First Day of Kindergarten

Last Wednesday, I got a bug up my butt made the decision to send MiniMe off to American Kindy. I know. I said I wouldn't. Couldn't. And, shouldn't.

But, I did.

Let's just put it this way -- I'll definitely have something to blog about.

So, it's totally worth it.

Plus, MiniMe has friends in the class.

Of 11 kids.

Yes, 11 kids. With one teacher, one Kindergarten Aide & one SpEd Aid. That turns out to be a ratio of 3.6 (repeating) kids per 1 adult.

I couldn't have paid tuition and got a better ratio than that. By the way, DoDDS insists that this Kindergarten education that MiniMe is about to receive is worth in excess of $19K.

For that kind of money MiniMe might learn to read and gets to play with glue. For less than that kind of money, I got a bachelor's degree & a master's degree & no job job security. It's all about even, don't you think?

Here's the funnest part ever: MiniMe is in the same school with Laze-E. I know that a lot of you have your kids in the same school, but mine are 8 years apart, so this is a real treat. Laze-E's band director is also MiniMe's music teacher.

And, when your last name is Rockin'Bauer, people can kinda, sorta guess that you might be a redneck related. Poor Laze-E.

Or, is it poor MiniMe? Personally, I haven't decided. You've seen the room pictures - it's a close call, huh?

Anyway, I wanted MiniMe to get on the short bus van bus this morning & catch ride to school. I was going to meet her there with her school supplies & do the whole first day of kindy thing.

But, MiniMe decided that she wanted me to drive her. No problem. She's my baby & I was headed that way anyway.

Except, there was a problem. My car - the one I haven't driven since dropping Man off at the airport over 3 weeks ago - wouldn't start. So instead of heading off to school stress free this morning, I had to make an SOS call to Man & have him come resuce us.

Unlike Laze-E, MiniMe stressed about being late & here's a picture of her waiting for Daddy to show up with the jumper cables and a fully operating battery. She's obviously worried about missing her first day.

Or being even a little late. She wouldn't even look at the camera.

She's still very worried as we charge up the Accord's battery. But did manage to look at the camera for one pitifully sad pose.

But we did make it to school right as the tardy bell was ringing. I got her settled & managed to convince her teacher to pose for a picture with her. You know, so when I bad mouth her in the future, you'll know who I'm talking about. Notice, MiniMe perked up once we managed to get to school mostly on time.

Side note: I've added up the actual time that MiniMe has to spend in the classroom with her core teacher and it's a whopping 3 hours and 50 minutes. The other minutes are consumed with elective classes, recess & lunch. Surely, we can survive less than 4 hours a day?

I'lll keep you posted. You know I will.

And, here's MiniMe getting off the van bus this afternoon.

She looks like she had a great time, huh?

Me too! You know what's the best part about having both kids in school full time? I can take a mid morning nap go volunteer at the Thrift Shop. Of course, it's going to cost me money because I practically get first dibs on all the great stuff that gets consigned.

And, I can shop while I work.

How cool is that?

But it practically necessitates my other daytime activity.

Substitute teaching.

The pay from that will support my second hand purchasing activities & pay for a once a week Haus keeper.

Seriously, I get to bargain shop & my Haus gets cleaned. That's practially better than my previous life of bon-bons & Oprah.

Practically.