By the time this is posted we will officially be 4 days into our back to school routine! I forgot how to do it! I have a lot of emotions about school this year for obvious reasons.
Last week they went back on Friday. It was almost like a… play date. This week it is a full week back!
Considering we have had 6 months off I’m really happy with the graduated start. Last week we started dance. Over the summer HBear has been taking extra ballet classes. Her ballet teacher has organized private lessons for a group of 3 kids that love ballet. The lessons are part of the Royal Academy of Dance or RAD. The goal is to take her RAD exams in the summer of 2021. So, she is taking all of her regular dance classes plus RAD plus she is now old enough to add pointe to her schedule and she has been asked to be an assistant teacher in a younger ballet class (SBean’s class!!!!!). When you add up all the private classes and her regular classes she is at the studio for 12 classes a week. In January we will add her contemporary solo as well.
Another thing that really helped with back to school this year was, preparation. With so many unknowns out there, to keep a handle on our very busy life, I always find it is best to be prepared for the things you can control so that when stuff you can’t control knocks on your door, you are as ready as you can be! So, last week I did the summer to winter switch over. We emptied our closets of clothes that didn’t fit anymore and of the majority of our summer clothes. Of course we left a few because our temperatures are still in the high 20’s but for the most part the Girls will not be wearing beach dresses to school. The Girls tried on all their winter clothes from last year and I did multiple loads of laundry, filling their closets back up with sweaters and jeans. We switched over pajamas, socks, shoes, and went through their dance clothes as well! We emptied and washed their backpacks and filled them with labeled school supplies. We did deep cleans on the bedrooms and got up all the shelving and things that will help them stay organized this year up and ready to go. I even changed over my Scentsy bars from summer to winter 😂.
With all that preparation, you would think I would be prepared for this week. However, nobody prepared me for how much I would miss them! After months of incessant chatter, sibling squabbles, homeschooling and moving into our new home… I thought, “I can’t wait for back to school!” Nothing prepared me for Monday, the first day of full school and full dance was like I gut shot. HBear left the house at 8:20am and didn’t get home until 8:45pm! That was pretty much the longest I’ve been away from her since… I don’t know maybe New York last year?! LOL The house is SO quiet. I miss the fights and the chatter and the music and the laughter. On Monday morning, SBean and I walked with HBear to the corner and she went right and we went left. HBear couldn’t wait to get going and I had to fight her for a kiss! SBean looked so sad! “Rowy can I have a hug? I will miss you.“ 😢
SBean feels hard. The night before school started she was up all night! Nervous, excited, scared. All the things I was feeling too actually 😆 now that we are a few days into it I can add one more feeling to my list, grief.
I feel grief. I feel the loss of my bubble. The loss of control that I had on my children’s safety. Once they walked out of those doors I no longer have the power to keep them safe. I have to trust them to make adult decisions. I have to trust them to maintain handwashing, social distancing, and proper mask use. This isn’t a typical school year and I don’t feel the typical way I usually do. I am grieving morning cuddles and less structured days. I have a canker again. I haven’t had a canker in 6 months and now I do.
Anyways, that’s what our family did to get prepared for this school year. We took control of the things we can so that we are ready for anything else 2020 has to throw us. Like smoke and wildfires which I will talk about next week 😂. Side note to the 2020 gods or whoever is out there pulling the strings, this is not a challenge merely a brave affirmation 😜. I mean just starting the school year on September 11, 2020 already feels like a bad omen
😂. However, we are determined to make this challenging year, the BEST one yet!
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #189: Personality Beef HERE This week we conclude our holiday & prep for school. Topics: foul language, ransom notes, birth, the Coquihalla, Sunflowers, maps, corn maze, equality & Global Warming.
Sheet Pan Honey BBQ Sausage Dinner
Adapted from Simply Scratch
3 cloves garlic, minced (separated)
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sriracha (I used tabasco sauce)
1 package turkey kielbasa or use beef
1 cup green beans, trimmed
1 yellow onion, cut into 1/8s
Preheat your oven to 400° and line a rimmed sheet pan with parchement (or silpat mat) and spray with olive oil spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine the 2 cloves of garlic, onion powder, honey, soy sauce, ketchup, dijon, worcestershire, vinegar and hot sauce. Set aside.
Add the potatoes and spray with more oil and top with 1 clove of chopped garlic and season with salt and pepper. Roast on the middle rack for 20 minutes.
In a large bowl, toss the green beans, carrots, onion and sausage with 1/2 of the glaze.
Once the potatoes have roasted, add the sausage/veg mixture and roast for 15 minutes.
Serve with extra sauce on the side.
Adapted from I Am Baker
1 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cups light brown sugar, tightly packed
2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag butterscotch chips
Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a 9×9-inch pan by lightly greasing it.
Combine melted butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir well.
Add the eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Stir in the vanilla extract.
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter and egg mixture until completely combined. Stir in butterscotch chips.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes until edges just begin to turn golden brown.
I have been taking my morning cuddles whenever I can! An extended morning cuddle, talking about our day and our dreams from the night before is some thing I am already missing. I’m trying to remember how lucky I was to have this pause in life where I was able to have these opportunities where I wouldn’t have if this year was anything resembling normal 😂. I wrote out our dance schedule so that we all know what is happening each and every day. By writing out the schedule for all to see I better not hear, “I didn’t know”!!! Everyone knows. Everyone has access to the schedule. The first day back to dance was a very very happy day in our house! It was the first sign that things were getting back to “normal” it was the first time the Girls saw their friends and were able to enjoy their favourite activity!
Prior to school I wanted to clean up all of our loose ends like taking back our library books and getting new ones. We also went to Kelowna to get HBear fitted for her very first pair of pointe shoes. This was a big deal for her! The woman fitting her had so many beautiful compliments for her feet and her turn out and her plies 😂 All words I am just beginning to learn! HBear was in her ballerina glory 😀 While HBear is working her butt off to be a ballerina, SBean is my little Pirate 😂. We also opened up my fall Fab Fit Fun box. HBear did an unboxing video, she absolutely loves opening up all the fun goodies with me!
Finally, this weekend we completed the Girl’s bedrooms. While we had the time during isolation, we didn’t go out to buy accessories and to the hardware store to buy shelving. Slowly we have been collecting all the items to make their bedrooms efficient and beautiful at the same time. I am so happy with the way they turned out! I truly believe they will be able to grow with these rooms for many years and they’re big enough that they can move back into them when they are young adults because let’s get real here, I know how these things work 😉😂.
