Welcome! Here I go, starting a blog on my site after over a year of silence. Please let me explain it all before I get into our fun little celebration!
You see, the week quarantine started over a year ago is the week we moved out of state. With four kids. And me being 7 months pregnant. It rocked our world. But we made it through the rest of that little school year fine and survived the summer with our newborn aka fifth child (you guys, we really love having a big family!! But newborns are no joke!). Then we found out our children were not returning to in-person school in the fall; that our third and first grader were to zoom into class every morning for 3-4 hours and then receive two hours of homework a day on top of that.
Well, our girls are in a language immersion program, and therefore have two teachers. I'm not sure, but I think they each thought they were in charge of giving out the two hours of homework a day, because there were a lot of days where it ended up being much more than that.
I asked my girls a few times if they wanted to continue with the language immersion program or just opt out of it. They kept choosing to stay in and do the work...or, some of the work (more on that below).
So, for me, everything got put on hold. My second book, even selling my first book, all got shoved to the way distant back of my priorities. My kids needed my help. That is why there has been silence on my end for over a year. People have asked me about my books, and honestly there have been a few times where I've tried to get back into the swing of "authorship" but the time just hasn't been there. Between doing hours upon hours of homework with kids and taking on other projects as a family and taking care of my other little ones.... well, obviously, I made the right choice to take a step back from my books. But oh how I've missed it!
So, on their last day of school, we celebrated! I wanted to throw a fun little party for my kids to celebrate everything they've done this year. They've gone through anger, sadness, frustration, and were forced to learn at this tender age how to prioritize their own time. Their grades are soooo much worse than last year. Like, by a lot! But I couldn't be more proud of them. They didn't give up. Together we worked out the days where they needed to be kids and homework needed to go unfinished, and the days where we needed to sit at the table for hours with only five minute breaks in between each assignment to get things done. We didn't strive for excellence this year. We didn't strive for perfection. We strove for balance. And that is a lesson I hope my children remember.
On the last day of school I chose to celebrate my children. But this is also a celebration for me! Because it is finally time to get back to something I love: my books. There are so many great things to come, so stay tuned!!!
Until then, here are all the fun things we did to celebrate our last day of school! Do you do anything special on your last day? Share your traditions with me! This is our first year doing anything for the last day really, and I think we need to make some of this stuff a yearly thing!
Confetti Cannon
So fun! I've never done one before. Warning: it is much louder than I expected! And yes, if you're wondering, we're still finding confetti everywhere. But it was SO WORTH IT! We all loved it.
Lunch Table
Nothing says a party like balloons for my kids, so obviously it was necessary. I meant to bring a bunch of popsicles and other fun things out, but I couldn't make them wait any longer haha!
Water Balloon Pool
Nothing says summer like water balloons, am I right?! They had such a blast and it was something new from just their little blow up pool. If you're a more organized parent, you'll tell them now throwing the balloons out of the pool for an easy clean up. I'm still finding some stragglers in the back yard. Also worth it.
It's the simple things that get these kiddos excited, and boy am I grateful for that! I'm all about simple and doable fun.
Thanks to everyone who has asked about my books this past year and shared the sweetest pictures and videos of your loved ones loving it. I can't wait to show you what's coming next!