great time!
And here’s a video I found on YouTube! You can actually see my head in the stands (I am about at the 49-yard line behind a lady in pink and you can see me taking pics)!
And here is the tail end of another song they did, in the shape of USA. Owen is in the A towards the bleachers.
Katie’s Curriculum Night
Only one parent was allowed (thanks, Covid) so that means me. Which I’m fine with because then I get to check everything out! I sat at her desk and got to look inside to see if it was a mess (it wasn’t, but her teacher said she makes them all clean their desks because ALL PARENTS LOOK). They all got to design their own name for their desk.
I really love Katie’s teachers and I think she’s gonna have a great year. I especially liked being able to see all the artwork and projects they’ve been working on (hanging in the hallway).
Owen’s homeroom!
We had Curriculum Night tonight. And really it was just me because they were limiting the number of people in person…but barely anyone even showed up! I pulled in early to make sure I got a parking spot (because these nights are generally a hot mess) and the lot was practically empty! I didn’t see one person in the halls the entire walk to his classroom! The good thing is that his Homeroom teacher arrived a few minutes later so I got to have a good 10 minutes with her!
Anyway, he seems to have some great teachers! And here’s some pics of his hallway and classroom!
First day of 4th and 7th!
Back-to-school Katie cut!
Katie’s getting a back to school cut…and I get to sit with her purse because she doesn’t need me standing next to her anymore. Cue motherly crying.
Her hair is FINALLY getting longer! It seriously didn’t grow forever—it was so strange! This is only her fourth cut in her life and every time was just a tiny trim. Needless to say she’s excited!
Last day of 3rd and 6th grades!
They were remote for most of the year but both went back full time at the end (and both did much better)! Here’s looking ahead to more normal fourth and seventh grades!
Look at the furry photobomber!!
Covid teacher appreciation gifts!
Teacher appreciation week was last week but I changed my mind at the last minute and did school-colored Piper Lou tumblers instead of my usual bottle of wine. I was going to do a Binny’s [alcohol store] gift card but figured this would last a lot longer!
Owen had fun picking which one went to which teacher!
