Every Monday morning in the interest of maintaining my sanity, I really TRY and sit quietly in the kitchen and plan out the coming week. It sounds kind of pleasant, right? You probably picture me relaxing ALONE in the kitchen in a comfy easy chair, in front of a roaring fire, sipping my fancy coffee drink, wearing my warm slippers and robe, and of course, my feet up, right? WRONG. In actuality, it's a high intensity workout for me. I am usually up and down about 30 times fixing breakfasts, packing lunches, dressing kids, combing hair, and breaking up a fight or two. It usually ends with me turning into Sybil and screaming “grab your jackets” as we scramble out the door to barely make school on time. I'm not even going to lie -- there is no comfy easy chair involved, no fireplace to speak of, fancy coffee drinks aren't my thing, I don't own a pair of slippers, and I wouldn't be caught dead in my robe (even in the privacy of my own home). It's just me in a pair of oversized sweats and a ratty t-shirt trying to manage 3 (sometimes 4) needy children while googling mapquest for soccer fields and basketball courts in the area.
I have every GREAT intention of organizing upcoming activities and figuring out how we are going to do it ALL in one week with no surprises and minimal stress for everyone involved. Let's take a look at this week's schedule.
At first glance, I have a sense that "this shouldn't be that bad of a week". First up, Prince William gets up at 5:15 to get himself and Lady A ready and her to daycare by 6:45 am so he can get to work before 7:30. This is my teleworking day so I DO have to put in 7.75 hours of business work at some point. But first on my plate is getting the other 3 kids ready and to school on time, stop at the grocery store on the way back and get dinner stuff for the week, and then to the gas station to fill up the tank. Mondays are short days at school so I don't have a lot of time to do my "chores" around the house. I have to pick Sir T, K and Lady E up at 1:10. We will stop by the house for a few minutes to collect ourselves and grab a snack or two and then it's off to Lady E's Daisy Troop meeting at 2. I wish I could spend more time with Lady E while she is enjoying her time with her fellow Daisies but I usually spend most of my time following the boys around monitoring their activities. The meetings are held in a church so I can't just let them run amok. I spend a large majority of my time going between the meetings and looking for them. It's probably comical to watch me go back and forth sweating constantly saying "stop running", "lower your voices", "what are you doing?", “come here”, “why did you do that?”, “pick it up!!!”, etc. Prince William and Lady A will be getting home around 5:30 or 6 so I'll plan on hustling home from Daisies to start dinner, finish up a load or two of laundry; sit, eat and clean up dinner; start homework; clean house; and then start bedtime routines. At this point, I am usually in need of an aspirin.
Tuesday looks manageable (I think). Prince William will do his thing in the morning with Lady A although Tuesdays Lady A goes to Gamma and Papa's house. This puts a bit of a strain on Prince William because he has to fight traffic into town but we both agreed it was crucial for Lady A to have quality time with the grandparents and so we make it work. I'll get the other 3 clowns up and off to school and then it's off to work for a full work day at the office. Prince William will leave work early to beat the traffic to get Sir T, K and Lady E off the bus because they have religious education right after school. We also have a repairman coming between 5-8 so I will work through lunch to be home for that. We will all meet up in the kitchen between 6 and 6:30. I'll start making dinner; finish up a load or two of laundry; sit, eat and clean up dinner; do homework and go through Tuesday folders; clean house; and of course the nightly bedtime routines. Oh yeah, Prince William has Crossfits at 7:30-9. Two days in and I'm still upright. At this point, an aspirin won't cut it. I need a beer.
Wednesday (YEAH HUMP DAY). This will be the day I work through lunch again so I can grab them from school early to hit the Mall. I have GOT to get Sir T pants, sneakers and indoor soccer shoes. He has basically outgrown every pair of pants he has and he has absolutely no tread on the bottom of his sneakers anymore (not only is it borderline embarrassing, it's become a safety issue now. He actually keeps slipping and falling). Then we’ll head over to pick up Lady A from daycare; meet up at the house; Sir T and Prince William will then leave for soccer practice; I’ll get dinner started; finish up a load or two of laundry and start homework with Sir K and Lady E; Sir T and Prince William will get back and we'll sit and eat; I’ll clean up; do more homework; clean house; and again with the bedtime routines. I have now progressed to cocktail status.
