Monday, September 17, 2012

"Adventures in Being Unable to Get It Together"

If last week had a title, it would be called "Adventures in Being Unable to Get It Together" (or, more appropriately, adventures in me being unable to get it together!) There were so many cups pouring into that bucket! Let me explain.

Wedding! 
My youngest brother got married! Yay! We are so happy for him, and so happy to officially welcome Liz into our lives (even though she's been part of our lives for a couple of years now).
Aren't they cute? 

Their wedding was September 8th. Our family flew out to my parent's house on the evening of the 4th and stayed until the 10th. We were joined a few days later by my sister and her husband, and my other brother and his girlfriend, 3 more cats (to go with the 5 that live there), and for a brief moment, 2 dogs. Keith and Liz both stayed at the house as well, although Liz stayed with her family at a friend's house the night before the wedding. All of us - parents and siblings and significant others in one house! Oh my! With wedding preparations! Oh my! We managed to get the kids to do some homework that week, too. Not easy. Which leads me to the next cup....

School
Our school does literacy testing after school starts. They test the Thursday before Labor Day, and the teachers go over the results Friday. All of this resulted in 5 days off for the Labor Day holiday for the kids. Add that to the 6 days we were in California, and that means the kids were out of school/school habits for 11 days! 5 days off, 1 day back at school (the 5th), and then another 6 days off. Yes, my calculations include weekends. The kids had a bumpy re-entry back into the world of school. With classes now teaching at a normal pace, they were a little behind. There was much snuggling, cuddling and reassurance time after school. Especially for Caitlin. She loves school, but hasn't really adjusted to the full day, or how tired it makes her. Not that I would have changed anything, it was just a hard 4 days back with back-to-back time off for my little ones.

After School
What a busy week! Tuesday - homework, soccer practice and a birthday party for a good friend! Wednesday - homework and Base Camp (the Wednesday evening church activity the kids are doing this year instead of AWANA). Thursday - homework, catch-up homework, and a little breather. Friday - soccer game, rest time. Saturday - homework, catch-up homework, Brandon's birthday party. Sunday-church, homework, Brandon's star-student-of-the-week homework (photos, artifacts, and an autobiography), Brandon's real birthday.

No wonder the kids woke up with sniffles on Friday morning. Keeping them healthy has been hard! I've had a hard time fighting off this cold I came down with. I'm sure all the fruits and veggies helped, along with making sleep a priority, but the coughing friends haven't. Pray for a healthier week!

Brian 
Worked at work. Worked at home. Now gone for a week.

Me
Fighting a head cold. Very achy. Haven't slept all that well since we got home, either. I'm hoping this week is better.

Here's a list of things I couldn't keep up with:
  • Catch-up homework
  • Multiple forms that the school and school districts requires me and the kids to sign every single year (it gets old)
  • The house (it's a mess)
  • Groceries (everywhere and not put away properly)
  • Exercise (what's that?)
  • Bible Study (I have today and tomorrow to catch up)
  • Laundry (might be done now)
  • Mail
  • Caitlin's nervousness about her "place" in school and with friends, and being nervous about not fitting in
  • Wishing my mother-in-law a happy birthday. It was on my mind, I talked about it with Brian, but I completely forgot to say anything until this morning

There are sheets on one couch, Legos on the floor, shoes everywhere, messy rooms, and piles of mail and papers. Ugh! Today is going to be one busy day! I might be going to bed at the same time as the kids tonight! Nothing was particularly awful this week, but all the catch-up was a bit much. And I'm a stay-at-home mom!  I'm really hoping that the worst of the catching-up is behind us now, and that we can just focus on this week. That would be nice.

No comments: