Police Camp for Eliza

Eliza signed up for the police camp that Wylie ISD holds in the summer for kids who are in 7th going into 8th grade.  She has had an interesting and crime scene investigation, so this was a fun experience for her.

Westley also did this camp.  Travis would have, were it not for COVID.  In fact, they had invited the 8th graders going into 9th to it also because they didn't get to do it last summer, but he decided not to do it.   It's a good camp and the only cost is the cost of the shirts.

Westley's LDS Prom

Westley turned sixteen only a few weeks after LDS Prom his sophomore year and couldn't go. His junior year LDS Prom got canceled due to covid happening. So now, as a senior, he got to go. They held the prom. He went with a big group and they didn't really have dates. He had a good time and I'm glad he got to go. He was still recovering from his tonsil surgery though, so he didn't enjoy it as much as he could have.

In Person Concert!!

What a year it's been with Covid restrictions.  All of the kids' concerts have been virtual.  They record them at school and then we watch the recording later.  But, we were so fortunate that restrictions have lifted enough to have an in-person concert.  This was the pre-UIL competition concert that the band usually holds.  It was at Wylie East and they actually allowed parents to watch.  Listening to live music in person is SO much better than watching it virtually online.  I was happy about the concert but after being there, I was reminded so much of how great live and in person events are.  I hope to see more of this to come very soon.

Road Trip to Austin

School continues with covid restrictions, although our district has been better than others. The elementary kids are not required to wear masks, as the CDC has suggested that kids under 10 aren't at high risk for serious illness from covid and our elementary schools only go up through 4th grade, during which they turn ten. The older kids have to wear masks, but they have continued with all activities, although there have been quite a few things canceled due to covid quarantines for teams. But, when we found out that Jonah's fourth grade would be doing a "virtual" field trip to Austin and San Antonio, we decided virtual isn't good enough. So we took a day during Spring Break and drove to Austin and then back in the same day. We walked around the Capitol building, not allowed inside due to covid, and looked at the governor's mansion through the fence because all of that has been closed off as well. We ate at In-N-Out in Austin. It was a quick trip but full. Caleb and Westley were working so they did not come.

 

Kite Flying

One thing that was really nice about having COVID and Corey being quarantined was having him home for all things Christmas. Usually he's working the week up to Christmas every day. But he was home. He spent time shredding the huge stack of shredding. He wrapped all the presents well before Christmas Eve, a first! Usually we are up until midnight on Christmas Eve wrapping presents. And he was able to hang out with the kids and fly kites. Luckily, none of us got seriously ill with the virus, so we spent time outside when the weather was nice. It was a windy, nice day a few days before Christmas, so we took some kites we found in the garage over to the strip of land near the railroad tracks and flew the kites all over. It was a perfect day for kite flying! The wind brought in a cold front though, so the next days were really cold!

 

State UIL Marching Competition

We got to go to the state UIL marching competition in San Antonio at the Alamodome to watch That Wylie Band perform. Westley and Caleb went over to the school at 5 am to take the band buses down to San Antonio.  Corey and I got the other kids off to school and then we left for San Antonio with Nathan.  It was a five hour drive.  We stopped at Buc-ee's for some popcorn snacks and then when we got to San Antonio, we stopped at Denny's for lunch.  Then we went over to the Alamodome and watched several bands perform before Wylie came out.  After Wylie's performance, we left. 

 We stopped at Buc-ee's on the way back for gas and wanted to get dinner but didn't find anything we wanted.  We ended up stopping at a Wendy's a little while later for some dinner.  The sad thing was that on the way home, Corey stopped being able to taste.  Since that is a symptom of COVID, he realized he needed to get a test done and stay home from work on Wednesday too.  I think I already had it because I had been feeling kind of blah with a headache and some sinus congestion and pain and had a little bit of the chills, but it was so minor that I really didn't think much of it until he lost his taste.  Because he tested positive, Westley and Caleb were excluded from work for 20 days and Corey for 10.  So that was starting on December 15th  and going through Christmas and after for the boys.  Annmarie tested positive the next day.  We didn't get anyone else tested, though are certain more of us had it. 

