Today's Warm Up Wednesday question for my school bus kids: If you were a Super Villain, who would you be, what would be your name and what would your villain power be?

So far I have not been disappointed by ANY of the responses and the kids want me to start asking these questions ALL THE TIME now. I don't if I can handle that, driving a school bus is easy, driving a school bus of creative students...now THAT'S difficult.

   As of this year I have been a school bus driver for eight years with the River Falls School District and many more with other companies. In fact I remember on the first day that I was to take my test, they shut down all federal buildings because terrorists had hijacked planes and did unspeakable acts of terror to the Twin Towers on 9/11. I have been driving school bus for a while. 
   One thing that I have learned is that no two days are the same and you never know WHAT will come out of a child’s mouth. Thats where the ideas of "morning warm ups" came from, asking my kids basic questions and seeing where THEY take it.
   One morning a couple of weeks ago, I pulled up to a stop with two young girls, one of which, the youngest, ALWAYS carries one of DOZENS of stuffed animals with her. As a bus driver, stuffed animals can be VERY important to kids as they help them start their day or even go as far as helping them not feel so lonely on a sometimes huge bus. Bottom line, always let stuffed animals on board.
   On this particular morning as the two young ladies were crossing in front of my bus, I thought I’d have a little fun. Greeting the older sister I waited for the younger to board, being all of 1st grade age, she is always happy and loves to smile at me as she gets on board. This morning I turned to her after looking at her baby leopard stuffed animal named "Freckles" (pronounced FWeck-les) and asked; “Do you have her papers?”
   A look of shock crossed the little girls face as she asked back; “Papers?” I proceeded to state that River Falls Public Transportation Ordinance #(I can’t even remember the number, I just whipped it off the top of my head.) CLEARLY states that if your going to transport a wild animal on a school bus, it must be documented with the proper immunization records before it can proceed.” (I was impressed with myself that I never cracked a smile once.) Shocked she stated that “I don’t have any papers for her, I didn’t even know I needed them.” With a wink I said to her, tonight you find a piece of paper and a pencil and see if you can make one up. As we got to school I heard the kids in the back of the bus explain to her that the bus driver was having fun with her and as she left the bus we had a good laugh.
   The next morning, my little 1st grader got on the bus with an ear to ear grin to which she handed me a note…

​Eat your heart out Steve Harvey and "Little Big Shots" My kids win hands down!!!

Todays question was asked to BOTH routes. Senior High answered: "They don't go anywhere, but when it rains in the summer, snowmen body parts fall to the ground." The second answer was that snowmen "hide in deep freezers."

The Elementary was a little more creative. First snowmen go to Canada. Second, snowmen go to Snowman Heaven, and third, all the snowmen hide out in a bunker deep within the earth. I couldn't make this stuff up if I WANTED too.

Have a great day.

​...S

I've started a new "thing" on the bus. If the kids behave, and don't act all "crazy" while riding to and from school, as a group, then at certain times (most likely Wednesdays) they can vote on a subject and object that I will do as a "warm up" for my morning work load. It's a win-win situation.

​Here is today's request: My dog Outlaw with a tag on that says he is identified with our bus.

Enjoy the day.

...S