Man. Some days are longer than others, and today was a long one. Sometimes I get too ambitious on Mondays. I'm all re-charged from the weekend, and I feel compelled to get on top of the week before it starts spinning out of control, but then around 5pm I realize it's overkill and I suddenly find myself getting pretty tired and crabby. I've had more days like this than I'd like to remember, but somehow I keep repeating the same mistake. (Maybe next Monday I'll find a balance!)
7am orchestra for Will gets the day started pretty early. By 8am, breakfast and lunch for 3 are finished and the same 3 kids are out the door. A little ExerciseTV, dishes, lots of laundry (and let me tell you how much I resent household chores that have several steps: gathering, sorting, treating, washing, drying, folding, putting away - it actually makes me angry at the clothes sometimes), getting myself ready, a little "secretarial" work, playing for first grade singing time, a trip to the grocery store (another multi step process not to be underestimated: planning meals, making a list, shopping for the stuff with a young child, checking out [yes, this is a separate step - especially with a three year old in tow]), loading up the car, unloading the car, putting all that blessed food away . . . really, I should be nothing but very, very grateful), homework help, attempts at more "secretarial" work (honestly! what mother doesn't need a full time secretary for all the paperwork, computer work, phone calls, coordinating, scheduling, keeping track of, planning, etc.), a mini bike ride with Rachael and Elizabeth, pork chop dinner, 6 mini loaves of my favorite pumpkin bread, "family night" complete with opening some belated birthday presents for Rachael and playing a round of "The Bottle Cap Game" (this was a highlight of the day since we all ended up in hysterics from Rachael begging to be hit by the water), pumpkin bread for a treat while I explained my "new and improved" plan (one of many) for helping my children become accountable, responsible, hard-working, balanced people (It involves daily "chores" for Mind/Body/Spirit, allowance, saving, yada yada yada . . . I keep trying new things, but in the end if I'm not disciplined enough to keep it going it always flops. And that, my friends, is the problem with every aspect of family life. If Mom flops, everybody and everything flops. Anyway, we'll see how this system works), bedtime routine, get myself ready for bed, blog, blog, blog . . .
I want to wake up one day with nothing to do but read, write, and think. Doesn't that sound glorious? I might go down to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal around 10am, then back into bed with a book or my laptop. Maybe I'd shower around 2. I can't even imagine beyond that because the idea is so ludicrous. I know, I know, by the time I get there I'll miss my kids, feel bored and boring, and all that stuff. I don't want a LIFE like that, just a day.
Enough of my typical day every mother can relate to. On with the pictures!
Rachael is officially old enough for real playdates. I've become acquainted with a very nice family in our neighborhood who have a little girl about a year older than Rachael, and they just love to play together. Her mom invited us to library storytime recently, and I ended up signing up for a session starting in November. I kind of thought library storytime was a thing of the past for me (simply because life has gotten so busy), but then I think about how this could be my last chance at library storytime until I have grandchildren and I get moving. Not to mention I just want Rachael to have the same fun experiences our other children have had. Well, we got lucky on our first try at library storytime. The day we went they read books about firefighters and then the real thing came in for a demonstration. There was even a firetruck outside for the kids to climb on. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I took Kate to a firehouse with her pre-school when she was just a little older than Rachael:
For whatever reason, she started doing a little dance when she got in front of that firetruck!
This is my kids' favorite salmon recipe. Elizabeth especially loves it, and she seriously may have eaten as much as everyone else combined on this particular night. (Which is really saying something, because she usually eats like a bird!) Here she is showing me her belly full of salmon:
More cider pressing:
Oh my, this little endeavor did NOT turn out as planned. At one point, I found myself buying 1/4 inch weather stripping at the grocery store for Brandon to "fix" the press. Long story short, he broke the press, the cider wasn't so great, and we had a heck of a mess at 10pm on a school night since he used an entire bushel of apples this time around. Good times.
Will got braces. Only on the front teeth. This is just Phase 1 of how-to-spend-an-enormous-amount-of-money-on-your-mouth. Once his 12 year molars come in we'll go ahead with Phase 2.
Two days later, Kate joined him.
Brandon's brother Damon, his wife Angie, and their kids spent the night with us a few Saturdays back. They just moved from Georgia to Arizona, but all of Angie's family is here, so we are hoping for more surprise visits like this in the future! It was so fun to see them since this is the first place we've lived where we haven't had any immediate family in the same town and even neighborhood. Here's a pic of a few of the cousins together. (Little girls in pink jammies--doesn't get much cuter than that. And that's an Ugly Doll Elizabeth is holding. Get one for your kids' stocking this year. They LOVE them!)
I tried my darndest to get one with all the kids together, but this is the best I could do:
On Mondays, I've got the sweetest school volunteer gig ever. I play the piano for the first graders' singing time. The music changes every month, and this month they are of course singing a bunch of fun Halloween songs. Rachael loves sitting up there with all the "big kids":
Random cuteness:
Will looks suddenly SO MUCH older. Pretty amazing what a haircut and some braces will do to your kid!
ReplyDelete