Terrible Tuesday

7:00am I woke up with a burning sore throat.  I've had it for days, but now it's affecting my voice.  Too bad!  It's Terrible Tuesday!  I finally dragged myself out of bed at 7:15, woke up Kate, then got in the shower.  Will was in my room playing "photobooth"on the computer when I got out.  I told him to get ready, because we had to leave in less than a half an hour.  I dressed, put on some make up, and headed to the kitchen.  The little girls were still asleep, but they needed to come with us too.  Grandma arrived at 7:50 to walk Kate to school while I was still rushing around making breakfast and lunches.  The only bread for sandwiches was frozen, so I toasted some for a PB&J.  Kate didn't want toasted bread for a sandwich, so I scrambled at the last minute and threw together some pretzels and cream cheese. Will was dressed, but he didn't have on any socks or shoes, hadn't brushed his hair or teeth and he was reading a book in his room.  The little girls were still asleep.  We needed to leave for Will's cello lesson in about 10 minutes.  Socks, shoes, hair, teeth, packed the lunches, packed the backpack, got the cello, got the music got my purse.  Rachael started yelling from her crib.  Changed her diaper, changed her clothes.  Elizabeth dressed herself.  I put some cold cereal in baggies, milk in sippy cups and out the door we went.  My hair was still wet and we were about fifteen minutes late, but luckily his teacher is "flexible".
8:30am I settled the little girls into PBS at the teacher's house and then sat in on Will's lesson.  During the lesson I checked his homework and signed his "agenda" - an assignment notebook checked by the teacher every day. Then I started to look over the material for the music docent presentation I would give later that day in Elizabeth's kindergarten class.  It was the first time I had looked at it.  I picked Andrew Lloyd Webber and "Cats" this month.  What a weird, weird musical, but I knew it would be a hit with the kindergartners.  Cool animal costumes.
9:15am  Will insisted on playing his piano pieces for his cello teacher as I loaded up the little girls in the van.  Elizabeth had a friend coming over any minute.  Come on, Will! Dropped Will off at school, headed home, and sure enough the friend was there waiting.  I got Rachael, her blanket, snacks and sippy cup, my purse, the cello, the cello music, and the music docent folder out of the car.  Dropped several things along the way and went back for them.  Turned on a Easter video for Rachael and went to try and style my horribly frizzy air-dried hair.  Finished last night's dinner dishes, as well as the mess made from breakfast and sack lunches.  Put the wet laundry in the dryer, and a new load in the washer.  Ding Dong!  It was my electrical friend coming to fix some issues.  I heard the big, little girls yelling for me from my bedroom.  They learned about "Google Earth" in computer lab at school and wanted me to help them find the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China.  After a while they moved on to photobooth- current favorite at our house - and started making videos of themselves in Andy Warhol mode.  They were jumping and screaming on my bed and that got Rachael mad!  So mad I couldn't understand a word she was screaming!  This went on long enough that I finally told the girls to go do something else so I could solve Rachael's problem. After about five minutes of screaming her head off I got her calmed down.  (Who needs caffeine in the morning when you have a screaming toddler?)
10:30am  I got a phone call from William's friend's mom, Neena, telling me she was in the hospital with her husband who had fainted unexpectedly.  Poor Neena!  Sure, I can get the "cub grub" for scouts and sure, Brandon can go check out his chart and talk to you guys.  I'll call him right now.  Called Brandon while making cheese quesadillas and fruit cups for the girls for lunch.  Brandon also wanted me to search his "pile" for a phone number he needed.  Not in the pile.  Not in yesterday's slacks or jacket.  Back to cleaning up and more laundry.  (It's always piled high on Monday!)
11:35am Time to go to kindergarten!  I tried to put a quick ponytail in Elizabeth's unruly hair and there was a sticky spot.  The tears began.  Go get your sweater from my bedroom, Anna!  Get your backpack, Elizabeth!  I finally got everyone in the car, but Rachael started yelling for her "gempie" (blankie), so I went back into the house.  Dropped off the girls and headed to Trader Joe's for cat shaped cookies as well as "cub grub".  Cheese sticks, fruit bars, Pirate Booty, water bottles.  That should do it for a bunch of hungry cub scouts after school!  (And I couldn't resist the unopened daffodil bunches for $1.79!  The highlight of my day!) Rachael was whining for some of the white cheddar Pirate Booty so I let her hold the bag in her lap while I loaded the groceries.  Big mistake.  Within minutes it was EVERYWHERE and she was covered in that white cheddar powder stuff.  Took the groceries back home, talked a few things over with my electric man, grabbed the "Cats" video and cat cookies, and headed to my sister-in-law's to drop off Rachael.  Noticed that Rachael was clearly in need of a nap.  This did not bode well for anyone.  My sister in law and I talked on the porch about mommy bloggers for a good twenty minutes.
