It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Wondering if I have a post by the exact same title this time last year, but too lazy to go look. :-P

This has got to be one of my favorite commercials of all time- I wish they would still air it!! :)) Though those two children in the video DEFINITELY were NOT mine- as Kaylin and Justin have been anxiously counting down the days until school starts since about the end of June. ;)

We had a long summer this year- a bit more *boring* than usual for the kids since we stuck close to home.  Lina needed time to adjust to family life, and I am not able to chase after both Lina and Evan at the same time to go anywhere in public on my own.  Since Mike used up all his vacation time (and then some) on our three trips to Russia to bring Lina home, we had no summer vacation to break things up, though we are taking a long weekend away to the lake in a few weeks- SO looking forward to that! :)

So today was the first day of school for three of the four kiddos in our house: Kaylin began fourth grade, Justin began second grade, and Evan began preschool! Evan and Lina's school schedules will keep me on my toes this year for sure as they both (hopefully) will be attending two different programs each.  Evan began his special ed. preschool today which he will attend Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 8:30-11:00.  Lina is still in the testing phase of the public school system and hasn't been enrolled yet- we were told to hope for an October enrollment date.  In the meantime, she and Evan will both attend a *regular* Christian preschool program which begins next week- Lina will be in the 4's class as I am holding her back a year instead of beginning kindergarten as her birthdate would indicate.  Lina's class there is Monday Wednesday Friday, and Evan's 2's class is Wednesday Friday.  If you're keeping track, that gives me three different schools and times on Mondays.  Thankfully (though I wasn't thankful at the time I found out last year) Kaylin and Justin's school has later start times this year which allows me to drive Evan to his preschool class held at a different elementary school on the other side of town.  He has the option of riding the bus, but I haven't been given his bus times yet, and I'm not so sure I'm ready to put him on it quite yet. Soooooooo.... it's drop off Evan before 8:30 at his school, then drop off Lina at the Christian preschool at 9:00, and from there take Kaylin and Justin to school before 9:30.  Their bus time is 9:05, so I will have to drive them to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays come next Wednesday.

As far as Lina's placement in the public school system, I'm not sure what sort of placement they will recommend.  I'm hoping she can attend a special ed. preschool class similar to Evan's on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there may be an issue with her birthdate since she turns 6 next week.  I am ready to put up a fight though. Developmentally, she is about at the level of a 3 year old, and physically she is the size of a 4 year old, so she will fit in beautifully in a 4's classroom.

A couple pics from this morning:

And lastly a prayer request.... as schools began here across the state, a 17 year old young man sporting designer genes was shot in the cafeteria at his high school in the Baltimore area where he too was beginning a new school year.  He was flown to Shock Trauma where he is in critical condition.  Reports say he was not targeted but rather the shooter just shot in the general direction of his lunch table and he happened to get hit. Praying for his healing and strength to get past this horribly tragic incident.