And as of this morning, we have…

a 7th grader (a new middle-schooler for the second year running) and a 3rd grader.  It only took 3 wake up calls for C today before she bounded out of bed.  She couldn't even take the time to eat as she had to be at the bus stop before the crack of dawn (we ended up being 25 minutes early).  If you are wondering, she does have an alarm, but sadly it does not wake her up…it wakes me up (across the house) and I have to then trudge in and wake her up.  A very interesting method, but it worked (for today).  Here's hoping the fact that she wanted to go to sleep earlier tonight means she might not only get up with only one or two calls tomorrow or  maybe entirely on her own?

Kelsey was able to sleep a little bit later, since her school starts at the more acceptable time of 8:40 a.m..   C's school doesn't start until 7:50 a.m., but she has to be in line for the bus at 7:00 a.m.  On the other hand, I am so grateful that I don't have to drive her, that I am thrilled for any mass transit pick-up, regardless of the time.  The hour and a quarter between the bus times also allows me to have one on one time with each the kids before they go to school (provided LG sleeps in a bit).

At Kelsey's appointed time, we were at the stop, with cameras in hand 10 minutes early and still played the waiting game.  Finally the bus pulled almost up to our doorstep and Kelsey hopped on with barely a backward glance.  While it wasn't terribly hard for them to get up and going, it was immensely helpful that both girls had prepped their lunches, backpacks and clothes the night before.  Overall, it was a very smooth morning and with everyone already having had more sleep tonight, I'm thinking that tomorrow will be much easier.  Now, if I could get 4 plus hours, we will all be golden, as Wednesday is another big day:

LG starts Montessori!

After a flurry of form filling out and check writing last night, we stopped by the Montessori school this morning and took a brief tour.  It felt just a bit like going home again, as both C and Kelsey attended the same school and adored it.  Many of the teachers remembered them, and Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed playing with the toys and manipulatives.  In fact, when I picked him up as it was time to go, he burst into tears.  The teachers were thrilled when they figured out he was sad to be leaving.  

I have his outfit ready for the morning and his clothes and shoes are labeled.  I have a feeling it will only be a few minutes after drop off  tomorrow before he waves us off (Grandpa Kirk is still here and, of course, will be the official photographer).  While I am a tiny bit sad, he is just so excited about going to school.  

Now we just need to convince him that my car really is his "bus"!

Oh, and I just realized I can't forget to mention my favorite memory from the day.  Kelsey's school's PTA had a coffee morning (Peet's, yea!) and we were able to attend after Nicholas's orientation.  As we were leaving, we walked through the very open vestibule and Nicholas took a long, hard look around. He then queried in the most plaintive voice, "Where is my Kelsey?"   A cute, sweet memory I hope to hold onto for a very long time to come…