Hurricane of a day!

We found out late yesterday afternoon that today was going to be an early release because of the hurricane that is headed towards Galveston/Houston. Austin was trying to prepare for the evacuees from the coast. Some of the kids knew when they arrived at school and I informed others that school would be releasing at 12:45. This was a bit difficult for Richard to understand...
R: "My mom doesn't know today is an early release."
Me: "How are you supposed to get home?"
R: "My mom was supposed to tell me. She doesn't know that today is an early release."
Me: "I understand that you don't think she knows about today, but how were you planning on getting home today?"
R: "The bus."
Me: "Then you are still going to ride the bus. It's just going to leave school a couple hours earlier than usual."
R: "But my mom doesn't know it's an early release."
Me: "It's okay. You are going to ride the bus and get off at your house."
R: "But she won't know and won't be waiting on me."
Me: "But you know where your stop is?"
R: "Yes, but my mom won't know that I will be coming."
Me: "Is she home today?"
R: "Yes, but she won't know that I'm coming."
Me: "It's okay. If she is going to be home, you can just get off at your stop and walk to your house."
R: "But my mom won't know that I'm coming."
Me: "It will be okay. Just get on the bus today, get off at your stop, and then walk to your house."
(I would like to say this is an exaggerated conversation, but that would make my life easier.)
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Some things are funny...it's natural. I try to make the day fun for everyone, but some kids find humor in things that aren't really funny. Because of the hurricane and their never-ending questions, we watched the United Streaming video on Hurricanes. The kids loved this. I explained that I was not a hurricane expert and this video could explain things a bit better. We also looked at Ike's track on www.stormpulse.com. We talked about where they weathermen predicted it would go and also about future hurricanes. I read the list of names for the rest of this year's hurricanes and one of them was also the name of a child in our class. Well, this is what Victor found more hilarious than necessary. He began rolling on the floor laughing hysterically about the hurricane having the same name as the kid in our class. According to Victor's response, there hasn't been anything more funny that's happened in his life. Imagine a child rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically...he was unstoppable!