Thursdays are always rough on me. By the time I FALL out of bed in the morning I feel defeated. The day will start with Prince William doing the grandparents thing and me rushing to get to work "somewhat" on time to make my staff meeting at the office (SIDE NOTE – Thursdays are usually a teleworking day for me but once a month I have to attend our monthly staff meeting so I have to go in). This does not make the morning go very well for 3 rushed kids and a mentally challenged mom. Sir T also has indoor soccer practice from 6-7:30 pm. Prince William does Crossfits from 7:30-9. I will do the start dinner; finish up a load or two of laundry; sit, eat and clean up dinner; do homework; clean house thingy and finish with bedtime routines. This is the night Prince William and I save for "us" time. We enjoy emptying trash cans around the house, mopping and vacuuming floors, cleaning a toilet or two and paying bills. AH THE TOGETHERNESS OF IT ALL. At this point, my head spins around twice, Prince William starts twitching and we both do a shot of tequila and throw our glasses against the wall.
Happy Friday. We'll do school, work, and Sir T’s basketball camp from 6-7:30. I'll plan on coming home from work and ordering Papa Johns Pizza. I don’t plan on doing laundry or helping with homework. I won't be cleaning the house in any way, shape or form and frankly whenever the kids want to go to bed is fine with me.
Welcome to the weekend. Saturday, Prince William is doing Crossfits at 7 am, Lady E has a Daisy Pajama Party starting at noon which I am a volunteer and Sir T has 2 soccer games starting at noon and 2 and a basketball game at 1. By now, I have multiple personalities and I don't know who the hell I am! We'll round out the week with Church Sunday morning and Sir K has his first diving class at the local community center at noon.
Of course I know there will be a few peppered-in activities. The 2 to 3 extra stops to pick up milk, bread, etc., probably a stop for gas at some point and please lets hope no one gets sick. Prince William will probably have to make a snowman out of cottonballs at some point and I’ll fit in a project involving collecting leaves from the backyard.
The good news is there is always a silver lining to our madness AND that would be we will probably never get robbed. They say robbers tend to watch houses and break in once they know the routine of a home. There is ABSOLUTELY no way a robber could ever figure out when we are coming and going in this household. So I do feel safe at home.
By the time Sunday night rolls around and my mind has a chance to clear, I do realize - IT'S ALL WORTH IT. We are together, happy, healthy and ALIVE. We always fill in holes with tons of laughter, a few trips out back to the trampoline, a game or two on the Wii and finish each night with hugs, kisses and prayers. All in all, a nice week’s work.
I have every GREAT intention of organizing upcoming activities and figuring out how we are going to do it ALL in one week with no surprises and minimal stress for everyone involved. Let's take a look at this week's schedule.
At first glance, I have a sense that "this shouldn't be that bad of a week". First up, Prince William gets up at 5:15 to get himself and Lady A ready and her to daycare by 6:45 am so he can get to work before 7:30. This is my teleworking day so I DO have to put in 7.75 hours of business work at some point. But first on my plate is getting the other 3 kids ready and to school on time, stop at the grocery store on the way back and get dinner stuff for the week, and then to the gas station to fill up the tank. Mondays are short days at school so I don't have a lot of time to do my "chores" around the house. I have to pick Sir T, K and Lady E up at 1:10. We will stop by the house for a few minutes to collect ourselves and grab a snack or two and then it's off to Lady E's Daisy Troop meeting at 2. I wish I could spend more time with Lady E while she is enjoying her time with her fellow Daisies but I usually spend most of my time following the boys around monitoring their activities. The meetings are held in a church so I can't just let them run amok. I spend a large majority of my time going between the meetings and looking for them. It's probably comical to watch me go back and forth sweating constantly saying "stop running", "lower your voices", "what are you doing?", “come here”, “why did you do that?”, “pick it up!!!”, etc. Prince William and Lady A will be getting home around 5:30 or 6 so I'll plan on hustling home from Daisies to start dinner, finish up a load or two of laundry; sit, eat and clean up dinner; start homework; clean house; and then start bedtime routines. At this point, I am usually in need of an aspirin.
