First Days of School

Carus started 7th grade Wednesday.





Adam started 10th grade Thursday.

I was a dork that forgot to get photos in the morning before they headed off to the bus stop so their looks of exasperation are for me and my requests for photos when they got home.

Back to School days 1 and 2 aka The Bus Saga 2013

246/365 (9/3/13)


Wednesday brought Adam's first day of school - first day of 9th grade - and the start of Bus Saga 2013.  Perhaps you remember all the issues I had with the bus company and getting them to pick up Carus last year?  Well this year, problems are with Adam's route.

247/365 (9/4/13) First day of 9th grade, aka "Hurry up and take the picture."


When I received route info for Carus I should have called about Adam's, but I just assumed that since they've never had a problem figuring out when and where he needed picked up that all was golden.

I should have known better.

Copy and pasted from my Facebook statuses cause it's faster than typing it out again:

The Bus saga 2013: Never received info for when Adam would be picked up by the bus. This is a first. Usually they forget Carus. (We got her info, we'll find out tomorrow if they pick her up.)

We get up at 6:30 to get ready and call bus company anticipating a 7ish pick up time.

Actual pick up time: "Around 8 am. I'll be sure to let the bus driver know he actually has a stop on that street."

And then later Wednesday:

The Bus Saga 2013 continues:

I called back later in the morning to get the afternoon bus number because I forgot to ask at 6:30 a.m. before I had my coffee. Was given a different number than the one that picked Adam up. That's usual for around here, no big deal. BUT!

1) They, once again, had to look us up by address because Adam wasn't listed. 

And 

2) Turns out, that wasn't his bus. He discussed the stop he needed with the driver of that bus and that driver did bring him to his stop after completing his route so he's home 

BUT COME ON PEOPLE! 

I am politely curt on the phone.  I know it's crazy for them being the beginning of the school year and they transport all of the kids in this area - a number somewhere around 5,000 kids to several different schools. (Do not quote me on that number, for all I know it could be 2,000 or 10,000. It's my estimate.)  But it is their job. This is what they get paid for.  They are responsible for our children from bus stop to school doorway, and back.  It won't do for me to yell, scream and swear, but I am using a tone that says I'm really fed up.

Because I am.

248/365 (9/5/13) First day of 6th grade (with photobomb courtesy of Robert.)


Thursday, there were no problems for either Adam or Carus.  They were picked up, and only Carus's bus was a few minutes late (which I get, lots of kids, new routines, first day of school - totally understand running a bit late), and I was so happy to have gotten it ironed out so quickly and relatively painless (compared to last year).

Again, I should have known better.

Today!

Bus Saga 2013:  After having no problems yesterday, I thought the company got their shit together and things would be better, and then today - Adam's bus drove by him. He was out there and the bus drove right on by.  So of course, I call.

Me: "My son's bus just drove by him. Stop is.... bus number is ...."
Them: "I'm sorry.  Just wait there and I'll send him back around."
Me: "Well, how long should he wait at the stop?"
Them: "Hold on and I'll try to get him on the radio."

Them: "He'll be back around in about 7-10 minutes. He was running late and then he just passed by the stop and by the time he realized he needed to stop he was too far to be able to stop safely."
Me: "Okay. Uh, I understand things are crazy and that sometimes you get behind, but he still needs to pick up my kid though."
Them: "Well, have him out there 10 minutes early to make sure the bus sees him in time to stop."
Me, trying very hard not to just say 'what the fuck?': "Well, he was out there between 5 and 10 minutes early today and your driver didn't stop because he was running late.  I'm not going to send him out earlier just to be passed up again."

She tried to make a few excuses. I explained that this wasn't the first time I've had issues this year let alone last year and that I was frustrated and not okay with the half-assery.  I didn't swear at her, I didn't blame her, I didn't raise my voice, and I only sputtered a little in keeping from doing either.  And then she apologized, said that I was right and that they would try to do better. I thanked her and hung up.

Adam got picked up shortly after and now I'm writing this out before I have to work (though it won't post until this afternoon after I've taken my 365 for today).

Her apologizing was probably a bit of blowing smoke up my ass.  She might have been thinking that they were in the right - but she apologized because it was the right thing to do.  They might have trouble doing their jobs, but at least they have good customer service about it.

249/365 (9/6/13)


In other news:

Robert had his second steroid injection for his back pain/sciatica pain today.  It went as quick and smoothly as the first time.  Crossing fingers and saying prayers that this time it will work and he won't be in pain anymore.

I am photographing a wedding tomorrow and Carus is going as my assistant/second shooter.  We are excited, and nervous, and excited.

Back to School!

250:366

Her sign says "Carus, 10 years old, 5th grade. I want to be an artist."  I was reminded by my cousin to do this little sign.  It will be nice when she is grown to be able to look back and see how plans have or have not changed.  I wish I had started doing it when the kids started Kindergarten though... Live and learn.

Carus got to go back first, going yesterday.  She was a bit nervous and became more and more nervous the closer we got to school.  I drove her to avoid more bus drama (and boy has it been a bunch of drama - they can't seem to be able to figure out how to get her to and from school, but anyways) and we arrived at the school a bit too early so we parked and sat for 10 minutes.

The original plan was to drop her off at the front door but when it came time to go she asked if I would walk her to the door.  I did.  As we got closer to the door, I was asked to walk her to her classroom.  I left her as she was greeting her teacher.  I wanted a hug, but I knew she wouldn't want the embarrassment so I just waved.  As I was leaving I saw a friend and found out she was in Carus's class and felt better for her.  She had been worried that she wouldn't know anyone when she didn't recognize any names on the class list.

