Times are changing

It's that time of year again. The time of year where showering becomes a daily thing rather than a whenever I have time thing, when kids need to wear close that sort of match, and when alarm clocks need to be set. Back to school time.

As usual the emotions are mixed. On one hand it's exciting to get back in the classroom to set up, plan and meet the kids we'll be spending time with for the next nine months. On the other hand it means seeing our kids less, dishing out lots of money for daycare, and saying goodbye to the laid back days of summer vacation.

Charlie started daycare on Monday, and did awesome. He, Jaymeson and Ellie all went to Kimmy's house, and Kimmy said he had the best first day of all of our kids. Yesterday when I picked them up she said his second day was even better. That makes me happy. I shed some tears Monday morning as Josh packed all of them up and dropped them off, making my life a little less emotional that it would have been had I dropped them off.

Ellie had her last day at Kimmy's yesterday. She has gone there for the past four years, so it was tough on all sides. Ellie starts school next Thursday. She'll be in the 4-year old kindergarten program and will go to a daycare closer to our house. She'll get to ride the bus to her new school, and is soooo excited about this!

Jaymeson is Jaymeson. She runs, she falls, she scrapes her knees, hands, nose, whatever. For the first time last night she took a big digger on the concrete, brushed off her knees and hands, and kept going. Not a tear was shed.

Josh is taking on a different role at school this year. He'll be in charge of a self-contained EBD classroom rather than a floating Special Ed teacher as he was last year. He's also taken on the role of assistant varsity volleyball coach at Central. He says he's catching on to the rules and the lingo, and seems to be enjoying it. They went 3-1 yesterday at a tournament in Stevens Point, and play Aquinas on Thursday.

Things are very much the same for me this year. I'm team-teaching fifth grade once again, but this year we only have 24 kids on our class list rather than 28. I'll enjoy this as much as I can, knowing full well that by the end of the year our numbers will be up again. I'm going to be the drop-off person for Jaymeson and Charlie this year. I'm used to getting ready after Josh heads out with the kids, but with him being so close to school it just doesn't make sense to do it any other way (until winter that is...when I refuse to drive on the I90 overpass in bad weather).

Here's to a good year!