Tuesday looks manageable (I think). Prince William will do his thing in the morning with Lady A although Tuesdays Lady A goes to Gamma and Papa's house. This puts a bit of a strain on Prince William because he has to fight traffic into town but we both agreed it was crucial for Lady A to have quality time with the grandparents and so we make it work. I'll get the other 3 clowns up and off to school and then it's off to work for a full work day at the office. Prince William will leave work early to beat the traffic to get Sir T, K and Lady E off the bus because they have religious education right after school. We also have a repairman coming between 5-8 so I will work through lunch to be home for that. We will all meet up in the kitchen between 6 and 6:30. I'll start making dinner; finish up a load or two of laundry; sit, eat and clean up dinner; do homework and go through Tuesday folders; clean house; and of course the nightly bedtime routines. Oh yeah, Prince William has Crossfits at 7:30-9. Two days in and I'm still upright. At this point, an aspirin won't cut it. I need a beer.
Wednesday (YEAH HUMP DAY). This will be the day I work through lunch again so I can grab them from school early to hit the Mall. I have GOT to get Sir T pants, sneakers and indoor soccer shoes. He has basically outgrown every pair of pants he has and he has absolutely no tread on the bottom of his sneakers anymore (not only is it borderline embarrassing, it's become a safety issue now. He actually keeps slipping and falling). Then we’ll head over to pick up Lady A from daycare; meet up at the house; Sir T and Prince William will then leave for soccer practice; I’ll get dinner started; finish up a load or two of laundry and start homework with Sir K and Lady E; Sir T and Prince William will get back and we'll sit and eat; I’ll clean up; do more homework; clean house; and again with the bedtime routines. I have now progressed to cocktail status.
Thursdays are always rough on me. By the time I FALL out of bed in the morning I feel defeated. The day will start with Prince William doing the grandparents thing and me rushing to get to work "somewhat" on time to make my staff meeting at the office (SIDE NOTE – Thursdays are usually a teleworking day for me but once a month I have to attend our monthly staff meeting so I have to go in). This does not make the morning go very well for 3 rushed kids and a mentally challenged mom. Sir T also has indoor soccer practice from 6-7:30 pm. Prince William does Crossfits from 7:30-9. I will do the start dinner; finish up a load or two of laundry; sit, eat and clean up dinner; do homework; clean house thingy and finish with bedtime routines. This is the night Prince William and I save for "us" time. We enjoy emptying trash cans around the house, mopping and vacuuming floors, cleaning a toilet or two and paying bills. AH THE TOGETHERNESS OF IT ALL. At this point, my head spins around twice, Prince William starts twitching and we both do a shot of tequila and throw our glasses against the wall.
Happy Friday. We'll do school, work, and Sir T’s basketball camp from 6-7:30. I'll plan on coming home from work and ordering Papa Johns Pizza. I don’t plan on doing laundry or helping with homework. I won't be cleaning the house in any way, shape or form and frankly whenever the kids want to go to bed is fine with me.
Welcome to the weekend. Saturday, Prince William is doing Crossfits at 7 am, Lady E has a Daisy Pajama Party starting at noon which I am a volunteer and Sir T has 2 soccer games starting at noon and 2 and a basketball game at 1. By now, I have multiple personalities and I don't know who the hell I am! We'll round out the week with Church Sunday morning and Sir K has his first diving class at the local community center at noon.
Of course I know there will be a few peppered-in activities. The 2 to 3 extra stops to pick up milk, bread, etc., probably a stop for gas at some point and please lets hope no one gets sick. Prince William will probably have to make a snowman out of cottonballs at some point and I’ll fit in a project involving collecting leaves from the backyard.
The good news is there is always a silver lining to our madness AND that would be we will probably never get robbed. They say robbers tend to watch houses and break in once they know the routine of a home. There is ABSOLUTELY no way a robber could ever figure out when we are coming and going in this household. So I do feel safe at home.
By the time Sunday night rolls around and my mind has a chance to clear, I do realize - IT'S ALL WORTH IT. We are together, happy, healthy and ALIVE. We always fill in holes with tons of laughter, a few trips out back to the trampoline, a game or two on the Wii and finish each night with hugs, kisses and prayers. All in all, a nice week’s work.
Enjoy your week everyone!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment