Remember Us???

UPDATE: (I also had to come back and proofread--yikes!--I was in the middle of several other things as I posted this afternoon--embarrassing! Not quite as embarrassing as Sarah telling the vet today that our dog "especially likes Mommy's underwear from the underwear room".  The vet and assistant looked to me for an explanation (there was no context for this comment as Hannah had just said something about how Max doesn't eat very much)--"Um, that is the laundry room...let's go kids".  I laughed until I cried in the car, but that and the ensuing battle my kids had over Max's leash in the waiting room most likely canceled out the staff's comments from last week about how well behaved my children are).

 So now for the update:
Sarah's first day was wonderful.  She came prancing out of her room in a line with 3 other girls and the lone boy (who signed up today), with a Fruit Loop necklace around her neck, a sticker on her belly and rosy red cheeks.  She told me right away that she worked "very hard" and she liked it, but she didn't like it.  (This is common phrasing for our 3rd child--she often likes things, but doesn't like things and many times she will say, "Mom, I'm not happy--but I am"--the girl knows how to express herself).

She went on to tell me that one of the little girls got into trouble and had to go to "some one's office" because she would not stop running inside!  Upon hearing this information, Hannah turned to me and said, "I don't think that's true".  Not sure.  Sarah is known to exaggerate, but that is a pretty detailed account of what happens at school--if she had never seen Hannah Montana or Suite Life of Zack and Cody I'd be more confident that she would have only learned that in school.

When I asked her about the "new" boy (technically all of them are new, but he was not at the open house last week so we hadn't met him yet), she told me his name and said, "He really wanted him mom A LOT!"  I asked her if she wanted her mom and she answered, "No". 
Always a sweetheart, Hannah spoke up, "Mom, she means she does want you, but she is just so excited about school that she can't think about you". 
Sarah didn't really seem to want to be spoken for. "I was excited, but I was not excited".
Let's see...last time we left off one of us was turning 8 and (although it went unmentioned in that last post) one of us was trying to feng shui the kindergarten/preschool life.  Only one of us was successful.  The one that turned 8.

In an effort to stay positive, I did not go on and on about the kindergarten drama that has been going on in our lives since our return from Texas.  I vented elsewhere.  We returned to find one letter in our mailbox notifying us that our kindergartner had been assigned to afternoon kindergarten and another letter notifying us that the current principal at the elementary school was leaving and his replacement had not been found.  Neither letter was especially comforting considering I had made elaborate plans to have Sarah in a morning preschool co-op (meaning I would be helping on a regular basis) and had registered Hannah for a bilingual Spanish class at the same school two afternoons a week.  I had been reassured by the principal last May (the one who apparently left) that in his career he had never had to turn down a request to switch from morning to afternoon or vice versa.  "Not a problem".  The bottom of the notification about my child's kindergarten status had a number to call "should there be a problem".  I called and left a message.  I also sent an e-mail explaining that I had already registered Hannah for another class in the afternoons and asking would it be possible for her to move to AM kindergarten (something I already had requested last May).  I also contacted the preschool to fill them in on my dilemma--the problem was compounded by the fact that when I signed up for the co-op school, I also signed up to work on fundraising at the preschool.  It being a co-op school meant that I would be pretty busy and pretty involved, but at the time I was looking forward to that.
After a less than enthusiastic response from the school secretary, I accepted the fact that Hannah was going to have to stay in afternoon kindergarten and decided I needed to find another preschool for Sarah in the afternoon.  This involved a lot of explaining to Hannah about how things were going to change from what I had told her before and letting her know that she would not start to school until the second day--heartbreaking to the most excited about school child in our house.
I easily found another preschool and liked everything about it.  Paid another deposit and accepted that the first preschool would not be refunding any of the deposit for either of my children.  Left a message and sent an e-mail to the school asking that they please leave Hannah in afternoon kindergarten because I was going to change preschools for my younger daughter and withdraw Hannah from the bilingual program.  We all moved on.
Last week the class lists were posted on the front door of the school and Hannah's name was listed right there in the AM class.  26 AM kindergartners and 23 PM.  One teacher.  I instantly became overwhelmed for this woman!  Hannah was thrilled--she could now go to school on the first day.  It took a while to sink in since we made this discovery on our way to meet friends for some play in the park and then had them over for a while.  When it did sink in, I was a mess.  Frustrated is an understatement.  I vented to my repatriated friends in an e-mail that went something like: "This is America, right?  Land of the Easy Button?  Communication in ENGLISH should not be this challenging.  I am so frustrated with this lack of communication before the school year has even started!  I spent three years imagining how easy my life would be once I get back home and now I'm even more frustrated than I ever was with their school in Belgium.  I never thought I'd wish I was back there, but now I will have no kid free time at all during the week and if we were still there I would have so much I'd almost feel guilty!" 
It was tongue in cheek.  It was just a vent.  I'm all better now.  Some suggested I march myself up to the school and insist my daughter be moved.  I did not.  I never insisted anything even in the beginning.  I was nothing but kind and understanding and that was the most frustrating part.  Just another lesson in which I had to let go of the control. So I did and we're good now.

