Time to start the 2nd half of the school year

Monday the kids went back to school and you would think that means more time for me to blog, but I am actually home less when the kids are in school.  D and I spend a lot of time in the car driving kids to and from school and activities.  None of us were looking forward to school starting.  I try to have a good attitude or say things like it is too bad you have to go back to school but that means we are 1 more day closer to spring break, or aren't you excited to learn more and see your friends. 


Break was wonderful!  The kids were great over break.  They were happy, focused, mostly helpful, and a ton of fun!  Despite all my efforts 3 out of 4 of our kids prefer to fall asleep between 9-10pm and get up around 7:30-8pm.  Over break they got to be on the sleep schedules they like and they were happy kids for it.  J rarely eats lunch at school and he hates almost everything I send for hot lunches, and they he is crabby because he is hungry and we get what I affectionately refer to as "crabby old man J."  C was well rested and not having to go to school and had significantly less meltdowns.  V got to spend a lot of time reading which he loves and D was happy to have them all home.  On school nights they are in bed by 8:30 but they stay awake (mostly) in their beds until much later.


The first day back from break was miserable.  C had 2 meltdowns within a half hour of getting home from school in which she declared she hated D and told me she was done with me and she was giving me to another family.  It started when I told her she needed to get out of the car so we could go inside and get lunch.  I am mean like that.  D blew raspberries at her during one of her fits an then laughed and I believe that is when she decided she didn't like him either.


Then after school the boys' bus was late.  After it was 30 minutes late I called to see what the deal was and they said it would be at my house soon, but no explanation of what happened.  It finally arrived 45 min late and at the same time we were supposed to be across town at swimming lessons.  I was not happy.  J was in tears.  V was not happy.  On the car ride to swimming V told me that the bus driver was a substitute driver and that their names weren't on her list so she left the school without them.  I asked if they were late for some reason and he said that they were out there at the same time they always were.  I was mad and thought about calling the bus company or the school and figuring out why they didn't notify me about the bus being late and forgetting the kids. 


Luckily I never found time to call the bus company or the school to figure out why the bus was late and I wasn't notified.  Tonight I talked to V's teacher.  It turns out there was more to the story.  Every day after school V goes downstairs and collects J and then they walk out to the bus together.  The boys were delayed to the bus because V decided to stop in the library real quick and get a new book.  It turns out this is a not a new thing for him.  Just something he knows I will tell him he can't do, so he doesn't tell me about it,  They did have a substitute bus driver and their names were not on the list so the driver left and didn't wait for them to show up.  However if they didn't stop at the library for V to get a new book they would have been out to the bus before it left.  So everyone was in the wrong and the poor bus driver had to turn around part way through the route, go back to the school to get my kids and then finish the route.  While I still think that they should inform parents when buses are late and they should make sure they have the correct list of kids for substitute drivers, they should also not have to wait around on kids who don't follow the rules and don't go straight out to the bus after school.  V has no idea that I have this new information  and I am excited to share it with him in the morning.  I am hoping to let J know that going to the library after school is not allowed because he is good at reminding other people they are breaking the rules.  In the meantime the teacher has told him that the library is now closed after school because they are fixing things, not sure how long he will buy that story but it was worth a try.