First Day of School...

Yes, I am clearly posting WAY out of chronological order... so sue me. On second thought, don't... it's been a rough year, I doubt my wallet could take it.

The kids started school twice this year. I'm fairly certain we did it right the 1st time, yet Tropical Storm Fay came through here the night after the 1st day of school and ultimately caused schools to be closed for the rest of the week.

Although we personally fared well through this storm, many others did not. It was just a Tropical Storm but it literally sat on top of us for DAYS. We had more rain in those 4 days than we sometimes do in months. Volusia County had over 20 inches of rain. That was August 19th. It's September 20th now and some people are STILL under water. The Fema Center is still open in the Wal-Mart shopping center. I brought lunch to Tom in a Debary neighborhood on Thursday and could still see where the water had rised up to 2 feet on some homes. Houses and garages and covered in mold and water damage.

Ok, I digress. I was talking about school!!

Ethan started 5th grade this year and Hannah Marie started second grade. Due to budget cuts, bus stops were consolidate and some elimated. Initially, ours was moved a half mile away. Not a big deal considering school is 6 miles away. The pick up time is a little more reasonable this year - 7:11 am instead of 6:40 am like last year! THAT was rough... but last year, the bus literally stopped in my driveway.

Thanks to another mom who is apparently tired of having to drive her child to the bus stop, my bus stop got moved again... only 2 houses from our house. I can live with that. The other mother, not so much, SHE wants it to be my drive-way. She may very well win that fight... and I'll let her do it.

This will be Ethan's last year in elementary school. That scares me. He's been so sheltered by having the same classmates since the 2nd grade. It's been so easy having kids in his class that "get him" and know his little things. I worry about next year. I worry about him having to walk to school. I worry about him having to cross a street with no crossing guard. I don't even let the boy cut his own meat for gosh sake!

Yes, I baby him... but he's Ethan.

Hannah started the second grade. Her teacher says that she's doing well. I am sure she's doing just fine, but the teacher said that Hannah is just so hard to hear sometimes. It's so odd that my most outgoing child at home happens to be one of the shyest kids at school. I worry that her timedness will keep her from doing the things she truely loves. I know I have no worries with her about school and behavior. She's very popular and makes friends quickly. Though, she tends to dominate her friendships. I don't worry about next year for her. I think she's looking forward to NOT having her brother at the same school as her. She will do just fine.

Jaydon, well, he's 19 months old today - and he's still just a squishy monkey.