and now our chicken heads are cut off again. But we'll have some cash flow

Aiden got a job at Head Start. He is loving it which is good because it is ruining our schedule!! Mostly it's ruining my schedule but it's affecting even our (fantastically stepping up to help) neighbors' schedules.

When he went in for the interview they neglected to tell him it would be a split shift. And he hid the fact that he is NOT a morning person from them. When they offered him the job, they actually offered it to him through me and explained that he'd need to start the next morning. Ha ha!! So he gets up at some awful hour (to him) and goes to the school to be the bus aide from 7 to 8 am. This means he rides all around this town with a whole bunch of 3 and 4 year olds and a bus driver who is more than a little crazy and has to help buckle the kids in and convince them to stop crying and/or yelling.

Why are they crying? Because as much as you'd like to think they are scared of the freaky dude with the eyebrow ring and tattoos, it's because their moms aren't getting on the bus, too. Kids have a funny way of prioritizing their qualms.

As for the yelling, I cannot imagine how much his facial tics must be coming out to play in the hour he's on there. How do you convince a bunch of preschoolers to stop yelling on the bus? Because you can't do it by yelling, that's for sure.

Anyway, after that lovely shift he comes home in time to take care of the girls while I go to two hours of class. Then Amy (oh, God Bless Amy!) babysits for half an hour or so until I get home. Between the two of us we get the three kindergartners onto the noon bus and her preschooler off and mine on, the Head Start bus (also at noon because the coordination efforts in this town are so fantastic!). Then I get to take a break from school and kids until 1:20 or so when I head back to school for class for another hour before running (this fat girl doesn't actually run, it's an exaggeration) for the bus to get home so I can get the kids off the bus. Then we play outside until Ashley shows up on her bus at 4 (with Aiden, a mid-shift kiss for us!) and somewhere we start dinner.

Meanwhile, Aiden gets to school, doesn't ride the noon bus, and helps with lunchtime in his class. Then they play for a few minutes outside, then it's nap time. Question: How do you convince a preschool class to be quiet and lay down and, maybe, actually sleep? Answer: You make the room dark as night and warm.

New Question: How do make make an Aiden fall asleep? It's the same answer. Plus, he's been up since that ungodly hour of the morning. So thankfully there's a little girl who is a complete brat in his corner which forces him to stay awake to keep her from keeping everyone else awake. Or there was. The lead teacher took pity on Aiden having to deal with all the brats and moved this one girl to another corner. But now who will keep Aiden awake? It's only nap time for the kids!!!

After nap, they play outside again, have snack, and he rides the afternoon bus to bring home Ashley's class. Again with the overly nuts driver. Then he gets to go back to school until the rest of the parents come get their kids. THEN he gets to mop and finally he can come home.

Our dinner hour has changed to 6 instead of 5/5:30 to incorporate said changes.

Unfortunately, Aiden works in a class that has class on Fridays. Ashley doesn't. So we have some fantastic neighbors who are willing to step in and take turns watching her so I don't have to take her to physics with me (I already don't understand half the lecture, there would go the other half!) or miss class altogether. There's two other times this gets really sticky in the week but they are, again, willing to step up and help out. AND THEY'RE NOT GETTING PAID!!!

I have NEVER lived in such a community. Our last place was low income housing as well. There is no way I would have ever let my neighbors babysit let alone expected them to do it for free.

yay for people who are poor because they are students and NOT because they are making a lifestyle choice!!!!