First Week of School

I think this picture of Captain sums up our week.

Got up at 5:30 am Tuesday and got Henry to the bus. LuLu took off as we were walking out the door. I finally got her back only for she and Captain to have a huge fight. The fight, and clean up from it, put Irene, Gavin and I behind schedule a bit. Thankfully, I did managed to get them to school before it started.

Thursday morning, Henry's bus showed up five minutes early. As I was walking home a boy came running up to the stop. Even though he was technically on time he still missed the bus. I gave him a ride to the middle school. Talk about a crazy mess of cars! There are a lot of people that drop off middle school students each day.

Thursday afternoon, as I was waiting for Henry's bus, a stinkin' wasp stung me on the thumb! Ouch!

Friday dawned with Gavin not feeling well. Yeah, in the three days of school the kids had, Gavin managed to catch the flu. The weekend has been full of....well, all those lovely bodily functions that having the flu ramps up. The Flu; the gift that keeps on giving.

I have been frantically trying to have everyone hand sanitize while cleaning as much as possible. I do not need to have anyone else come down with it!

So yeah, not quite how I pictured the first week of school going. Although, we did watch all 7 hours of the Slow TV Bergen to Oslo train ride on Netflix yesterday.

First Day of School

First day of school is over and we survived it. Henry's school starts an hour earlier this year so he and I had to get up before everyone else. I walked him to the bus stop which is half a block from our house.

I am driving Irene and Gavin to school this year, although they do ride a bus back into town. We were about ten minutes late leaving this morning due to a fight between the dogs of all things. Still, we got to school with ten minutes to spare.

Henry's afternoon bus was about ten minutes late. No big deal. Irene and Gavin's bus was over twenty minutes late. Again, no big deal, but I started to worry I was at the wrong place.

Only three days of school this week. I'm hoping it continues to go well!

Lions and Tigers and School Meetings, Oh My!

We had to go to Henry's school for schedules and lockers and pictures and a lot of walking. Apparently, we were supposed to talk to the transportation department as well, but I missed that.

Got Henry's school picture taken. Had to carry his sweater with us since it is 85 degrees out. I was under the misapprehension that picture day was in late September, so the sweater that would have been great for then was rather warm for now. Oh well, it was easily put on and taken off and it is one less thing to worry about in September.

Henry decided that he no longer wanted to take Orchestra. My heart broke a little over that decision, but he was adamant about it all summer. I didn't feel it was worth pushing the issue since he really didn't want to do it and I didn't want to pay for an instrument he wouldn't use. We did manage to change his schedule really easily which was a relief.

The locker was easy to find, but it took two adults and two children to get it to open. Yeah, feeling really smart today! Once we got it open it was pretty easy to do again.

Found all of Henry's classes. Holy cow is that school bigger on the inside (feel free to insert Tardis jokes here). Henry is going to be doing a lot of walking each day. He will have to hustle to get between a couple of them.

I missed going to the bus info section. I know he is on a bus to and from school since I spoke directly with the bus garage a couple of weeks ago. I just don't know what bus number he is on. And yeah, missing that is really making me feel like a crap mom right now.

After all that school fun, Grandma took us to McDonald's. The kids felt the need for silly faced pictures.

Special Pillow

Gavin's teacher wants everyone to have a 12x12 pillow that 'isn't too thick' for them to sit on in the classroom. At first, I was kinda annoyed because this would be yet another thing I would have to buy for school. Thankfully, Grandma Pat is a sewing wizard and said she would make him one.

Grandma had Gavin over to look through all her fabric. He picked out the dog fabric and dog print/heart fabric. She added a red border and had it completed in an afternoon. I am very impressed as well as jealous of her sewing skills.

Now, Gavin has an awesome and unique pillow for school. Just a week to go before it starts!

Bag Tags

I have been buying these name tags for several years now. They are from The Paper Shamrock on Etsy. Each tag is $5 and is nicely laminated. I get them each year for the kids to put on their school backpacks. These things are tough. They survive the school year better than the bags do.

First names on the front and first/last names on the back along with the school they go to. I highly recommend!

School Supplies

It's no secret that I love Target. Love it! This year the school Irene and Gavin go to actually supplied the school supply list to Target. Henry's school didn't add their list, but I was able to find everything with just a little bit of looking. I was able to buy their school supplies online! Plus, they offered free shipping.

Our supply lists this year are ridiculous. It came out to be around $170. That is A LOT of money for us. And that is before new school shoes, jeans, jackets, etc. Still, it's done....unless the individual teachers add to the lists. I may lose it if they do.

Now we just have multiple school open houses. Seriously, Henry has two. Ugh....people.

Organization...What?!

School for the kids starts early this year. It angers me a bit because it feels like it is chopping a good two weeks off of summer. Plus, the first week is only three days, the second and third weeks are only four. Ugh. Anyway, my issue etc., etc. I did call the school transportation department. Henry will be riding the bus to and from school this year. He will be at a new school. Thankfully, the bus stop is right near the house. Even better, the woman I spoke to managed to get Gavin and Irene on the bus home in the afternoon! I will still need to drive them out in the morning, but I won't have to spend an hour in the car every afternoon. I was so stinkin' elated when I got that news. I had to laugh with a friend that it was such a parent thing to be so happy over something like that, but HOLY CRAP IT IS SUCH A HUGE RELIEF!

Last week I got all three kiddos into the dentist. Good reviews on all, so that was awesome. Cross that off the list for the next six months.

New spring/fall jackets were purchased for all three kids this week. Very nice and didn't cost a fortune. Still need jeans for the boys and new shoes for all.

Today we were at the doctor's office. Medicines are squared away as well as forms needed for school. The office now charges $10 for all school forms that need to be filled out. Considering I filled out all the info except for the doctor's signature I thought this was a bit nuts, but I paid it with a smile. Henry needed a shot that I did not know about, so he blamed me and was very upset over it. Eh, being the 'meanest mom ever' is nothing new here.

After the doctor we had dinner at Wendy's. Our town doesn't have one, so this has become our 'we survived the doctor' treat. Gavin ate like I haven't fed him in three days. It was amazing the amount of food he put away for such a skinny kid. I let all three get a frosty so I was soon back to being a 'good' mom. The entire dinner conversation revolved around Godzilla and company, and King Kong. It was...entertaining.

Before heading back home we stopped at the grocery store there. Very jealous of that store. Wish we had one here. I only needed two things so we were in and out quick. On our way out a woman came up to me to tell me what sweet and nice kids I have. She couldn't believe how well they behaved and got along. I wanted to laugh like crazy since this behavior was an anomaly. Instead I thanked her and carried on.

Got back into town and stopped to pick up the newly squared away medication. Also got toothpaste and mouthwash, so exciting. Got ten dollars off with points I'd earned, so you know, woohoo and all that.

Now we're home and I am tired. Can I go to bed early?