Bus? What bus?

I guess it was bound to happen and now that it has happened maybe it won't happen again!

Jeremiah left for work and the kids were all ready for school and standing at the back door waiting for the bus. We had ten minutes before the bus would be here so I started to clean up the kitchen and told the kids to watch for the bus. After a few minutes they were quoting lines and singing songs from their recent favorite movie (The Pirates of Penzance) and I kept reminding them to watch for the bus. They assured me that they were watching. Eight 'o clock came and went and no bus, or so they thought. I sent Michaela outside to see if the kids were still waiting at the bus stop. She came back quickly to report that nobody was there.

"How can you be ready ten minutes early and still manage to miss the bus? I told you to watch for the bus!" I scolded

"We were watching!" was their response

Anthony was then very concerned that they would have to stay at home. Jeremiah had the car which meant our only option would be to walk. I started getting the little ones ready with hats, gloves, and coats and then realized that both strollers were in the car. Great! Just my luck. Thank goodness for the baby carrier wrap that my friend Laura made for me. I wrapped the material around me the way she showed me and got Emersynne situated and covered with a blanket. She was warm and comfy and was soon asleep.

Abigail wanted to take it her own pace so I pretty much dragged her the whole way there so the kids wouldn't be later than necessary. After dropping the kids off at school we were able to take the walk back home at a slower pace which meant we had to stop to pick up rocks, watch the big trucks drive by, (just don't ask Abigail to say truck) and play "I Spy".

After getting back I was an hour behind schedule so I cheated and decided that the walk to and from school would be my exercise. It's not really how I had planned to start my day and I'm hoping that the rough start to a new week will get better and not worse!

So my question to the kids was, "If you get charged fifty cents for a ride to school when you miss the bus, how much do you think you should get charged for missing the bus and having to be walked to school?"

They weren't really sure how to answer that one.