Back to School!

Today is the first day back to school from Spring Break. Can you hear my huge sigh of relief?? Man, it has been a crazy week! We didn't do anything super special, but we got out a bit. Definitely not a vacation week!

We went clothes shopping for Sunshine, Bee, and Bella...this time in a neighboring town with much better shopping options. That was both a fun and crazy experience! It was good family bonding time. Poor Hubby had no idea what he was getting into though. I tried to warn him, but is any man ever really prepared to go shopping with SIX girls and their mother? We had a few rough spots until he came to terms. We did very well staying within budget...he just had a hard time with, well, TIME. I thought we did amazing actually. We covered three clothing stores and the shoe store in under four hours! We found shoes for six pairs of feet in under an hour! Hubby was not impressed. In fact he was very impatient. Apparently I do not take him shopping with our children nearly enough. I have to be fair and add that he did have a good reason to worry about the time as he had to leave for work that evening. He simply failed to factor in the reality of shopping with girls. He is still learning.

We also had a birthday party for our second oldest bio daughter. It was a super fun family tea party with lots of nibbles. The older girls were amazingly helpful getting everything ready. Afterwards my three bio girls left with their paternal grandmother to spend a few days at her house. This has become a family tradition over the last few years and our girls were super excited.

With the younger girls gone the house was a lot quieter over the next few days. Little Mister (our three year old) was delighted to have so much attention! He was much better behaved than normal (methinks he may benefit from more regular one on one time with Mom) and the teens decided they rather like him. It also gave the girls and I time to get to know each other better as well. I am getting very fond of these young ladies!

Saturday we (we = myself, my sister, her two littles, Little Mister, Sunshine, and Bella) went to pick up the little girls and did some yardsale-ing along the way. The pickings were slim though and we only ended up with a few things. We totally wore out Sunshine and Bella. In fact Bella was rather perturbed with us for not heading home sooner. Turns out she was actually getting sick. Later that night she threw up and was pretty miserable. Thankfully it was a fast moving bug and although she stayed home from church Sunday morning, she had rallied by the afternoon.

This morning was the teens first day at their new schools. I took them in to make sure they got their schedules and everything was in order. Bee and Bella were simple to check in. They got their handbooks and schedules, we called my niece up to the office to show them to their classes, and off they went. Easy peasy. The high school was a bit more involved, but thankfully much simpler than expected. We spent about 45 minutes with the guidance counselor getting Sunshine's schedule worked out. We were happy to find out that all her credits are safe and she is only behind by one credit. They gave her a couple courses at the alternative academy on campus where she can work online to complete the classes at her own pace. Those courses will allow her to not only catch up on the one course she is behind in, but also allows her to make up the missing credit she needs if she applies herself. That means next year she will be right on target to graduate with her class in two years. With all the school hopping that happens in foster care that is a BIG THING.

Now I am breathing easier, knowing we are finally going to be able to settle into some kind of an actual routine. The girls will start making friends and will settle in. My kids will settle down and won't have so much emotional turmoil (change makes them very emotional).  I will have a bit of quiet time to recharge. I don't dare hope for smooth sailing, but at least things shouldn't be so chaotic!