First week frenzy
Just a couple weeks ago....which seems oh so long ago, our daily schedule on a "Deanna Day" looked like this:
Stu gets kids up at about 6:30, gets them some breakfast while Sheri finishes readying herself for work, the kids get dressed, brush their teeth, and Stu and the kids try to be out the door no later than 7:10 or so. Stu drops them at Deanna's and Sheri drives off to work, fancy-free. Most days, Stu also picks the kids up but sometimes Sheri picks them up and they arrive home to Stu having started dinner. We'd eat, play outside for a while, maybe take showers, watch a little TV and have a snack, brush teeth, read a book, and tuck kids in for the night.
This week, our lives looked like this:
We'll take Tuesday, for example: Stu up at 4:45 a.m. to work out, Sheri up at 5:30 to shower, Stu getting kids out of bed at 6:15 to start eating breakfast, Stu out the door by 6:20 to get to work, Sheri finishing getting herself ready while encouraging the kids to get dressed, brush their teeth, brush their hair, get their backpacks/bags for school which have already been pre-loaded with snack/lunch that was prepared the night before, sometime after dinner and before collapsing in bed, out the door by 7:05 at the latest so Max can catch his bus to school by 7:16 a.m. in front of Deanna's house. Sheri leaves for work and Ryann is picked up from Deanna's at 11:16 a.m. for Kindergarten. Kids arrive back at Deanna's at 2:16 p.m. and do their thang. Sheri arrives at 4:50 to pick them up and run home to prepare and eat dinner. Sheri encourages children to eat as quickly as possible without choking, while she peruses materials brought home in backpacks/bags while eating standing up at the kitchen counter. As soon as mealtime is over and Max and Ryann have cleared their plates (Sheri must clear Adam's plate so as to avoid extra clean up due to spillage on the way from the table to the kitchen sink), Max is urged to find his football jersey and cleats and get them on. All three children, Sheri, and Zoe run out the door at 5:55 to be at football at 6:00. Stu meets everyone at football at 6:20 after he's finished his football practice and Sheri takes Ryann, Adam, and Zoe home. Ryann and Adam take showers while Sheri tries valiantly to load the dishwasher, run it, start a load of laundry, pick up around the house a little, pack Ryann a snack, and Max a lunch. Ryann and Adam are nearly in bed at 7:40 when Max arrives home from football. Max changes into jammies and all kids get in bed. Adam gets out of bed several times with several excuses regarding why he can't sleep. Stu proceeds to watch film, create play charts and various other football-ish tasks. Sheri and Stu collapse in bed at about 9:30 (if we're lucky...sometimes more like 10:30).
And that was an easy day because only one kid had something going on that night. Next week, Ryann starts Dance on Wednesday nights. Two nights this week, Sheri had to attend Adam's preschool parent orientation and then preschool open house with Adam (and Ryann tagging along).
Let me try to explain how absolutely exhaust......what? oh sorry, I fell asleep. I'm friggin' exhausted. And so are the kids. But they are oh so happy to have started/to be about to start school. Just look at their sweet faces:
Stu gets kids up at about 6:30, gets them some breakfast while Sheri finishes readying herself for work, the kids get dressed, brush their teeth, and Stu and the kids try to be out the door no later than 7:10 or so. Stu drops them at Deanna's and Sheri drives off to work, fancy-free. Most days, Stu also picks the kids up but sometimes Sheri picks them up and they arrive home to Stu having started dinner. We'd eat, play outside for a while, maybe take showers, watch a little TV and have a snack, brush teeth, read a book, and tuck kids in for the night.
This week, our lives looked like this:
We'll take Tuesday, for example: Stu up at 4:45 a.m. to work out, Sheri up at 5:30 to shower, Stu getting kids out of bed at 6:15 to start eating breakfast, Stu out the door by 6:20 to get to work, Sheri finishing getting herself ready while encouraging the kids to get dressed, brush their teeth, brush their hair, get their backpacks/bags for school which have already been pre-loaded with snack/lunch that was prepared the night before, sometime after dinner and before collapsing in bed, out the door by 7:05 at the latest so Max can catch his bus to school by 7:16 a.m. in front of Deanna's house. Sheri leaves for work and Ryann is picked up from Deanna's at 11:16 a.m. for Kindergarten. Kids arrive back at Deanna's at 2:16 p.m. and do their thang. Sheri arrives at 4:50 to pick them up and run home to prepare and eat dinner. Sheri encourages children to eat as quickly as possible without choking, while she peruses materials brought home in backpacks/bags while eating standing up at the kitchen counter. As soon as mealtime is over and Max and Ryann have cleared their plates (Sheri must clear Adam's plate so as to avoid extra clean up due to spillage on the way from the table to the kitchen sink), Max is urged to find his football jersey and cleats and get them on. All three children, Sheri, and Zoe run out the door at 5:55 to be at football at 6:00. Stu meets everyone at football at 6:20 after he's finished his football practice and Sheri takes Ryann, Adam, and Zoe home. Ryann and Adam take showers while Sheri tries valiantly to load the dishwasher, run it, start a load of laundry, pick up around the house a little, pack Ryann a snack, and Max a lunch. Ryann and Adam are nearly in bed at 7:40 when Max arrives home from football. Max changes into jammies and all kids get in bed. Adam gets out of bed several times with several excuses regarding why he can't sleep. Stu proceeds to watch film, create play charts and various other football-ish tasks. Sheri and Stu collapse in bed at about 9:30 (if we're lucky...sometimes more like 10:30).
And that was an easy day because only one kid had something going on that night. Next week, Ryann starts Dance on Wednesday nights. Two nights this week, Sheri had to attend Adam's preschool parent orientation and then preschool open house with Adam (and Ryann tagging along).
Let me try to explain how absolutely exhaust......what? oh sorry, I fell asleep. I'm friggin' exhausted. And so are the kids. But they are oh so happy to have started/to be about to start school. Just look at their sweet faces:
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| Max sitting on our front steps before we left for the bus stop |
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| Look at all the kids who get on the bus in the morning! (well, Adam doesn't get on the bus but he likes to pose for pictures with the kids who get on the bus) |
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| First in line, waiting for the bus to arrive |
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| Sooooo excited for his first day of first grade |
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| Ryann soooo excited for her first day of Kindergarten but also doing a good job of masking some serious trepidation |
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| Proudly showing off her new outfit which has been laid out in her room for at least a week |
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| Adam, so proud of his big sis! |
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| And the moment arrives. Just before the bus got there, Ryann told me her stomach hurt and she thought she was going to throw up. Poor thing was so nervous. I worried about her for the next few hours, praying that her day was going well. |
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| Doesn't she look brave and sweet?! And look, it's the same cute bus driver Max and the other kids had - he looks really nice! |
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| I so wish this and the next photo hadn't turned out blurry. Ryann ran from the bus with such exquisite joy to tell me her first day was AWESOME and how she could not wait to go back again the next day! She also told me I'd been right when I told her her stomach was upset because of nerves and she would not throw up and the yucky feeling would go away. |
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| So happy! |
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| In other news, Adam sustained a minor injury on his finger while dragging his hand along the wagon wheel as I pulled him and Ryann behind me with Zoe leading us. We were out for a "workout" walk and it turned out to be slightly tragic. Adam left quite the pool of blood on the street. All is ok now. The finger is healing fine. But the incident contributed to extra stomach upset for Mom on Ryann's first day of Kindergarten. |
Comments
Hope Adam's finger heals up quickly. :)