First Day of School (part 1)

After an August jam packed with so much fun that we were all nearly comatose at the start of this week... the kids rested up for a couple days and the girls headed back to school today.  Last year at this time we had such an easy start with all the kids returning to the same school and routine.  This year brings more change with Emily moving up to the middle school and Alden starting kindergarten.

Poor Emily also came into this week with a raging case of poison ivy, complete with one eye swollen shut.  Not the extra challenge we were looking for going into a new school.  She was looking enough better today not to miss the first day, and we were thankful for a 6th grade neighbor who came by the house so they could walk to the bus together. Emily barely even seemed nervous heading out the door.  I had to resist the temptation to stalk them to the bus stop!
  

A few minutes after she headed out, we woke Adara up.  She hasn't been excited about school, and lay in bed groggily until she suddenly remembered and groaned. This is her first solo "back to school" picture!  (Alden doesn't start Kindergarten until next week.).
  

We walked Adara to school and Alden & I stayed to help host a welcome back coffee for parents, and then met some friends to pray for all our kiddos (lots of big transitions this year).  Wehad a Starbucks date and then went back to school to meet his teacher.


At 3pm Alden and I were waiting on the porch for Emily... when the other middle school kids walked by and Emily wasn't with them.  I thought at first maybe she was dawdling, but eventually we heard she hadn't gotten on the bus, so while we waited at Adara's bus stop, I called the school and the office was in touch with the bus drivers tracking down various kids who had taken the wrong bus. It also sounded fairly par for the course until an hour went by.... Emily's friend (who was also put on a different wrong bus) was found and returned, and the secretary started telling me things like "we know she got on a bus, because she's not here" and "all the busses are empty now and we can't confirm which bus she was put on, so maybe she got off somewhere and is walking home."  I was edging into panic for a few minutes until we got another call that she was indeed on a bus and headed back our way.  The poor kid was dropped off almost 2 hours after school ended... I thought she might be in tears... but she climbed casually off the bus, gave me a hug and said, "well that was a long ride."

She was calm and positive about middle school, and after a 20 minute break was happy to head back to Mt. Leb for Alden's kindergarten family night.  Adara helped serve dinner and Alden was a little overwhelmed but did a good job saying hi to many new friends.


A long first day but overall a good one and everyone is heading to bed surprisingly happy!