There is no "late" in "bus."

Strip has throughly enjoyed taking the bus to school, and I've been loving it, too! Since she's one of the first on and last off, it's like I get an extra hour plus every day! See, if school gets out at 3:00. that would mean I would need to be at the car line at 2:30, so I'd have to leave the house between 2:00-2:15. But, because she hops on the bus when school gets out, I have about 25-30 minutes AFTER that last bell until she gets home. Pretty sweet.

The first week of school went pretty well, I like to be outside about 15 minutes before the bus arrives, giving us a little morning play time with Zoe and time to relax a little before she heads to school.

Monday was a different story.

She had recently asked why they couldn't watch tv in the mornings, and I reminded her that she needed to be dressed and ready for the day before the tv comes on, otherwise, we'd be rushed and crazy trying to get out of the door. One morning, I was reminding her to "hurry and get dressed so I can pull up your hair," when she asked me if we were running late.

"Sweetie, with the bus, there is no 'running late.' You're either on it, or you're not."

Monday, we learned that lesson. It was another exhausting day of doctor appointments, so I was trying to get everyone ready so I could take Nugget to a friends house, then run downtown for my iron infusion. Normally, the kids hop out of bed, scarf down their oatmeal and race upstairs to see who can make their bed the fastest. Of course, not today!

I say: She:

Eat your oatmeal! Stares off into space.

Go get dressed! Sits on her unmade bed in her undies

Come here so I can Cries because she wanted to

braid your hair! brush it first.

Make your bed Sits on the top bunk,

acting like a puppy dog

Go downstairs and Sits about three stairs down

put your shoes on! chatting with Nugget.

See where this is going?

After finding my two shoe-less Joe's sitting on the stairs, a little piece of Mommy Dearest started to come out.

"Strip!! GET YOUR SHOES ON NOW! Your backpack's on the chair! HURRY! The bus will be here any second!" I'm screaming while trying to get shoes on Nugget and myself. I breath a sigh of relief when I see her round the corner to grab her back pack...and see her shoes... IN HER HANDS!!!

SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!

As I'm punting two kids and a dog out of the back door, Strip manages to get one shoe on, and is still dragging her uni-shoed feet standing in the kitchen. That's when I hear it, the unmistakable screech of yellow, school bus brakes as they make the turn to our stop.

"GO!! HURRY!!! THE BUS IS HERE, YOU'RE GOING TO MISS IT!!!!"

Doe, tee doe, lollie gag, not a care in the world.

"RUN STRIP RUN!! GO YOU CAN PUT YOUR SHOE ON IN THE BUS!! HURRY"

La tee dah, lovely day, not in a hurry, why are my mom's eyes bulging out of her head.

Bus door closes. Bus puts on the left turn signal. Bus is gone.

Strip now runs.

I tell her it's too late, and to go get in the car. UGH. Shuffle everyone back inside, put Zoe in her crate, find my keys, buckle two kids in the car and we head to school. The good news was, because we were all up and ready and missed the bus by three seconds, we were on the way to school within two minutes. The other good news is when you're the earliest pick up, even when you miss the bus, you'll still be on time/early to school.

I'm just glad we learned the missed bus lesson early in the school year! This past week? Up and ready with 20 minutes to spare!