Friday, September 26, 2008

On your mark, get set...

...hold on to your hats. Getting ready for school in the morning is no walk in the park...but it's entertaining (to say the least.) John has the day off work today (so I can get to some meetings) allowing me to be a bit more of an observer today. How funny is this!

6:59a I hear footsteps upstairs...the girls alarm must be a minute fast. Seconds later, Rose is crawling in between John and I to snuggle just a minute longer. Her "da, da, da, da" soon becomes a duet with Lucy chiming in from her crib next to our bed.
7:00 Our alarm sounds, and John hits snooze...as if! I grab Rose and head for the boys room to get things started there. Darnit...one wet bed, and one soggy young boy. Helping Sam to pick out school clothes (cause we forgot last night.) Frank outta the crib...and we're all headed to the bathroom.
7:03Charlie's on the pot, Frank's on the little potty, John and Sam (and I) are waiting for our turn. Rose is watching it all. Quick shower for the wet one...and now the girls are coming downstairs. Woooweee! We got some Wildcat fans in the house. It's homecoming football weekend, so there's a little more school spirit than usual. Alice and Emma helped Mary and Grace pick out clothes last night...I think we'll be changing a few things. All the girls are dressed head to toe in orange and black (some in Dad's old high-school jerseys). Pretty cute. Alice thinks there's room for one more in the bathroom and starts doing her hair. "Don't you have a brush and mirror upstairs in your bathroom?" I ask. "Yeah, but the lights better down here." Let's count...that's me, Sam, John, Charlie, Frank, Rose, and now Alice in a 3x5 space.
7:10 we all make it out of the bathroom alive. Boys are dressed, and bed is stripped. Heading to the laundry room. John's doing diapers for Rose and Lucy. (they're looking cute as ever, I might add.)
7:15 Kids streaming in to the kitchen for breakfast. We're about out of cereal, so there's no drama about what kind everyone wants. (only 2 choices today.) Lucy's the only one making a lot of noise, cause Dad doesn't mix her cereal fast enough. (Sorry dad, she said so, not me!) Topics of conversation around the table ranged from Sam wanting to have a "fun day" in religion class today (I'm his teacher.) to Grace noting her teacher was craving apple pie the other day at school, to Emma wanting money to buy football tickets for tonight.
7:20 Coffee's ready. Alleluia! John's feeding Lucy, so I'm on OJ pouring and clean-up duty. (Cause somebody spills something at every meal. It's a fact of life.) I sneak upstairs to pick out a different shirt for Mary (cause it's "red" day at preschool today.) and a different shirt for Grace, cause she's swimming in her dad's old jersey.
7:35 The girls want their hair spray-painted orange for school. Nope. Maybe after school for the game. Sam wants a mohawk. Nope. Maybe after school.
7:37 Frank spilled John's milk, and is now splashing in it. Charlie has cereal stuck to the back of his legs?! I'm on it.
7:45 Neighbor kids are converging in our back yard. Time for the kids to head out the door (at least 3 of them, anyways.) Grace hollers to Sam as he walks out "Goodbye, I love you cutie Sam!" She knows it makes him mad, so she runs to the front door to holler again "I love you my little cutie Sammy!" For all the neighbors to hear. Ooooh. He's really mad now! (and she's loving it.)
7:46 John and I sit with our coffee while the little ones are finishing up. Just shaking our heads. In a blur the day has begun...leaving us to only imagine what the rest of it might bring.
(Uh oh, think I smell something...diaper duty is calling me.)
Have a blessed day all!