It's friday night, that means we can stay up late right? It's ONLY 9pm. I know my children should be heading to bed BUT instead of taking a break from blogging on the weekends, it seems that the weekend is the only time I can play catch up! I think playing "catch up" might just be the story of my life. Anyhow, since I have the preschool pictures already uploaded and labeled for blog posting I figured it would be an "easy" post before we head upstairs. Easy blogpost. Maybe. Easy day? Not so much! But we all survived.
Our adventures in Pre-K started off with buying a backpack. Kenna (her dad thru and thru) picked hers in a matter of seconds. She saw it. She wanted it. End of story. Joslen on the other hand (her mom thru and thru) had to sort thru about 50 different ones to find just the right one. I stood in walmart with several "hanging" from my arms so she could "compare" them.
No, I didn't upload the wrong photo. These are my GIRLS' backpacks!
I tried for a long time to convince Kenna that she surely wanted a different backpack. Tinkerbell, Barbie, Dora, Princess, Rainbow plaid, Purple peace sign, Cars, Mario, Phineas and Ferb, every single other semi girlish backpack I could find and her response to every single one "Moooom, thats way too girly for me"...What?! After about 20 minutes of unsucceful attempts at changing her mind with a sigh we went to the check out line with Batman and Joslen had finally settled on Dora. I quietly explained to Kenna that some kids (kids are EVIL nowadays) might make fun of her for having a "boy" backpack. She said "no way mom, Batman is cool." It was my final attempt and she had not caved. After a couple minutes of standing in line Kenna looked at me with tears in her eyes and whispered "mom, I don't want to get made fun of, can we find another backpack?" UGH! Stab to the HEART! Dangit! We left our place in line and headed back to the backpacks as I desperatly tried to convince her BATMAN WAS COOL. It broke my heart. What was I doing to my poor child? Although I wanted so badly to protect her and shield her from hurtful words, here I was doing just that by trying to convince her of what I wanted her to have instead of what SHE wanted. She had been so sure of her Batman until mean ol' mom came and tried to tell her otherwise. I finally convinced her (again) that she was right Batman was awesome and if some boy thought it wasn't he just didn't know what he was talking about. Batman was cool for boys and GIRLS.
Kenna sure does have her own uniqueness. (is that a word?) She wears a pink flip flop and white flip flop because she likes to be different. She's going thru a "pretending to be a boy stage" so she doesn't like wearing shirts (at home) because "boys don't wear shirts mom". She says she'll be a girl when she gets older. I heard her tell Joslen the other day that she didn't want the toy because it had sparkles on it and "sparkles make her nervous". She sings "rolling like a redneck, trucks jacked up, got smoke stacks, yeah buddy". What?! Who's child is this? (her fathers) She sure is teaching me some good lessons. Does it really matter if her shoes match? (I've been told thats the style now? They sell shoes mismatched??) Does it matter she's not a "girly" as I think she should be? She is so comfortable in her "own" skin. (no Christa I'm not talking about the lack there of her clothes) Why should I try to change that about her? It is what make her, HER.
The first day was a little stressful for me.
Could you tell? We got everyone fed, bathed, dressed and ready for the bus. The bus we weren't for sure was coming up until about 2 hours before they left. I was told someone would contact me about who was picking them up and come Monday morning I had heard nothing. 10:45 came around and I received a text from sister saying our bus driver would be calling and 2 seconds later my phone rang. Thank goodness their driver was a friend of ours. Made me feel a little better! She told us she'd be there around noon so we got a little photo shoot in while we waited.
I felt the lump in my throat rising as the bus pulled up. I was postive I was going to have to strap Joslen in the seat screaming and crying and then run away. She's extremely shy. But all went pretty smooth. One girl was so excited she ran right onto the bus. That would be Gabby, our dog. 3 times. She served as a good distraction though. The girls (human girls) hesitated just for a moment as to who would go first and then finally Kenna started up the steps.
And then they left. :(
I was pretty proud of myself. I waved until I no longer saw any sight of yellow/orange bus left and finally went inside. I was teary eyed but I did not cry! Go me! I went inside sat down and started couting down the miutes until they would be home. Let me make a little correction. I didn't cry UNTIL one of their teachers sent me a little text saying "the girls arrived safe and sound and they seem to be excited". Then I lost it for a few minutes. I pulled myself together and I had a list of things that I wanted to get done while I had "free time" figuring time would go a little faster. Hunter had other ideas. He was lost. He just looked around and cried. He was either pulling on my leg to sit on my lap or was sitting on my lap. I finally gave in and went and rocked with him in the recliner. We were both missing the girls. We rocked and I enjoyed the moments of cuddling. He eventually fell asleep and I just cotinued to rock. I decided it was a good day to take a "break". My list would be there tomorrow!
3:50pm finally came around and I rushed around to get outside to greet the girls when they got off the bus. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I was expecting them to be home around 4pm. I got Hunter changed and ran outside at 3:59pm worried they'd already be pulling up. A few minutes past 4pm I saw BF's big bus go by (the bus I expected them to ride to BR school and then get on a little bus to be brought home) so we anxiously waited for their soon arrival.
We waited. And waited. And waited. Did I mention it was like 105 degrees out? We were roasting! 4:30pm came around and I thought surely they'd be home soon. I think it was about that time I started texting sister saying my precious cargo had not been dropped off yet. 4:45 and I was on the verge of an anxiety attack. I was pacing the driveway, almost in tears, just sure that my poor little babies were on the wrong bus on the wrong side of the county scared to death crying for their momma, or still in chapman not on a bus at all and thinking their momma had forgotten about them. I just knew this whole preschool thing was a bad idea and I should have never put my little 4 year old BABIES on the regular buses home with all the other BIG kids! My stomach was in knots. 4:50 I was texting sister saying still not here, and at that point she said Ok Neise, maybe you should call the bus barn, I'm worried. 4:59pm they finally arrived. 4:59pm! Holy bejeezes! They were safe and sound and laughing. The 2 hour bus ride didn't bother THEM at all! They ran inside gave me a big hug and asked for a snack!
As I said we all survived and non of us are hating it. yet. The girls seem to enjoy learning and playing with friends. I'm still adjusting to our new schedule. They were put on a different bus route (the one I assumed they would be on in the first place) and now arrive home around 4pm.
The bus driver that picks them up was nice enough to take this picture! The other 2 kids ride the bus with them. Wasn't that sweet? Love living in a small town!
