Bus Demons.

This whole school thing and new schedule has kept us busy, busy, busy. I feel obligated to document that it seems that Nate has conquered all of his bus demons and is embracing kindergarten. I haven't heard any more stories about consoling Marsha and tearful walks ups and down the sidewalk. His repertoire of sight words has already sky-rocketed past his first name and Michigan. Leaps and bounds for this 5 year old! OK. So I can be a little dramatic sometimes. But, really, we are just proud as punch that he gets on the bus, he doesn't cry and he hasn't gotten kicked out of school yet.

Holy Schmokes, Someone is SIXTY!

Our very own GG, Gramma Gayla, is SIXTY! And, we celebrated with an age-appropriate pizza party and pinata in the backyard! We love you Gramma Gayla and thank you for all you do.

All Day in K.

Today was the first day of school. Nate was quite excited. Had the backpack and lunch packed. We sat at the end of the driveway as most bus-riding school children do. We had memorized the bus driver's name and repeated the path that Nate was to walk to his school and classroom about a thousand gazillion times. The bus pulled up and of course there was a different bus driver than the one we had met and memorized her name! Yikes. Nevertheless, Nate crossed in front of the bus when given the proper gesture to do so by the driver. He jumped on without hesitation and didn't even look back! We were so proud. We added our van to the caravan of cars that were stalking their children on the bus. We tried to control ourselves as well as help Nate to fly on his own by secretly watching him get off and walk the 0.2 mi hike to his school but it was mayhem and we couldn't see him in the sea of children and crazy overbearing parents. Wow. What a feeling.The end of the day rolled around and Troy and I could barely stand the waiting to find out how the day went for our all-day kindergartner. Well, Nate told us in his signature matter of fact fashion that two boys had cried and that he was one of them. He explained the first time he cried it was just a little bit because he missed me and Troy. And, then he said he cried a lot because he couldn't find his bus after school today. Oh, can you hear a mother's heart breaking?! He said he walked up and down the hill and then the principal helped him find it. He continued and said that once on the bus they sat him with a middle school girl named Marsha that tried to help calm him down. Now, I am pretty sure this whole episode lasted a mere minute or so, but of course I picture this poor blubbering kindergartner wandering aimlessly to find his bus. Then, as boys typically do, he shut down the conversation and pretty much didn't tell us anything else. It was like pulling teeth to get any details about the day out of him.

The good news is that he came home and organized his own little school desk area for all of his supplies. And he has requested that we hang a special hook for his backpack. So, we're hopeful he'll get on the bus and go back!
We can't forget Little Miss T. It wasn't really her first of anything today. She did her usual routine and remains in the same preschool class this year. The only difference now is that she gets dropped off all by herself! She was wanting and thinking that she was going to DK or Kindergarten like her big brother Nate! Soon enough, Muffin.

Labor Day Weekend

Some pics from our last hurrah for the summer at the lake! Troy and I celebrated 11 years of marital bliss with a mexican feast and beers as big as our heads at a local mexican restuarant. Otherwise, the kids ran around, we laid around and did our usual thing all weekend long. Oh, and Michigan managed to secure it's first victory of the season over UConn. Go Blue!

Nate and Sparky
Laura and Brian lunching with all the kids! Yikes.
N Grandkiddos left to right: Molly, Kendall, Zack, Paige, Tessa and Nate.
This was our attempt at getting a family picture. Many of the adults were growling, the kids were crying and uncooperative. And, it was cold and dark. hhhmm. Just as any family picture should be.

Tailgating.

There is no picture for this blog entry. If you will, please picture me with swollen face and blubbering. And, then, maybe a little steam coming out of my ears and writing a large check.

I've already shared how Troy and I have felt out of the loop or in the dark regarding the details for Nate starting school. Well, somehow we came to know that Nate's school would be hosting it's Open House on the night of September 2nd. This is exciting, right? The all day kindergarten program was posted for 5 until 6pm. Troy and I are working parents and anything happening at 5p makes us cringe, but we were reassured by the fact that this is an Open House. Where I come from, this means you can drop in any time between the designated start and stop times. So, our plan of attack is that Troy will pick up the kids from daycare as usual and I will bust *ss to get out on time and meet them at the school.

You know the business of babies is quite unpredictable and despite all the times I've been caught online shopping or reading a People magazine there is one of those laws by Newton or Murphy or someone evil that ensures that something major must be going on when you need to be somewhere other than the hospital. Needless to say I got out late. I give Troy my frustrated call and tell him I'm on my way and before I hang up Troy decides to curse me by saying something like, "Well, don't speed and get picked up." Approximately 1 minute later I'm trying to merge onto a 4 lane highway at sometime between 5 and 6pm. What rushing mother trying to get to her firstborn's kindergarten open house isn't going to go at least the speed limit or a little over and squeeze into all the sea of cars and quickly make her way over to the left lane so that she can speed with all the other rushing folks on the road? Not me. And it just so happens, because of one of those evil Murphy's or Newton's or Troy Baughman's , a donut-eating police man in his black charger was not so busy eating donuts but sitting watching merging rush hour traffic. I see the lights and immediately start to cry. All I am thinking is I need to be at my kid's thing and my whole life of being that mom and missing special events is flashing before my tear-filled eyes.

The cop strolls up to my car not in a rush at all and spots me wiping tears from my eyes with one hand and holding all of the appropriate license and insurance information in the other. Just give me the ticket already so I can get to my kid's open house. But, no we need to have a conversation about why I'm getting pulled over and did I see him and my road awareness and blah blah blah. Well, I burned 9 minutes with that police officer and it resulted in a big fat ticket not for speeding but for TAILGATING. Seriously. Merging traffic at rush hour who the hell isn't tailgating? And, no I didn't see you (the cop) because I was busy focusing on the cars in front of me and trying not to hit them!

Anyways, the good news is that I did make it to the Open House with 4 minutes to spare. I got myself together in the 20 minute speed race from the point of the pullover to the school. Nate whisked me around his room and I met his teacher. And, we also got the WORST sign up time for parent teacher conferences. Because, apparently, there are some benefits to coming to an Open House at 5p sharp. And, I'm sure to be tailgating on that afternoon too unless I can cut a deal with one of the Murphys or Newtons.