Can it be summer again?!

OK, OK, I admit it! I have too many things on my plate. I know I am usually wiped out in Aug/Sept, until we get a routine and a schedule going, but I am really feeling the pain right now.

It was insane to start all of my full time job responsibilities the same week school started. I also made a fatal error in enrolling Evan in a class on Thursdays which I have to drive 20 minutes each way to get to. Tyler's scouts just got changed to Wednesdays, which means there isn't a single day I can stay in my PJ's and get a bunch of stuff done at home. Every day has big blocks of time chunked out of it. I am not thrilled with this.

I don't think I've slept in two weeks between the heat (107 degrees today. YIKES!), the constant backpack clutter, the 25 signed syllabuses (or should that be syllabi? Nope, spell check does not like syllabi), 4 kids needing me to watch them do homework, job postings, meals, laundry and the constant shuttling of children to activities. Somehow, I have got to take the time to get more organized so that I don't end up flat in bed. As it is, every day I am pounding the Advil just to stay upright. Something is gonna give and soon if I don't make some changes, and I'm betting it won't be pretty.

Dad time

About a week ago, I found a very funny story online about a lady's grocery shopping experience when she had to take her 6 kids with her. Clearly, I felt a few similarities with her story and trips I have taken. Laughing, I forwarded it to Dave. Although I can't remember the exact quote, Dave laughed and said something about how it sounded familiar because of stories I have told. Come again? Yes, you read it right. Dave has really never experienced the joys of grocery shopping with 5 kids.

Naturally, I feel that it is my obligation to help him expand his horizons and treasure all aspects of parenting, so I quickly (and before he could realize he had been blindsided) challenged him to full grocery shopping with all of the kids. Being a man and needing to prove how capable he is, he accepted. Today, we have all 5 kids home at the same time and a 2 hour window in which they can go. In fact, I just shipped them off. It's been less than 5 minutes, so my phone isn't ringing yet.

I couldn't be happier. I get alone time (twice in one month? Can it be so?!?!?), I'm not out in 110 degree weather listening to my kids whine about how thirsty they are, I'm not doing the dreaded grocery shopping, and he gets a little taste of my reality. What's not to love? Oh yeah, the grocery bill when he says yes to things they beg for, just to shut them up. I can live with that!

More on Nate

Yes, I know I am constantly telling amusing stories about Nate lately, but the kid really is killing me. Yesterday, I tried to get Nate to take a shower. Unreasonable to expect a 6-year old to clean his smelly self on a regular basis, I know. So, he dutifully pouted all the way into the bathroom, repeatedly glancing at me to see if I would remove the punishment of water touching his skin, and I went back to whatever I was doing. 10-15 minutes later, Nate walks past me, wrapped in a towel. I said to him, "Hey! Did you get all showered so fast?" He grinned and nodded, drawing my attention to his completely dry head. I said, "Nate, why is your hair all dry?" At this point, I'm pretty sure I never heard the blow dryer, and a shower and a blow dryer would just be adding insult to injury. He looks at me with his big blue eyes and quite innocently says, "Oh! My hair just dried fast."

Right. I sent him back to the bathroom to really shower and not just stand around naked for the appropriate amount of time.

Then, today I was trying to get him to finish a very simple chore before going out to play. I asked him if it was done and he said yes. I looked at him quite skeptically and he put his palms up and said, "Trust me, mom!" (I then made him finish the chore before he left the house!)

Extra personality. That's it.

P.S. And this morning, when I went to get him out of bed for school, he sleepily said, "I didn't get up because I couldn't hear you calling me." I told him I hadn't been calling him, that I just came in to tell him to get up. His reply? "Well mom, I think I still can not hear you."

Rebi's first day

Rebi is officially in school. They started their year with a beach party- rough, eh? She was not nervous exactly, but was still concerned about being the youngest child in class by a huge margin. Abut 1/2 way through the day, she texted me to tell me she was having a blast. Whew!

Evan is also starting to settle into school work. I think he's 1/2 way done with his work for the rest of the month. I'm going to have to get creative in order to keep his brain busy. No wonder he hated public school.