Month-in Check-in

I cannot even believe it's about halfway through the first grading period already - progress reports go out next week! With Ethan in school, training for the half marathon (one month away!), and job preparation, I have just had NO time to update the blog (or clean, or cook…). We've been busy every single night - we are starting to feel like true Kovall's.

Watching a movie together

Reunited after a school day

Ethan is settling in at school. He's had a few days where he's struggled with behavior, but he seems to have things under control. He's very worried about ending the day on 'green', which means he was good. Drifting into yellow and orange is not good! We've had some tears and some talks, but I think he's getting the hang of things. Especially since he came home on BLUE today (one step above green - making good choices!). He was just delighted. We called everyone we knew and he got a new Lego set. We bought a bunch of small, cheap prizes to use as encouragement/bribery throughout the year, and he was pretty excited today. We're trying to get him to remember how he feels when he is praised and go with it! He's learning like crazy - his handwriting is really improving, and he LOVES reading books and actually reading his sight words. He is also a huge fan of gym class, which is no surprise. He gets to run around like crazy, and his gym teacher is an awesome friend of mine.

Homework time

Making his 'twin' - complete with a soccer ball,

freckles and spiky hair

Posing with his work at Open House

Ethan has also been playing soccer for our community, and he seems to really like it. We're not super into sports in this house, but we want him to do something he enjoys, can be around other kids, and get some exercise. Soccer fits the bill. He has even scored a few goals so far and seems to understand the basic rules. We've all gotten a kick out of watching the games on Saturdays. Watching a dozen five year olds try to play a game is pretty hilarious, especially when Ethan runs down the field yelling, "PROTECT THE BALL!" Nuts.

Running, running, running

Team huddle

Team Blue won!

Jack is happy to support his brother. 

As long as snacks are involved.

Jackson is just as cute as ever. He and Ethan are adorable - as soon as Jack comes home from the sitter's house, he runs to Ethan, shouts 'hello', and gives him a huge hug. Melts my heart every day. His vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger. My current favorite thing he says is "DELICIOUS!" after eating something yummy. He is very nosy when it comes to food. Any time we are eating, he will put his face right up to our plate and ask, "What do you have there?" He is just hilarious. We've also discovered that he LOVES scrambled eggs. Literally loves them. He will eat plates and plates of them if we'll let him. He went through a phase where he did NOT want to hear anyone sing any song. If one of us would start a song, he would yell, "NO, NO, NO, NO!" while wagging his finger in anger at us. If we refused to stop singing, this led to crying fits from Jack. No clue what that was about, but he's over it. He's been singing Twinkle, Twinkle with me all week, which is adorable. He gets most of the words wrong AND is way off key, but it's perfect nonetheless.

Covered in chalk, under a bush. Perfect afternoon.

Pretending to snore in Ethan's bed

 He suddenly refuses to use a spoon. Spaghetti is fun.

 Reading before bed

School is going, well, okay. My ninth graders aren't great. We'll see. On the plus side, my sophomores are AMAZING! I had a lot of them last year, and they are just a wonderful, personable group. They make my days fun. The worst part of the year is that I don't eat lunch until 7th period. I teach 1-6. That is quite a stretch, and I am STARVING and pooped by the time lunch rolls around.

With my guys on my [ahem] 29th birthday

Marathon training is going very well this time around. I ran 10 miles last weekend, and it was fairly easy. I'm never going to be 'fast', but if I can run at the pace I'm training at, I'll finish the half marathon about 10 minutes faster than I did in May. And, my knees and legs feel great afterwards. I'm pretty happy with that. We are all looking forward to traveling to Hershey next month for the big event.

We all did the Steeler's 5k in August

 Ethan did the kid's race on Heinz Field.

 It was the most humid day, but we did very well!

AJ's school year has been going well. He's already started his chamber ensemble, and so far, he is very happy with his group. They are breezing through songs, so he is thinking of doing a fall concert. You know, because we don't have anything else going on. He has been running and swimming a lot, and he looks GREAT, if you haven't seen him. He's really into signing up for races, so we actually have 4 in the upcoming month. It's going to be crazy, but fun. I love having him there to run with me!

So that's that. We'll see how long it takes me to write again!