1:00pm  Finally arrived at the school with folder, cookies and video in hand.  Helped with April calendar art project, did my little ditty on Andrew Lloyd Webber and "Cats", gave "spider rides" to a line up of kids on the kindergarten playground, stuffed the weekly information folders, gathered up Elizabeth, Kate, Will, cousins Ty and Nicole and best friend Rithik and headed back up the hill to trade Ty and Nicole for Rachael.  Ty invited Elizabeth to play and we arranged for me to pick her up later.
3:15pm Dropped off Kate and Rachael (after Rachael had another HUGE tantrum in the car about something - so tired), got Will's scout shirt and kerchief, looked for his book to no avail, grabbed the "cub grub", listened to two phone messages about carpooling to scouts (too late!) and car pooling to batting practice in an hour and a half.  I had noticed hours earlier my cell phone battery was dead and my car charger was in Brandon's car so I would have to call this mom back "later".
3:40pm  Ten minutes late to scouts and I forgot to bring a hammer.  (They were making tool boxes.)  Passed off the "cub grub", borrowed a hammer, headed back home.  Called back both carpool moms, Brandon to see if he visited Rithik's dad, Neena to see how he was doing and also to assure her I would pick up the boys.  That's when I noticed Rachael has fallen asleep on the couch and I remembered I needed to pick up Elizabeth before getting the boys from scouts.  Left Rachael with Kate and ran out the door with semi charged phone.
4:45pm  Picked up Elizabeth, picked up the boys, drove to the opposite end of town for batting practice, dropped off Will, drove all the way back, dropped off Rithik and had a painful (physically - my throat!) discussion with Neena and recently discharged Nirmal about how he was just dehydrated and had been exercising too much. I also learned that in India they have a phrase about the early 50's being the "jungle" years - if you survive those years you will live a long time.  I will keep that in mind, but at that point I was thinking if I survived the late 30's I'd be doing pretty good.
5:30pm  Arrived home to find the baby still sleeping on the couch and Kate doing her homework on my computer.  I fell into my bed and didn't move for an hour.  I was really feeling sick at this point.  Another baseball mom brought Will home, Rachael woke up, and I started to hear rummaging in the kitchen.  Dinner!  Dinner?  Seriously?  I reasoned in my mind that in many, many countries around this big, blue world there were children who ate less in a day than my children ate in one meal.  Couldn't the "cub grub" and after school snacks be enough just this one day?  It would have to be.  I just didn't have it in me.
6:30pm The phone started ringing.  I couldn't bring myself to get up and answer it, but I knew it probably had to do with the 20 teenage girls who would be coming to my house a little after 7pm for an "Easter Amazing Race" thing at the church.  Not kidding.  Just then the doorbell rang.  It was 2 of the boys from church with a big sign asking one of those girls to Prom, including an Easter basket with eggs containing the letters to his name so she could figure out who was asking her.  I had to ask them more than necessary to explain it to me.  My brain was fuzzy.  That's when I noticed the 30 hard boiled eggs on my doorstep for the activity that night.
7:00pm  I remembered I needed to get Kate to the activity and called Brandon.  He had just pulled into the driveway.  Can you take her?  Great!  Ten minutes after he got back and before he even finished changing his clothes the doorbell rang and in came the girls.  Each of the three groups were asking me what "act of kindness" they could do (pick up the little girls bedroom, tidy the kitchen, water the plants) and then they were all over the backyard egg tapping.  Then as quickly as they came, they left, and I went back to bed.  Actually, I ate a hard boiled egg first.  So did most of the kids.  (That's probably a feast of a dinner in some parts of this world!  Right?)  Other than my Wheat Chex, banana, and skim milk I ate standing up and in between helping other little people get ready, I realized that egg was the only thing I had eaten besides some remnants of the little girls' lunch as well a "cub grub".  
8:30pm  I helped Kate edit her book review for school tomorrow while Brandon corralled the two middle children toward bed.  Rachael had a date with Kipper on Netflix. (Some days you've got to do what you've got to do and this poor girl was maxxing out on her screen time.) She kept getting up, holding her bum and screaming my name, a common occurance these days when she feels something coming.  None of my kids have ever had these kind of "issues" before, but after about a half an hour of this, she finally gave me a reason to get out of bed.  Nothing like a big, stinky diaper change to top off my day!
9:00pm  Blogging my brains out.  If no one ever reads this but me, I will feel better.  Brandon is now at the grocery store getting "Cookie Crisp" cereal as a special birthday breakfast treat for Will's 9th birthday tomorrow.  (Another big day looms large . . .)  Brandon also gave me some zithromax and  Ricola throat lozenges and got everyone in bed, including the baby who is yelling her head off in there right now.  She isn't crying, in pain, or even mad.  She's just not that tired yet.

I wish I could say the same . . .