A Small Storm

Today marked my first day at home with no children.  Except Whitley, but she doesn't count and she leaves early.  Rhett started High School and Brooklyn is an 8th grader now.  Unfortunately I had a meeting for Glee so I wasn't really home to enjoy my three hours of solitude.  Another day.  After my meeting, Katy and I went to get groceries so that tomorrow I could stay home!  After, we went straight to bed.  Kindergarten is exhausting you know.

Today was also my kids first day on a bus. I went in Friday to make sure I knew what bus they should be on so they would be ok.  I drilled into them "bus 31".  It was also Bo's piano day so I went to wait at the bus stop so I could whisk him away to his lessons.  The scheduled time for drop off came and went.  When they were 15 min late, it was now too late for Bo to make piano.  I called the house to see if anyone had called home to report a problem.  Nick tells me that they are on a bus with some neighbors but that Brooklyn is freaking out because Rhett never got on the bus.  Hmmm.  Did he walk home?  I leave the bus stop and drive the short distance to the school to see if I can find him.  Nope.  Starting to panic a little.  Another update from Nick: their current location is a long way from our home.  Wrong bus.  Ok, but where is Rhett?  I went to the school to report him missing.  Luckily I know the principal and he was there, so we went into his office to straightened it out.  A short time later, I get another report: Rhett, Dalin and Bo are home.

Apparently they got on different buses.  Which I specifically told them to STAY TOGETHER.  To make a two hour ordeal short, the school changed the bus number over the weekend.  They actually got on the right bus, or "bus 31".  Only they rerouted that bus.  The other kids were directed to the correct bus by the principal but no one had notified the bus driver that he had a new stop.  When he had finished his route, he still had three children on his bus.  They directed him to our stop and they made it home.. 45 min late.

Back to "bus 31".  Thank goodness for the  neighbor girl and her cell phone (and that her and Nick have a little thing) or I would have had no idea where Brooklyn and Jordan were.  The bus driver wouldn't answer his phone to the many calls made to him during the route.  The kids said they saw him pick it up and silence it several times.  They didn't get back to the school till after 5.  I would have been worried sick!!  Luckily our actual bus driver came to the school so I got to talk to him directly and figure everything out and exchange numbers with him. Tomorrow should be a better day. Ü

Meanwhile, back at the homestead.....  Mermaid callbacks were tonight and Stephen, Whitley and Rhett were all asked back.  Because I spent the entire afternoon at the school and driving around, I wasn't at home to get everyone ready and make dinner.  My mind was very much not on that.  I called Whitley and asked her to get dinner started so they could eat before they left.  Well, callbacks started at 5 and we thought it was 5:30.  At 5:10 Whitley's friend called and asked where she was.  Earlier in the day, she had come home from her job at the theater feeling sick.  She had started her period and felt nauseous and crampy.  So it was good she had the afternoon to sleep.  Now she was already feeling not well AND 25 min late to callbacks. That, of course, caused a small round of tears and frustration.  Now, she's trying to be sweet and Mermaid like with cramps, a stuffy nose, red eyes and a headache.  I will pray for her.  

We were going to have family home evening even though a few of the kids are missing, but now I'm tired and grouchy, Brooklyn is sweaty and tired and frustrated and the general mood around here is BLAH!   So, I think we are packing it up and getting ice cream!  I'm dying to know how's she's doing at callbacks and all I can do is wait.  And pray.  Happy First Day of School!