First Day of School!

Please note that, while I typed the title, I totally chanted it, Nemo style.  I have a tradition of waking the boys up with that clip each year on the first day of school...just like how we finish out the school year with Alice in Chains, "School's Out for the Summer."  It's what we do.

Anyway, this year, N (a big 7th grader) wasn't feeling the whole Nemo thing; it was totally beneath him.  When I played it, he put the pillows over his head and rolled so far that I couldn't reach him.  B (a moderately big 3rd grader) was s.l.o.w. going this morning.  In fact, he took twice as long to shower as his older brother, and that NEVER happens.  When they finally sat down to fresh muffins and some OJ (probably one of a dozen times I'll have time to make a real breakfast this year), they were both crankpots.  When I ushered them outside, they were quick to realize that we weren't going to school until we took pictures and took off into remote corners of the parking lot.  Seriously?  It's just a flippin' picture!

When we got to the parking lot (their schools are next door to each other so they share a large-ish parking lot), N demanded that we drive him to his side of the parking lot.  I took one look at the gridlock, giggled, and told him walking was good for him.  He rolled his eyes (typical), and when we got out of the car, I said, "Okay, I'm going to hug you now." He resisted, but finally relented saying, "Mom, just don't let anyone see you!" 

NO problem..."Sure thing, buddy...except for Mrs. S. is behind us right now.  Ha!" (Mrs. S. was one of his 5th grade teachers...you know, waaaaay back when.)  He walked off to his second year of middle school, and B and I sat down on the sidewalk until it was time for school to open.  Meanwhile, a van pulled up next to us and a man unloaded his grandchildren from the van.  He looked at me, slightly wild-eyed, and said, "Do you by any chance braid hair?"

Um...what are we talking here?  Luckily, the little girl saved me and said, "Just a regular braid is fine."  I can handle that, so I braided and adorned that little one's hair to the best of my ability.  Finally, the doors opened, so B and I headed inside.  On the way, I told him I'd be happy to hug him outside of class if that would be less embarrassing, and he stared at me like I had an extra eyeball and said, "You think you're going to hug me?  INSIDE MY SCHOOL?!"

We negotiated for a quick hug in the doorway of a closet next to the cafeteria where there weren't any people around (Sounds totally creepy, doesn't it?) and a fist bump before I walked out of his class.  He almost forgot and started to hug me, but I gave him a wink and took a step back and he said, "OH YEAH!" and up came the fist.  (I KNEW he wasn't too old for hugs...stinker!)  I gave his teacher a rundown of when he needs to go puff on his inhaler and away I went.

I did a couple of miles at Kid Kountry and then came home to work on homework.  Oh man...let me just tell you...this schedule will, quite possibly, be the death of me.  Texas History?  Fine.  I like that stuff.  World History prior to the 16th Century?  Not my favorite, but still doable.  International Relations/Issue?  Pertinent, but I felt myself going cross-eyed twice in the 13:00 introduction.  Microeconomics?  Blargh.  All online.  All the time.

Then I headed to my Spanish class.  The degree I'm currently pursuing requires 4 semesters of a foreign language.  I originally really wanted to take American Sign Language as my foreign language, but when a Spanish class popped up literally 5 minutes from my house, I had to jump on it.  Including the professor, there are 8 people in my class.  I am one of two females (the professor is also female), and one of three English speakers.  There are people from Africa and different parts of Asia in my class, and another person who's either extremely quirky or might possibly have Tourette's.  I'm cool with whatever, but sometimes it can be hard to keep a straight face.  Luckily, I choked on some water early on in the class (I have no idea...), so they were used to hearing me cough.

Overall, I think the semester will be interesting, but totally time consuming.  I have another class that starts in October, so I'm hoping to get as far ahead as I can so another 3 credit hours won't seem like a monumental task.  I've taken 17 hours in a semester before (although they were split up and some ended as others began), but I think 18 is going to be much more difficult...probably due to the content of the course material.

When I picked B up from school, he jumped in the car yelling, "I LOVE 3RD GRADE!" So, that was positive.  N burst through the door half an hour later proclaiming everything (regardless of whether it was positive or negative) in an extremely loud voice, so I feel like he probably had a pretty good day, too.

And, on another positive note, Amazon sucked when it came to actually having my Prime package arrive on time (I ordered something via 2 day shipping on Friday for arrival today), so I scored an extra month of Student Prime before I have to renew my subscription. It doesn't actually HELP the situation, but it's better than zero.

On that note, I'm pretty sure I ran out of energy approximately 4 hours ago.  I'm not an early bird, nor am I anything that resembles a morning person.  5:00 is entirely too early...I mean, it's still dark!

Aubs