New Life- Week 77 (Back to School)

 This week the kids went back to school!  This has been a year and a half in the making and they were so ready to go back.   Me, I have very mixed feelings.  It will be nice to have the house a little quieter.  I still am never alone because I will always still have my littlest sidekick, but it's definitely quieter and calmer with the older two gone during the day.  What I am not looking forward to is the pace of life during the school year.  Between carpooling, sports, Merrick's job cleaning horse stalls, and homework, our days are and will be jammed packed.

This year, traffic is a particularly big issue.  I have two or three kids at two schools for the next three years.  Then I will have three kids at three schools!  I did not plan that very well!  So this year traffic is also complicated by a few factors; first, not many people are sending their kids on the bus. This is because the busing situation has been a nightmare, with not being able to find enough bus drivers and bus routes having to quarantine due to Covid exposure.  Parents are much less likely to use the bus if they don't have to.  This is the boat we are in.  Carrigan was going to ride the bus home and Merrick was going to ride to school three days.  Now, we are trying to do whatever we can so they don't have to.  Couple this with fact that tons of parents that are usually at work, are at home and can step away long enough to drive to school.  It's a recipe for a traffic nightmare.  It ends up meaning that I spend hours in the car everyday driving to and from school.

As for school itself, so far the kids are mostly liking their teachers.  Carrigan likes hers and Merrick likes all but one of his.   They both have friends in their classes.  All in all, I think that's a success.

This week Elise and I start school.  We will see how we get by adding one more layer of stress.  I am just a little concerned we will be late or I will have to go to school a mess without my hair or makeup done.  We'll see.  It will be fine.  It will be fine...

For now, here are the back to school photos for 2 of the 3 kiddos.  Here's to a healthy year!