Today was the first day of school.  A half day for Nathan and Hannah.  They are already home.  Their little sister is now at her very own preschool where she marched in line with the 3 other little girls in her afternoon preschool class without even a glance back.  All 4 of them went in with no tears (the only one crying was one of the very pregnant moms who was going home alone).  The rest of us were dropping off our youngest ones and had big ones in tow--no tears from us, just words of comfort for the sweet mom dropping off her first.

This morning I attended kindergarten for about an hour with our middle child.  She was beyond excited about her first day of school and it went wonderfully.  Her teacher is great--Hannah played with all of the little girls on the playground in her words "for two hours or so".  It was a long time because they were on the playground while the teacher helped all of us figure out this kindergarten thing.  The most complicated part is for those parents who work and require daycare buses for the other half of the day they are not in school and for those riding the bus.  We are too close to ride the bus.  I am the official bus driver.  There were tears from several kindergartners and that was heartbreaking.  Our daughter is beyond ready, but she is possibly the oldest child in the class considering that the cut off for the school year is December 1st.  She could have gone to kindergarten last year so it is possible that there are kids in her class a whole year younger. She had a great day.

The first day of third grade also went well.  We got off to a rocky start when we didn't know exactly where to line up this morning.  It was not the same place as he lined up in second grade and he was a bit frustrated that I didn't just know that.  Lately it is becoming more apparent that we (his parents) don't just automatically know every single thing and it is so incredibly inconvenient to him. Ahem.  I picked up a different kid--seemingly happy and confident.  Phew.  I don't know if I'm just freakishly over-protective or what, but I found it mildly disturbing that this year he is old enough not to have to show his ride/parent/guardian to the teacher.  He just leaves.  We've done the stranger danger thing and I'm fairly certain he wouldn't just pile in the car with any old person, but it is just odd to have a child that old I guess.

The little one is in the midst of her first day--hopefully having the time of her life.  We'll find out in just an hour and a half.  I expect to feel a little bit like a taxi driver on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I drop off, pick up, drop off, pick up...at least we are super close to both schools.  There will be no mommy alone time this year except for at the gym, but that has been life for the last 4 months and we've managed just fine.

Other than the drama described above, we have just been finishing up summer.  Hanging out with friends. Swimming.  Taking geriatric dogs in for a scratched eye (well, just one geriatric dog).  Taking middle daughters to urgent care for swimmer's ear (again, just one).  Baking pumpkin bread, which required making our own pumpkin puree since apparently Libby is on strike or something--canned pumpkin nowhere to be found.  Baking cookies.  And planning lunches and snacks on the go--as we'll be on the go a lot it seems.

In just 3 days I'll be packing a suitcase for one and getting on a plane to Florida while Daddy takes over for 4 days.  He's got a full weekend of baseball, football and cheerleading.  It will be challenging for just one parent, but he's good like that.  I'm excited for a BE reunion with the friends I went to London with over a year ago--they've all been back in the US about a year now and were so awesome to figure out a very affordable way for us to hang out together and celebrate a 40th birthday of one sweet friend.  I'm thrilled to be able to go, but I'll miss the first football game and the first cheer.  I don't like missing things.  What has been hardest has been the kids' reaction to me telling them that I'm going away.  They are used to Daddy's travel.  Mine?  Not so much.  It will be good to miss each other.  We all need that once in a while.  Daddy and I need to work on finding a way for both of us to miss the kids at the same time.

That will have to wait.  For now, back to school.  Back to lots of time in the car back and forth.  Back to thinking about breakfast and lunch the night before and thinking about dinner in the morning.  Back to packing snacks and drinks.  Back to busy.