Whew, it's done!

Today I had plans... they didn't go as I intended, but it was so much better!

I was going to get out the door around 10:30 and take ALL the kids with me to the lab to get Brianna's blood draw done. Then at 11:30 or after I was invited to come meet the pre-k teacher that will have at least Brianna, and possibly (hopefully) Micah as well. 10:30 came and I was putting together lunches for everyone, realizing they would be hungry and not wanting to spend the money on drive-through when I could make lunches. 11:10 I pulled out of the driveway with 4 kids including shoes and a diaper bag, drinks, and lunches...

Then my Mom called and said she'd meet me for the blood draw and keep the 3 while I brought Brianna in. One problem, it would be 11:30 by the time I got there and they close at 12 for lunch. Not so good. So we decided we'd also be getting to the school around 11:30, and to just go there first.

I was expecting maybe 20 minutes of 'here's the classroom' and a few questions answered for me, and we'd be on our way. But no... it wasn't to be. Instead, the teacher and aide in the prek class were so welcoming and got out some toys and we sat and the kids played and we talked about the two little ones, expectations, drop off/pick up, etc. It was great! During that time the Ex Ed coordinator (I really don't know her title, LOL, but that's what she's helping us with so I guess that works) came by and said that the 2 aides were in Emma's class as well, to head over there when we had a chance.

These two classes are connected in a 'pod'... so three of the kids are all within a shout of one another :)

Emma's teacher isn't going to be in for at least the first 6 weeks of school (I learned this last week) because she broke her back. Seriously. OW. Thank God it's not any worse than it is because she could have ended up paralyzed but wow, how painful! Please pray for her quick healing and pain management! So, Emma's class has 5 kids in it and she has a 1:1 aide. I also met the classroom aide and we were all able to talk through some of the safety stuff with Emma. The Ex Ed coordinator was there too, so she set-up our pick up and drop off for us with the principal and came back and said that it was all set up! Since our kids are in 3 different programs ("assisted level" classroom (E), Prek (M &B), and Kindy (K)), they all have different 'regular' pick up and drop off and this way all 4 kids will be in ONE place for pick-up. And for the time being I'll be walking them in to their classrooms for drop-off (which I prefer for now at least).

My mom helped wrestle Micah (he's the one that wants to explore and doesn't listen LOL) and I was able to talk with all the aides and teacher and feel MUCH better about sending the kids to school next week!! I also was able to get a general idea of Emma's class-supply list (I hadn't seen one yet) and know about who they want diapers for, who they want to have a backpack or a nap mat, etc... I am SO GLAD I went, and that everyone was there! We spent not 30 min/hour there... but an hour and a half! Yikes! I hate to take that much of the teachers' time, but I feel very good about the first week of school now and not like I'll be wandering around and trying to get things figured out and set-up for the kids after the chaos of the first week of school has already begun.

On the to-do list now before Monday:

1. make ASL packets for each of the kids that sign that has the words they use/understand and how to sign them
2. make "please help keep me safe" pages for E and M addressing concerns with eating/personal safety (choking, aspirating, scratching, etc.)
3. make an "I'm learning to..." page for Emma that says what things we've specifically been working on this summer to gain independence as well as what things we're DISCOURAGING so they can help with that (fingers to the back of the throat, hyperextending, etc.)
4. get the supplies for Emma's class that were requested
5. re-hang my 7-day clothes sorter and set up the first week of school-clothes in there (that was a GOD-SEND last year, but summertime is lazy and I took them down because I wasn't using them much)
6. put together the diapering supplies for each of the 3 kids with their 1st day classroom 'stuff' (I think I might need suitcases to pull this off... maybe it's a good thing they all start school on different days??)
7. go through my regular grocery receipts and write out how much I pay for them so when we go to Sam's Club on Sunday we don't spend MORE per item than we usually do at Wal-Mart!

I can't believe that not just ONE, but all FOUR kids are starting school. Kristopher was in prek last year at the private school, and Brianna was in K-3 for a half-year last year, but this is the first time any of the kids have gone full days (and ALL of them are) and the first time K has gone 5 days (and E will be too), their first experience in public school at all (tho I do love this school!) and Micah and Emma's very first experience in ANY classroom! WOW.

Ok, off to get dinner on. I'm not loving the single-parenting kick we've been on the last 2 weeks Mike's had conferences and weekend retreats and late meetings and all kinds of things, including a conference tonight and tomorrow so he'll be home after the kids are in bed. But... he has no class this coming Monday, and next week only a SHORT class, and he's DONE! FINISHED! He'll have an official graduation ceremony in December some time. YAY!