First day of school for me!

Not last week but the week before, I had my graduate student orientation. 

Because I'm such an anxious driver, Andrew is training Rachel to take me to campus (though I'm also trying to take as many courses online as I can so that I limit the number of days I need to go to campus). It's quite the commute. 

Last week I had my first day of school, but only for online coursework.

Today I had my first day on campus. Here I am by one of the many bulldogs on campus:

And here I am by my office, which I didn't actually use because I was working in the book room. Instead Andrew hung out here (Rachel came to help me in the book room):

The lovely book room:

Miriam was a champion and watched the kids. We'll see how much schoolwork got done tomorrow... (I told her that making the kids do their schoolwork wasn't her responsibility and that they were each responsible for making sure they—and they alone—stayed on task. 

Andrew wanted me to calculate what grade I'm in, but my numbers get really tricky.

K–11: 12 years
AA at UVSC: 1 year
BA at BYU: 3 years

MA at UGA: 3 years

So I guess this is day one of 19th grade? Something like that.

Here's Andrew having a little conference call with the kids in the middle of the day (we were on our way to lunch to celebrate the first day of school...because he suggested we all go get dinner to celebrate...until I pointed out that my class falls right during dinner time):

Phoebe had pooped her pants and was in complete meltdown mode because I told Miriam that if it seemed to be a...uhhhh...loosey-goosey...problem...that she could try putting Phoebe in a pull-up for the day (because toddlers struggle with "the runs" and...we don't even have a washing machine right now).

That suggestion apparently sent Phoebe over the edge. She was wracked with sobs when Miriam Facetimed us. We did our best to calm Phoebe down (she'd get to wear underwear if she was more mindful about getting to the potty in time). And Alexander joined in from the other room to share a few details about his day.

It was a good but exhausting day.

***

Here are some pictures from our time on campus for orientation:

We took the kids to the museum of art, which was fun. They didn't have any traveling collections ready at the moment, so we were limited to their permanent collection. We hadn't been to the museum before, though (except, perhaps, for Miriam), so it was all new to us!

We should have taken them to the museum of natural history first, since that closed by the time we left the art museum (though the art museum remained open longer). Sometimes I'm not the best at planning field trips.

Here's Alexander and Zoë examining this interesting suit made of buttons:

Benjamin found this wasp and was very excited because soon he can make a compass of yellowjackets. He has an Eastern yellowjacket in his collection already, along with a Northern (I think?). This particular one seems to be a Southern yellowjacket:

So all he's missing is a Western one!

We walked past the ceramics building, which is surrounded by an art installation of...abandoned final projects:

We walked past the split screw, a sculpture by Andrew Crawford, which gives me real BYU vibes:

And while I was in orientation, Andrew and the kids walked around campus a little bit more—and found another puppy (while hurricane-turned-tropical-storm Debby loomed in the background).

So that's it! One week of classes is over and done with. We're still trying to get into the feel of things. And I'm sure this big knot in my stomach will eventually go away (only to come back again around midterms...and again at finals).