Back on the Saddle!

Here is a random cute picture of Sarah and Angela in the morning. This is a typical outfit that Angela sleeps in at night - SpongeBob's and a pink tutu. Even my girls' sleepwear is creative! Angela is taking after Natalie in the fashion department. Their creativeness is so dang cute and so dang annoying all at the same time. More on that later. On with the latest post...

Things got a little busy in August and haven't slowed down. Busy or not, it's time to get back on the saddle! So over the next little bit I'll be reminiscing our last few weeks of summer and first couple weeks of school. We have had a lot of fun. The last couple weeks of summer were memorable and part of the reason I took a break is because I didn't want to spend time on the computer that could be spent having fun with the girls. We played and played and then school started . . . I have been trying to hang on to the roller coaster that our daily routines have turned into with all three girls in three different school schedules. The last couple weeks have been lots and lots of running around to doctor appointments, 4 birthday parties in one week (3 within two days), shopping for birthday gifts (o:, going to the gym, piano lessons, young women's, field trips, volunteering at school, playdates, soccer games, more doctor appointments - (Natalie had a reaction to her antibiotics and a follow up ultrasound after a UTI), church meetings, photo sessions, etc. etc. etc.

I am having to get used to planning a strategy on how to fit in everything and how to organize my traveling around time and making sure to be home for Natalie to get on the bus in the early afternoon every day and back again when she and Sarah get back in the afternoon. The new half day every day Kindergarten has been fabulous for Natalie, but it is very tricky to have every single week day broken in half with only a two and a half hour window between kids going and coming. And the other thing that makes things extra crazy is that it seems like I am the most forgetful when I have the most going on. I leave my wallet places, or the referral paper that we need at Natalie's ultrasound appointment and I have to run back and get these important things.

The referral paper mishap was one of those mornings when I really had to plan out my day - I had to get Angela to preschool and bring her backpack and my camera to take a picture of one of the new kiddos in her group, I had to bring lunch for Natalie so she could eat on the way back to school and her backpack too, I brought a sticker book to entertain Natalie in the waiting room, a big water bottle for Natalie to drink (she had to have a full bladder for the procedure), I had to remember to check Sarah's shoe size before we left so we could look for some white baptism shoes in the limbo time between dropping off Angela and going to the appointment (why hang out for an hour when we could get something done in that part of town?) and I had to remember to bring the checkbook so that I could get some money on Sarah's lunch account - while I was dropping off Natalie at school.

That hour of limbo time turned into running back home to pick up the referral paper I left sitting on the counter where I set it down to pick up everything else I was taking. (Amazingly, we still had time to look for shoes and found some at the first store! A 'tender mercy' for sure.) I really did make a nice and neat pile in the morning when things were calm. We hit a few roadblocks that day with the forgotten referral sheet and an accident that happened on the way to taking Natalie to school because, poor thing, she had to drink so much water before her appointment. She went at the radiology office, but had to go again on the way to school and didn't make it. We had to take a detour to home to have a quick bath and change. Then I couldn't forget to pick up my youngest child at Julie's house who sweetly helped by watching Angela after preschool for a little bit.By the time I had lunch that day it was 1:45 and had just a few minutes before the girls got home. Plus I had YW that night. This makes me tired just remembering.

(o:

It feels like this is pretty typical lately. I've actually had even crazier days - the day with two birthday parties on top of the usual stuff was a good one. Afternoons and evenings are no better ... homework, piano practice, chores, soccer, dinner, young women's, and on and on... Yikes. I hope I can survive this year! I also hope I can just learn to enjoy the ride because when things are calm I know I will miss this. (o: I am trying to get a grip and say no to as many unimportant things as I can so we can have some time for the occassional bike rides, trips to the park and the fun stuff. And I don't write this because I feel sorry for myself or think that this running around is unusual. I am just amazed at how many things come up and see myself entering this phase of life I've seen other friends do with older kids than mine. The taxi cab phase. (o: It's all good - I love that I am so lucky to do all these things and be so involved in my kids' lives. It really is fun, for the most part! (It's just unfortunate that this taxi cab phase of our lives cooincides with the gas crisis!)