It's been a busy first week and a half of school. But all the kids are settling into their classes. The younger 3 seem to all like their teachers. I don't know about Carly. She hasn't commented much about high school except that she discovered bags under her eyes from being too tired (I warned her that they would likely be there for the next 4 years!) and the seniors make the lunch lines too crowded. There was no hazing for the "fish" this year, which I guess is good, but I was a little disappointed that she wouldn't have the same kind of experience I had on the first day of high school. But oh well, she will have other great things going on.

Martha badly sprained her ankle last week. It made for a great first week of school. (can you hear my sarcasm?) She also missed school this week because she was "sick." I was struck with the idea of making up tickets for her to use on these "sick" days when she has no fever or other obvious illness. She has 5 left to use this semester, and once they are all gone, she will not be able to stay home at all unless she is truly sick, fever and all. I'm hoping it will work, but I don't know. She already seems to be heading down into a dark hole of depression and I am afraid she will wind up in the hospital again. She had a total meltdown last night during/after church. I was supposed to leave her with my mom while I drove to get Pete from work. She had homework to do so I felt she needed to stay and do it. She absolutely refused to stay at my moms. She has become so strongly attached to me that I feel suffocated. The ONLY time I get away from her is when she is at school. I can't spend any time alone with my other kids and I miss them. Carly is unhappy because I never see her anymore - although most of the reason for that is she is always at school or church. But when she is home, I can't ever go anywhere alone with her or just hang out with her in my room cuz Martha is always around the Carly doesn't like to be around Martha because of her grumpiness (and the fact that Martha is just plan mean to her) So when Carly is home, she hides out in her room. I miss her the most cuz I hardly get to see her.

Jenny and Suzy are doing great. They love their teachers and they usually get to see each other during lunch.  They are also eating school lunches this year, which is going really good so far. Of course, Martha hates the school lunches, but she hates just about everything. The little ones love it and enjoy feeling "normal" at school. Suzy was amazed when she figured out that their id cards served as "money" for their lunches. She said it was weird.

So today, Pete and I are going down to his old hometown to pick up a piano that has been in his family for about 60 years. It needs some work and some cleaning, but I'm hoping we can get it into shape and be able to play it. I would LOVE to learn to play the piano and have the kids learn. For some reason, I think Suzy would be good at it. I'm excited, just a little nervous about the execution of our plan. We have never moved a piano before and I'm scared we will damage it beyond repair. Plus, our van is leaking fuel and being on the road all day will be a little nerve-racking. I worry that the van will break down. And then theirs the situation with the lights. Our trailer has a short in it somewhere and it's causing our van to blow a fuse that controls all the lights. I have a box of fuses to fix it, but I don't want to be stopping every hour to replace a fuse. But at lease Pete will be with me. I hate when I'm alone and the van breaks down.

I gotta close this so I can go wake Pete up and get ready to go.