Back To School

The first day of school was unlike any other.  I had spent the previous day having surgery on my face to remove my skin cancer.  It's a post for another day but lets just say we were most definitely not ready for the first day of school.  Luckily it was on a Wednesday so we only had to get ourselves through a few days before we could reboot.  It was also a late-start day so the older boys didn't leave for school until 10:00am and Landon started school at the regular time so he was the first one out the door.  He barely made it to the bus after I frantically took a quick picture of him.  We were not expecting the bus to arrive on time because they never do on the first day but this time it came on schedule and the drive knew right away we were "that family" that can barely get their act together in the mornings.

Marcus and Ethan headed off to middle school together.  This is the first time in four years that Marcus has had a sibling at school with him.  He's not so sure he likes it but I love that they are together again because Ethan is a talker and I'm already learning much more about the way the middle school works than I ever did with Marcus. 

Marcus had to wear his purple WEB shirt on the first day.  I don't know what WEB stands for but about 75 8th graders are leaders at the school whose specific job is to help the new 6th graders acclimate to middle school.  Their theme is "kindness before cool" and it's one of the many reasons I love their school.

 Ethan eventually figured out how to open his locker, got to all his classes just fine, and quickly grew tired of all the girls telling him how cute he was and that he's a "mini Marcus."  He came home and said, "I love middle school!"  That made my heart happy.

Landon started 2nd grade just fine.  It was the second week of school when he had a complete meltdown where I had to practically throw him on the bus, after chasing the bus halfway down the street in my bare feet.  It was ugly.  So Randy and I have made an effort to give Landon a little more one-on-one time because obviously he's feeling the pains of all the changes going on at our house and he seems to be doing much better.  Plus, I finally bought him a new backpack.

 

 Parker started preschool and is just fine with it.  I miss his last teacher who was laid-back and happy to get him out the door if I was in a rush.  Now I have to stand in line, sign him in and out, and wait patiently for the teacher to have her "high 5 moment" with him.  It irritates me to no end.  But we will get through it.

 Henry is getting used to spending a lot of time in his car seat.  Newborns are so unpredictable.  I never know if he's going to sleep, scream, or just sit there content.  Usually he sleeps but I have had to pull over a couple times so I can pop in his binky so he'll stop screaming.  So far, so good. 
Getting all the boys fed, clothed, and backpacks loaded in the morning while holding/nursing a newborn is no joke but we are surviving.