School tomorrow? 17?

Hopper's been asking that very pair of questions at least 50 times a day for the last 2 weeks. Her questions will finally be answered to her satisfaction tomorrow morning when she gets on the bus for the first day of school. And she will be free to obsess over something else for awhile.

She's nervous and excited at the same time. She will have a new teacher this year, as the one she's had for the last 3 years has taken a different position. Thankfully, she was prepared for this for several weeks before school ended last year, and I don't think it will be too hard for her to get used to the new teacher.

But bless her little heart. She's so anxious and excited about school starting that she wanted to go to bed at 2:00 this afternoon. It's not unusual for her to go to bed really early during the school year, because she deals best with stress by sleeping. The more she stresses the earlier she goes to bed. Plus, the girls get up at 5:15 to get ready for the day, and they need more sleep than typical, but 2:00 is still a bit too early to be in bed for the night. I made her stay up until about 3:30, but I'm really wishing I could have kept her awake a little longer. It's going to take awhile to get into the routine of things again.

Scooter is thrilled school starts tomorrow, too. She's ready to be the little fashionista that she loves to be and start wearing all her new outfits to school. It will be hard for her to choose which outfit to wear first, because she has so many new favorites. She is just so ready to see old friends and her aids and teacher. She's probably even looking a little forward to showing off her black eye.

We're so very thankful that the girls love school. They've had great teachers and aides over the years. They've had outstanding bus drivers and aides, too, and I think their importance is so often overlooked. They help set the tone for your children to not only start the day but to end it as well. And in all the years the girls have been in school, there hasn't been a single bad driver or bus aide. Not one. There was one that I wouldn't categorize as super, but all the rest have either fallen into the exceptional or superb categories. We are very thankful for each of them and the positive effect they've had on our girls.

So tomorrow is once again the beginning of the school year at our house. This time of year is always so bittersweet for me. I always miss the girls during the school year. They go to bed so early that I don't get to spend nearly the amount of time with them than I do in the summer, and I do love spending time with them. But we also rarely get a break from one another during the summer, and we need an occasional break, so I also appreciate the time that I have when they're in school.

I'm looking forward to seeing what this school year brings.

Hopefully, it won't bring every virus on the planet home to roost at our house.