 

Marching Band Performance

The first home football game was cancelled due to covid19 cases and a lot of the football team being quarantined.  We were disappointed because we were looking forward to a football game and also the band was going to play at the game.  But the band and drill team decided to have a performance that night anyway since they didn't have the quarantine numbers that the football team did.  So it was called Band and Pacesetter Night and we got to see the band perform what they've been practicing for the last two months.  We couldn't find Westley and Caleb in it at all though.  A few times we thought we saw them but weren't sure.  They are supposed to have three more home games to perform at but there's always a possibility that those games might not happen.  We'll see.  And they have a marching contest in November, so I hope that still happens.  We shall see.  It's been a disappointment for Westley's senior year, that's for sure.  

Afternoon Walk

Nathan asked me if we could go on a walk with Willy. So we did! It's so nice to have this time to spend with him. This was all before the bad news broke out. I got an email just a few hours later that Westley had probably been a close contact to someone who tested positive for covid19, so he had to quarantine from school for two weeks. He went to work anyway but when he got home, Corey told him that he needed to quarantine from work too. With Corey being a store manager, if Westley were to get covid and knew he should quarantine but didn't, Corey could possibly get heat for that. So Westley told his work and plans on taking sick time for all the time he won't get to work. I'm super annoyed by it because there's no way to verify he was close to this person. Just supposedly he was. At least he will be back for when the band performs at their first football game of the year (only barely though, he can go back on October 15th, and that's the day they perform!).

 

Cars, School, and Letter Jackets

School started this week, so naturally something had to go wrong with the car. On Monday, I was enjoying time at the park with friends and all seven kids came along, a rare event indeed. When we went to leave, the car wouldn't start. It wouldn't even make a noise. Some nice people there, who ended up to be members of the church in Sachse ward, helped me out. They took Travis and Eliza to Cooper Junior High to pick up their chromebooks. They got their family patriarch who knows about cars to come and take a look. And they took the kids home with Caleb while I waited in the 98+ degree heat for AAA to come and test my battery. Westley's friend Dekan drove him to In-N-Out to get Corey's car so that he could help out with any driving later on. I waited. Finally AAA came and tested the battery. Westley brought me lunch from Braum's. And the AAA guy said that it wasn't the battery but the key fob. But he was able to get the car started, so I drove it home thinking I'd take it in the next morning. But, alas, the car would not start again. Thankfully, I had left in on the driveway so it was easier to access. I called a key fob guy who came out to the house and he told me it wasn't the key fob, but the battery. So I called AAA and set up an appointment for him to come get the car from the dreveway and take it to our mechanic a few blocks away. The soonest he could come was the next morning. So that's what happened and guess what...it did turn out to be the battery, which I had only replaced last August. They did have to reset the key fobs too though. 

 

School started on Thursday. Westley is a senior, Caleb a sophomore, Travis 8th grade, Eliza 7th grade, Jonah 4th and Annmarie 2nd. We were fortunate that school actually started here in Wylie ISD. A lot of schools across the country aren't starting in person but online, virtually, sort of like we did it in the spring. But our district offered parents a choice--to send students to campus or keep them home and do online. Our family chose campus. We aren't worried about covid19 and the district has all these measures in place for "safety". So 5th grade and up are required to wear masks and they have (supposedly) smaller class sizes and plans in place for quarantining if there are positive cases of covid19. I'm so tired of all the covid stuff. But I won't get into that in this book. We are just very glad to be in one of the few districts across the country, it seems, to get to start school on campus and on the same start day that was planned from last year. So hopefully they have a decent school year and no long closures or quarantines! And hopefully covid fade into obscurity.

Nathan is home with me now.  We are doing preschool this year but only with a few students and those students aren't even paying me!  We are doing exchanges instead.  Eliza will have violin lessons and I'll do preschool for her violin teacher's son and Nathan will get to be babysat several times a week in exchange for teaching this other woman's daughter.  It will all be fine.  I'm also cutting way back on piano lessons and only retaining five of my students.  It's going to be tight financially, but I'm looking forward to being able to devote more time to being a mom!

And Westley's letter jacket finally came!  He earned it last year and was able to put the order in and when he got home from school on the first day, he had it!  I'm so proud of him for earning it and just love how it turned out!