The first month of school has been the best.
My days have filled up to the max with such good, life fulfilling things!
This year I took on the role of volunteer coordinator for the school. My passion and vision is to restore the community that was lost during the pandemic. I love our school, West Hills Christian, and part of the reason it is such a great place to be is the amazing community. I am hopeful that the walls and rooms will once again be filled with parents! There are many ways to volunteer daily.
One day I volunteered to serve pizza at lunch.
It is really interesting to be in the cafeteria. This is when the kids let loose and their true colors shine socially. It is truly a joy to be a part of the lunch time shenanigans. I also get insight on who they sit with. I don't know why, but I assumed that my three boys all sat together at lunch.
They definitely do not!
Caleb sits with a table of boys and apparently leads a "magic club." He amuses the table with fun tricks and illusions and encourages the other boys to try their skills. It is a table bursting with laughter and activity.
Levi sits with the jocks. The boys have cool haircuts and cool shoes. They score goals and make baskets at recess.
I found James sitting with some nice second grade boys. They seemed friendly and happy to have James, a cool 3rd grader, sitting at their table.
All three boys mustered up the courage to still give me a hug and show enthusiasm that their mom was in the lunch room.
During Evelyn's lunch I found her alone. Apparently she didn't want to sit with her friends because she knew I was there and wanted to sit and visit with just me...or maybe she didn't want me to sit with her and her friends. Either way, it was just Evelyn and I who sat and chatted for awhile before I gave her a hug and told her to go back to her friends. She kept making eyes at them and I knew she was curious about what she was missing.
Soccer season is in full swing. Every single day this fall has been blue skies and sunshine. I have never remembered a fall-or any soccer season-so lovely. The boys have absolutely been killing it this year in soccer. So far their team has scored 47 goals with zero scored on them. It probably has to do with the fact that the three of them, plus the goalie who lives down our street, play soccer in his backyard year round. They are totally dominating the league.
It's a little embarrassing how good they are, but also really exciting!
Evelyn is totally excelling at soccer as well. She has really improved this year and consistently passes and scores, running up and down the field. At times she gets frustrated because her team in not as good as the boys, but I've been encouraging her to be the one who builds others up and stays positive.
So, our weekends have been full of soccer and our social calendar is bursting at the seams. John and I also ran our third and final half marathon and we did the best we could have done. We both achieved PRs and finished the face at 1:41.
Sometimes I take a pause on all of this and just want to enjoy the day. Because the days have been so glorious, I've been trying to get outside.
John and I have been trying to be international about going out for coffee or walks while the kids are in school.
Last Sunday we took a family bike ride to downtown Tualatin to have lunch at a new pizza spot that opened a few months ago.
A simple bike ride is not really simple when you have six bikes to maintain. Someone inevitably has flat tires or faulty chains that need to be fixed. This time it was my turn. When we finally got everyone mounted on their bikes, my chain fell off and both my tires deflated. Admittedly I have not taken care or ridden my bike in the past year. But, not wanting to be the reason to stop the family fun, I hopped on an old street bike we had sitting around under the deck. It had no gears and only foot breaks. Needless to say, I worked the hardest on the trek to the pizza place. But I was determined. About half way there, Caleb toppled over on his bike, skinning his arm and knee. I almost called this memory making experience to a halt, but we preserved and it was worth the alfresco pizza lunch.
And with Halloween right around the corner, we've officially been "booed" (twice actually) Our neighborhood has this tradition during the halloween season to ring a doorbell of a home and leave behind a bag of goodies. The recipient is supposed to then "pass it on." The highlight for our family though is being the one that does the "booing".
Elaborate plans are made; black hoodies are adorned; and excited children shriek and run through the black of night ringing door bells and running away.
The adults have their own tradition too however; and we have yet to be "boozed" this year. ;)
I have a feeling it's going to be a great Halloween......
