Successful first week of school

Good morning, all! It's shaping up to a productive day - one load of laundry in the dryer and the second well on it's way in the washer, the dog is walked, I've packed up several boxes (this move is coming up soon - although not soon enough at this point), swept the floors in the basement and main floors, mopped the bathroom and kitchen floors, and now I'm relaxing with a tea while perusing the inter webs - AND it's not even 6:00am! My damn internal alarm is stuck at 4:30am. OYE!

So, it appears that my little clan has barely survived the first week of school completely exhausted and overwhelmed relatively unscathed. While he was anxious and extraordinarily nervous, Imp went off to his new school with an open-mind and a willingness. I can't imagine how tough it is to have to start anew at a school that has a gazillion a few hundred more students, and where your old school could probably physically fit neatly inside the gym of your new school, with room to spare!! BUT...he did it, with surprisingly little kickback. A couple of mornings were a bit rough, but I suspect it was more resistance to the change in routine and the realization that he's going to have to go to bed earlier and get up earlier for the next 10 months Haha!! They all need to go to bed before Mom now, and can't sleep until 10:30 or 11:00 am anymore. Nope - I'm not secretly thrilled about that at all!. We are SO proud of him for his efforts this week - this is completely out of his comfort zone. OH - and he brought home several notes/sets of paperwork - probably more than he's actually brought home in the past 3 school years combined (paperwork was NOT his forte - I was completely out of touch with the goings-on at his old school last year). Given the chance to go back to what he knows, he would jump, but he's going to survive this transition - I just know it! For the record, he's going to hang out with one of his old buddies from his old school today - and he's delighted about that. Banshee makes me dizzy. hit the ground running on the first day, and hasn't looked back. She rolls with the punches and thrives on this stuff. She is thrilled with her class, and has already been a little socialite this weekend with sleepovers and such. She also had another dance rehearsal mid-week, so that got her completely "jazzed" up (I crack me up, sometimes!) for the insane regular schedule, which starts tomorrow. SO...if you're trying to find me in the next 10 months, I'll be pimping myself out so I can afford to put my kid through dance at the studio. My Other Half (MOH) had a successful week too - no complaints (except for his sore feet). And Teen...she's had a good/successful week too, although it's not without incident. She got herself a humdinger of a cold, had some funky reaction to cold medication she took, and then to round off the week, wound up with a black eye. Clumsy Clydo She says, it's because she's a complete klutz something to do with smacking her face off her desk as she bent to pick something up, but I suspect it's more to do with her incoordination and clumsiness, but...I wasn't there. Sometimes I think I need to wrap this one in bubble wrap. And me? I survived too. Lunches, paperwork, and all.

Yesterday, I took Banshee to the city to buy dance "stuff" - you know, shoes and uniform requirements. For her, the dance store is like IKEA, Costco or HomeSense for adults. When we walked in the door, she started to vibrate with excitement. Me? I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear; so many people, so little space. I discovered 2 things while in that store, 1) Banshee has her own taste and opinion in clothing now (loosely translated, that means that she's not quite so willing to 'settle' for the cheap, plain jane body suit and shorts I was picking out for her - oh no, she wants the spendy (although very lovely) fancy-pants ones); and 2) contrary to what I've been led to believe, dance is NOT a cheaper activity than cheer. HOLY SHIT!!! Not even close! BUT...like I said, she lives and breathes dance, and when I see her lovingly looking at her new shoes and prancing around and practicing dance moves in front of her mirror with her new bodysuit and shorts on, I don't mind the cost even if it means pimping myself out for the next 10 months so we can pay for it.

After the dance store, we made a trip to the mall, because you know, going to a packed mall on a crappy weekend day is always a smart thing to do. I had a never-ever-been-experienced-before moment...I walked out of that mall with more money than I walked into it with. CRAZINESS! No - I didn't rob a bank or anything - I just returned something - and didn't find anything else I needed. Well, I did find things I "NEED" (like furniture for my new sunroom, or cabinets for the family room, or a new washer and dryer...), but with this impending move, I don't want to bring anything else into this house, so, I didn't. This whole moving thing is a great way to save money. For now, anyway. Ask me about that AFTER we move...

SO, tomorrow we embark on the first full week of hell school, adding in some extra crazy. curricular activities. We are still preparing for the upcoming move (we can't wait to get it over with already!), yet still trying to retain some "normal" here (I know, most of you are laughing hysterically at that one - Normal is not a word in my family's vocabulary). Last week went really well - much better than we expected, so we are hopeful that this one will bring much chaos great things. Have a great week!