Yesterday was the first day of school. All three kids were excited to go and see all of their friends and meet their teachers. They bounced out of bed and were ready to leave the house 15 minutes later.

Today was the second day of school. The boys mostly bounced out of bed and were ready to go on time. Katrina dragged herself out of bed, complained of not feeling well, and moved extremely slowly. I was all, "You're probably just tired!" until i touched her forehead and noticed that she was pretty hot. Temperature taken, fever established, and she is missing a day of school for the first time in about 4 years. Her method of being sick: Lay on the couch sleeping. Open eyes, chirp, "I feel much better!" When i suggest that she should maybe try sleeping longer, fall asleep immediately. Repeat.

Anyhow. Yesterday! First day! All three kids had great first days. Katrina's best friend is in her class for the first time ever. Zane and Houston don't have good friends in their classes, but Zane is certain that he'll make friends with all the kids he doesn't know, and Houston has math class with all of his friends. Houston and Katrina got home and cheerfully did their homework immediately. Zane immediately did his homework with tears and frustration. (Mostly because i kept making him erase his 5's and re-write them the right way. He's learning the five times table. There are fives literally ALL OVER the page. Just LOOK AT THEM so you don't write them backwards!)

I've mentioned before (well, on my old blog) that Houston seems to carry some sort of curse on teachers. Every single teacher he's had, except one, has quit or retired or moved to another grade. This year, for the very first time, Katrina was set to have a teacher that he'd had in 4th grade, who then moved up to 5th grade before Katrina could have her for 4th. And...she quit to go be the principal at another school. So Katrina has a new teacher, who seems very nice, but right now we are both really disappointed. Meanwhile, Houston was set to have his first ever male teachers, and both of them quit. His homeroom teacher is going to Africa with the Peace Corp (can't really hold that against him!), and i have no idea what happened to the other one. So! New teachers for him too!

Zane, on the other hand, has the same teacher Houston had for 3rd grade. (She's all proud of herself for being the only Houston-teacher left standing in the school.) This is the teacher that, when i would do lunches in Houston's room, Zane would hide under the desk for as long as she was in the room. He was terrified of her. She tried really hard to win him over all year, but he would not be won over. She was the only person he was really afraid of. So we were all surprised when, when i asked him which teacher he really wanted for 3rd grade, he said he wanted her. When we went to the "Meet the Teachers" event, he ran up to her and said, "I'm not afraid of you anymore!" and then ran off. She and i just looked at each other, shrugged, and laughed.