September 8, 2009 - The 2009-2010 School Year Begins (74 Weeks)

My 14th year of teaching began on Wednesday. Yup! It is hard to believe when you see it in print that it has been that long. The years have flown by, and I can thankfully say that I get paid to do what I love.
I cried on Wednesday as I drove off for school because Anthony stood in the window crying out, “Dad.” Thursday was a hard day, too. By the time I got home, Daniel had fed and bathed the boys. He’d also put Anthony down for the night. Thankfully, Daniel was still awake for a little while. I hugged him and wept like a baby. I rocked him to sleep and dragged my tired self to bed shortly after. On Friday, we had to evacuate the entire school because our electricity went out creating an unsafe condition in this over 90 degrees heat wave. It was a little scary for some of the 6th graders. Most of the kids were just happy to get an early jump on the long weekend.
This weekend reminded me of the predictability of the unpredictable. We thought we’d eat a nice meal at Olive Garden and that did not turn out well. Despite feeding the boys before entering and having their favorite snacks on hand, they did not let us enjoy our meal. Daniel had to leave with Anthony, and my meal was packed to go. Sunday we wanted to have a new family picture taken and again despite all our efforts, they wanted no part of our plan. Daddy and Mommy get an "A" for effort because we tried again on Monday. They pretty much still wanted no part of the pictures, but we got a couple of nice shots. I guess that's the way the ball bounces sometimes.
Twin Update: Anthony likes to spin around in circles. Daniel is waving goodbye with automaticity as soon as the car stops in front of Josefina’s house. Daniel is now pretending to be talking on the phone. Everyone on the other end of the line is, “Dad?” The boys both like to vigorously shake their heads side to side indicating “no” when they don’t want particular foods. What's with them lifting the tab off their Huggies?