School Days Again

Busy busy busy...We are a full week into school and overall it's going fairly well. I can tell the students are getting much more comfortable with the bus and the school year as I'm having to spend more time at my RR crossings waiting on them to get quiet. High priority needs to be getting my seating chart done and posted. Problem is that while I love the results of having a seating chart...especially when I can use magnets to post the names - I hate drawing it up. Oh well I will get it done...earlier this year than I did last year.

I have the same route basically as I did last year. That's a huge yeah...made the morning route really easy - no new roads and most of the new kids were in town. My first pick-up was terrified to be riding the bus - she climbed on clutching her older sister's hand. Her mom and dad followed the bus the entire route and met her at school to escort her into the building. This afternoon going home I got a goodbye wave and an agreement that she'd see me in the morning. Now a week later she is doing much better. She is still afraid to walk to her classroom alone...and couldn't find my bus by herself this afternoon. However she is willing to walk with one of my older students into the building and to class. That's an improvement and a sign of growth. And I'm getting a real wave and smile when she gets off the bus in the evenings.

Today was Dipstick's first day of school for the year...the joys of juggling two different school schedules. He was kind of a mess this morning but hopefully had a good day. B left a few minutes ago to go get him from football practice...something new for all of us. (Squirrel and Stretch are doing cross country again this fall).

I'm sure there's plenty more to write about but in all honesty I'm tired tonight and my thoughts are scattered. The good news is that Stretch is feeling MUCH better than he was yesterday - I had him into the after hours clinic last night and he's on antibiotics for possible MRSA. Judging from the rapid response of his body they are doing their job thankfully.

Pictures Finally..and stuff

Well...the house is very very quiet at the moment...all the guys are gone camping for the weekend. Stretch and Squirrel will probably be back tomorrow evening as they usually only go for the one night and the canoeing on Saturday. However B and Dipstick traditionally stay over until Sunday afternoon making it a full weekend. They are on a Father/Son camping trip headed up by one of the men from our church though it's not a "church-only" event. It tends to be more of a friendship building/outreach type event I think. I don't look forward to this trip all year long but usually when it comes around I get excited about having the house to myself for a bit - and maybe having the chance to work on a project that I don't usually have time for. Having said that...my time tends to go all too fast and I rarely get as much done as I hope to. Tonight I'm away to a home-party - that will be interesting I think though it was booked off one I held. Tomorrow I know that I have to go out to the butcher shop to pick up some meat I ordered. Other than that...I'm either going to work on scrapbooking or start sewing strips together for quilt tops provided I can get the sewing machine working.

To update on the end of our trip...the passports were received by 11:00 am Friday morning. That was a huge relief. We spent Friday visiting a hobby store (very large collection of farm toys)...lots of fun. We also went to a Farmer's Market and spent some time realizing how vast Lake Huron really is...we weren't really even on the lake but on a bay. (Somewhere during the week I saw a 3D display that really showed how deep the Great Lakes are). Pictures were plentiful. Saturday we headed home...took the scenic route that gave us glimpses of the lake. However being as it was a holiday weekend in Canada traffic by the lake was very heavy and the trip took at least two hours longer than it could have otherwise. We were all pretty tired when we finally got home. Sunday was church and beginning to get unpacked.

Monday was our beginning of school meeting for the bus drivers - this time it seemed very long. The good news is that my bus route is basically the same as it was last year...I'll have new kids of course but also will have many of the same ones I had last year. I hope that will make the adjustment period easier as they will already be familiar with my rules. (I just got off the phone with a "new" family who's moved into town.)

Other than that...this week has mainly been a catch-up week - and time spent getting re-organized after our trip and ready for school. Hopefully this time I can get some pictures to upload to post.