I missed her so much.

She bounced in in the afternoon a bit late (because of the stupid bus issues - but anyways) and said she had a good day, was happy to know several people in her class, declared her teacher awesome and told me all about how she won two pieces of Jolly Rancher candy in a game played at school.

(The bus issues continue today! For some reason, they can't figure out what bus Carus is supposed to go on, and their nonchalant, "just stick her on the same bus as your son and we'll get her to school" IS NOT reassuring, nor something I'm okay with.  After yet ANOTHER phone call (this puts me at 10) I think I've FINALLY got it sorted out.  We will see tomorrow...)

251:366

Adam's sign says "Adam, 14 years old, 8th grade.  I don't know"  I don't think he's ever known what he wanted to be.  There have been the moments of policeman and firefighter and superhero but those were very fleeting.  There was mention last year of being a writer and he started writing a book, but that has stalled - or run out of inspiration for the time being.  He'll figure it out.

Adam was excited, nervous, and sad about having to go back to school.  He enjoys school, but it does cut into video game time and it comes with homework.  He was excited that he already knew who his math teacher would be (she was great last year so WOO!) and was excited to go back to band (the district has a great band teacher).  He has football practice directly after school so I won't get to hear how it went until much later.

First day of school and then some...

Or more appropriately, first week of school.

 250/365 - First day of 7th grade and can't be bothered with first day photo...

 Oh wait, maybe he can.
 

Adam's bus didn't show up Wednesday and I had to take him to school. I had switched shifts with a coworker so I could start later and be available without worrying about being late for work since I was kind of expecting this as they didn't show up his first day last year.  Obviously, a good idea.  I think they missed him because only 7th graders and new students started Wednesday so they would have an easier time finding their way around a new school. He was the new student in a 5th/6th school last year.

I called the bus company to make sure they would show up the next day (they did) and at one point said, “we were out there 5 minutes early and stayed 15 minutes after scheduled time. Well, he was. I’m not allowed to go with him.” Bus company lady snorted. Yeah, that.

I'm trying hard not to be embarrassing but at the same time, I want to embarrass the shit out of him.

After dropping him off at school and making sure I didn't embarrass him by yelling out "Mommy loves you sweetums", even though I really wanted to, I decided to get a coffee shop coffee. I went to a local small drive-thru coffee shop.  I don't regularly get to have a coffee shop coffee since I work from home and my commute only takes my by my kitchen and not Starbucks (one corner they aren't on). This also turned out to be a great idea. Not only was I able to get my coffee and Carus a hot chocolate for $2 less than I would have at Starbucks, but she threw in doggy biscuits for Yoda (who got to go bye byes with us) and little cinnamon rolls for Carus and I for free. The doggy biscuits are a common thing to get for free, but still, he was happy. Also, I got an iced coffee (our weather has been in the 90s all week) and I found out that she uses coffee to make the ice cubes. Instead of my coffee getting watered down I got more coffee! SCORE!

I told this to Robert all amazed and everything and he looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Uh, yeah that's a good idea, but it's not new. I used to do it with my Kool-Aid as a kid." And yes I know it is done for other drinks, and I've done it myself; however, it's not a common thing for coffee shops to do so be amazed with me. Can you tell he isn't a coffee drinker?

First day of 4th grade.


Carus’s school work started out beautifully, except her speakers weren’t loud enough and we couldn’t get the volume up no matter what we tried. We worked through it and did okay. She got all her Scantron testing (assessments required by the state) done and out of the way (until spring when she does them again), but did dally a little with the math testing and tripled the amount of time she had to spend on it. I think it taught her a lesson though, she has to be more responsible for her time and if she goofs off even a little it sucks.

When Robert came home I told him about the speakers and asked him to fix it. He checked several settings, deemed it okay, then not okay, then just needs updated drivers for speakers, then what in the world, then – oh, they came halfway unplugged.

Sad part is, I thought about checking to see if they were partially unplugged and thought, “nah, that can’t be it.” Lesson learned universe. Lesson learned.

The rest of her school is a learning process for both of us and while Thursday was better than Wednesday, and today was better than yesterday, the week was just a smidge exhausting. And it was only 3 days. I'm confident once we get the hang of this new way of school we'll both sail through each day and week easily, and frankly, that's all that is keeping me going right now. I'm spent.

251/365 - Seen in my yard - butterfly on my lavender.

Same butterfly, different side, different processing. Isn't it creepy looking?

To top things off, work has been super fun lately! Both literally and sarcastically. We have a lot of work leading to a lot of over-time, I've been running an educational quality control process, and we have been working towards adding a new facility. (Yay expansion and Yay job security!) After the start date for the new facility had been moved back three times we found out Tuesday that it would start Wednesday morning. That was FUN! There is always an adjustment period with new things, there's just a lot of new to take in all at once. The educational project has been great and I'm learning more running it then if I wasn't.

252/365 - Leia. I was holding a pine cone up so she wouldn't come try to lick the camera. Again.


Note: Reminder for Race for the Cure in 9 days - Please read, donate (if you can) and pass on this link: http://bit.ly/rukLlC

First day of school 2010

Adam. 6th grade.



How in the beejeebus can I have a sixth grader?

Carus. 3rd grade.


Three years apart.

Goof-balls