When I asked Steve what he felt the theme of our back-to-school dinner should be – he was actually pretty quick to come up with “10 seconds of courage” adapted from a quote from the movie We bought a Zoo, “You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just, literally, 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
I think we have some kids that are going to have to rely on some courage this year. Hallie moving out and starting college. Hunter tackling his senior year and all that comes with it. Bennett going all in on tennis. Cannon starting junior high which at some level can be scarier than high school. And Briggs…Briggs is teetering on ruling the school, but he’s the lone Pothier left in elementary school.
Courage is on the menu!
We ate our traditional Panda Express while talking about what it would look like to be courageous as they each stepped outside their comfort zones. As always, we ended the meal with fortune cookies, taking turns reading our fortunes aloud. But this time, we added a little twist – we decided which person each fortune seemed meant for and passed them around until every fortune found its rightful home.
We are more than ready for another school year!
Side note: I had some helpers prepping for the dinner. Years ago, I was introduced to a candy store called Sweeties. They have every candy imaginable and I was always able to find candy to coordinate with our themed dinner. Hallie had some friends hanging around the house when I needed to go grab candy and they were happy to join in our little field trip. I found what I needed and they found their own bags of treats.
We’ve got a senior, a sophomore, a seventh grader and a fifth grader. Hunter in his last high school year. Cannon in a new school. And Briggs is officially our lone elementary student.
We received positive reports on the day from all the boys.
Hunter is only on campus for the mornings. He has dual enrollment english, AP Government, seminary and soccer which isn’t during school, it’s just his participation in high school soccer. He’s signed up for AP Stats but he’s on the fence about it and instead may be shifting to some different college courses through ASU. It looks like he starts a new job next week which will keep him busy and utilize his woodworking skills. He’s on the lookout for his “little kid” backpack that all the seniors rock. And he’s still finalizing his design to paint his parking spot.
Bennett is confidently walking into his sophomore year. He gets to ride with Hunter every day to school and benefit from his premium senior parking spot. He was really hoping for culinary arts for his elective but unfortunately didn’t get it. Instead, he’ll try his hand at ceramics and jewelry. He’s already dreading his chemistry class and is looking forward to seminary with Hunter.
Cannon had the most extensive report of the day. He willingly shared what a day at the junior high looked like and he was all smiles. His best friend from the neighborhood is in most of his classes which means he has a buddy to find his classes with. The eighth graders have already assumed their ownership of the school and Cannon couldn’t count how many times he was called “sevie” as in seventh grader. It’s done in good fun and has been in practice since before Hallie was there. He’s optimistic about his teachers and he’s already making some new friends which is totally fitting for him.
Briggs gave the shortest report! He played soccer at recess and it was hot. They played games all day at school. He sits at a table with one boy and the rest are girls. His best friends aren’t in his home room but he’s excited his school teaches in a block program so his classroom peers switches up throughout the day and year – which means there’s a chance he’ll have them in one of his blocks. As long as he can play soccer at recess, he is set. Elementary school is the best!
School is out and we’re looking forward to some fun summer plans!
We hosted our annual last day of school water fight and every year I wonder how it can get any better, and then it does. More balloons. More kids. More water.
Surprisingly, Hunter and Bennett made it home from school just in time to participate on the outskirts. Bennett did less participating and more hiding. Hunter threw his fair share.
Hallie has missed this event for years (high school and mission) and everyone gave her a warm welcome and made sure she stayed cool.
Per usual – there were some tears; a face shot never feels good. We met some new neighbors with kids who ride the bus in our neighborhood. We had kids who avoided cleaning up the balloons by leaving and others who pretended to help. We had a lot of parents laughing as they enjoyed tossing a balloon or two at their kids. We had sibilngs targeting each other. And every one is always trying to get Steve. We handed out a lot of popsicles.
And the party didn’t stop. The kids all went to different houses hosting grade-level parties and they all swam the afternoon/evening away.
Cannon is moving on, and with that, we only have one kid left in elementary school.
He led the school in the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish and he walked across the stage without tripping – things he was a little concerned about and he nailed both!
His promotion included him leading the student body in the Pledge of Allegiance – in Spanish.
He was so excited his sister was going to be home in time to watch him walk across the stage – the same stage she walked across not that long ago.
His fellow student council officers.
His sixth-grade experience was made memorable thanks to his involvement with student council. It gave him opportunities to lead and gave him responsibility that really helped him grow. As the treasurer, he took his role seriously and loved getting a behind-the-scenes look at how things worked. There was a large sum of money sitting in their account but there was no direction as to what it should be spent on.
That led to a great conversation at home. We suggested that instead of just sitting on the money, maybe he could come up with an idea that would genuinely benefit the school and the students and then present it at the next meeting.
And once that thought was planted, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He determined the school needed soccer nets (they hadn’t had nets in all the years he was in elementary school) and instead of waiting for the next meeting, he worked with another council member and they wrote an essay presenting their idea.
I’m happy to report that his hard work paid off and he can smile every time he sees the nets at the school. Unfortunately, schools have more red tape than you can imagine and it took months and months to get approval and then purchased. So he was able to enjoy them the last few weeks of school. His disappointment in not getting them sooner was evident. But we’re proud of his willingness to fight for something he felt so strongly about.
He finished elementary school strong – and he closed a chapter.
Bennett had his learning celebration one week and Cannon and Briggs were the next.
Briggs had his wax museum project and he was excited to share all he learned. They were assigned to choose a “Who is” book (but there couldn’t be any duplicates) and as you can imagine, nearly every 4th-grade boy was hoping for a sports figure. Briggs was assigned Pele and with a quick browse through Cannon’s closet, he had his outfit planned.
Of all my kids, only Hallie and Briggs participated in the wax museum. Hallie’s teacher was rigid and there was a small pool of people they could study and I think they just picked out of a hat. She was assigned Mr. Goodyear and they had to make a large display. It was a time-intensive project.
Briggs did it at a younger age and everything was done at school – no large poster boards and for that I was grateful. With Briggs’ interest in soccer, Pele was a great choice.
Cannon’s learning celebration was unique and I loved the idea – they had to create a podcast. I heard him listening to podcasts one afternoon after school. I told him it was time to get off the computer and go play and he said he was doing homework. His homework was to listen to podcasts in preparation for creating one!
He told me the morning of the presentation that I could come but I wouldn’t understand anything because it was all in Spanish. I never miss an opportunity to see them in their classroom despite not speaking the language. When we came to his classroom, he had his laptop set up with headphones and Steve sat in his chair and gave it a listen. I heard he did a great job. 🙂
