Wordless Weekend Post

Friday Night Leftovers (The I swear I am getting back into program edition)

* We took the neighbor kids to see Hotel Transylvania tonight.  I can't recommend it more.  We loved it!  And what's more I remembered as I watched them all jump up to dance to the credits that the best thing about my house is the neighborhood it is in.  Seriously love those kids!

* I am knee deep in birthday party plans, Charlotte will be having a Snow White party in mid November and Teague will be throwing a "Wreck it Ralph" party which includes the movie viewing the day after it opens.  We are really excited!

* Jason finally starts his new job (and raise! WOOT!) on Monday.  It's been a long time coming and I am incredibly proud of him.

*Charlotte's favorite thing to do ?  Make sandwiches for "all her guys"  

* I have come to the conclusion that the next vehicle I buy is a church van.  I am in need of at least a nine passenger. I cart around a lot of kids -- a lot of the time, and I love it.  But it would be nice to be able to use one car!

* I have decided to seek allergy shots.  I am tired of living like this.  I'm a grown up, my insurance will pay for it.  I'm doing it.  I also scheduled a visit to my OB (who I guess is just my gynecologist now that I am not in the baby making business) for the first time in years.  A long time member of a message board I have been a part of in one way or the other for nearly seven years passed away after a long and hard fought battle with cancer last week.  Thirty two years is just not enough.  

* The fabulous Kim and I went out for lunch this week.  This is a  BIG moment for us.  We talk everyday, all day long via text and Facebook.  But we are both so busy, so knee deep in kids, and so broke all the time that when we "do lunch" its sandwiches eaten while sitting on each other's floor.  We're cool with that.  But this week we used a gifted Panera card and went to lunch like the big girls!  Four years we've been a part of each other's lives and we were going out!    Kim said it best this week when she was (inadvertantly) quoting Grey's Anatomy.  "You're my person."  And so are you!

* My name is Manda and I am crock pot dependent.  Seriously - we have no time for dinner or cooking these days.  Anyone have a favorite slow cooker recipe to share?!

* I am working on the bathroom renovations and I can't wait to reveal all the totally cool "thrifting" I have been doing!  

Armed and Ready

I'm sort of on a mission to do better then last week where I :

* forgot about Teague's show and tell day

*  let Luke and Molly stay up FAR to late to finish these homework projects

*  failed to send the little boys a snack at school

* forgot an appointment

Although this morning I :

* not only forgot to send Sam's gym clothes, but remembered when we got to the school and promised him I would bring it to the office only to go home and not think of it again

(epic mom failure!)

Clearly it's time to start thinking out of the box.

Like I said, I 'm on a mission and no good schedule warrior goes to battle without a good arsenal of organizational skills, calenders, and checklists.  If there is one thing the first three weeks of school have proved it's that my standard monthly, AND weekly calender on the wall (in addition to the menu and dry erase to do list) are NOT cutting it.   (And yes Mom, I have ALL of those things on the wall next to my computer, as well as printed off versions of the master dance schedule, and soccer game schedules and locations times three.)

Since my goal was to sit around  chatting with the fabulous Kim all morning      turning organization into an art form, I spent a good hour on Pinterest this morning, looking through old pins to my" Life: Organized" board.   After I spent about thirty minutes on cupcake recipes ten minutes rehashing old ideas I was on to the task at hand.  I started with this blog which pretty much lists every printable planner imaginable. 

Then I went ahead and printed one of these for planning blog posts:

And one of these for menu planning, I LOVE that it has a grocery list right there on the page, because seriously if I dont list the meals I am making I walk into Meijer and its like Dory swimming to the  bright light on Finding Nemo. "Oohh, look at the pretty colors!" and before I know it I am leaving with a $100 worth of food I have no idea what I am doing with. 

Then it was time for the nitty gritty.  The hours between 3:30 and bed time (8:30 for the little boys, 9:00 for the big kids, in theory.) seem to be when everything hits the fan.  Chores get skipped, homework is a hot mess, and the rest of the time I run around a messy,distracted, chaotic,  yelling freak.  That's right I said it -- a freak.    It's time to freak no more. 

I couldn't find anything online to do just what I needed it to do so I dusted off Microsoft Word and created a   basic table showing Monday through Friday and then broke down the rows into half hour segments listing the time time from 3:30-8:30.   That was the easy part, filling it in and hi-lighting by kid left me a little frazzled. (And made me realize that as far as I know they only make four colors of hi-lighters, what am I supposed to do with Charlotte?)  In the end it looks something like this:

But it does schedule in some time for chores, and  homework daily for each of the school aged kids. Well almost daily, Thursday appears to be a bit of a problem.  Then of course there is the dinner woes.... we're getting there.  

Photo Challenge For Sunday Supper (and Wordless Weekend madness)

Friday Night Leftovers (The I can NOT keep this pace up until June edition.)

* It's the end of week three and I am dying.  Seriously drowning in the schedule, behind in paperwork, behind in sleep, the house is the worst it's been in a very long time, and I am at the end of my rope.  I'm not sure what it is this year that is just too much on the plate (its the same stuff as last year minus one!)  but I am not doing it well.  We're totally off "schedule", off menu, off chores, just off.  Things are not getting done, stuff is getting forgotten.  And my nerves on edge.  I find myself yelling a lot and crying more. I am constantly out of breath and I feel like a crazy person.  I don't know what to do about it though.  I simply can't do the work of seven people, and I am the only person who seems to think there is more to be done.  Jason seems to think it's about dictating better.  I don't have TIME to dictate better.  Why do I have to tell people to put their bags away ?  To brush their teeth in the morning?  To check their kid's folder to see if there is homework before sending him outside?  I simply can't do it all.

* To that end, Molly has left school early three times this week.  Once for a dr's appointment, once for dance (it's a weekly thing) and once because she got hit in the face with a basketball.  (And I totally think she was milking that last one. She seemed FINE once she got home.)  

* I'm so tired that I constantly feel sick, and in truth I probably just need time to think, or sleep.

* Our dryer is still not working, and there is no new dryer, its getting hard to do the closet changeover without one.

* Luke and Molly completed their first school project this week.  It was torture. 

* Nothing is going well, can you tell?  I'm tired. 

What They Said Wednesday?

Me: Teague it is time to get up, Sam is in the shower and you're on deck.

Teague: ERRRRR.  Why?

Me: Because you have school today.

Teague: What?!

Me: Teague, it's Monday.  The weekend is over and we have school.

Teague: When does this madness end?!

Molly: This girl at school, she asked me if Luke was in the same grade as me 'cause he got held back.

Me: Oh.

Molly: I didn't know  what to think, I didn't want her to like pick on him, so I told her no, I got skipped.

Me: Charlotte, it's time to clean your toys up, we need to go get your guys soon,

Charlotte: Pick up the toys?

Me: Yes.

Charlotte: And put them back in buckets?

Me: Yes, its time to get your guys.

Charlotte:  I hatta clean like Cinderelly?!

Back To School Pictures (Parts One and Two)

Part Two:

A Little Saturday Night Honesty.

I held a baby today.  Actually I held two of them.  These two to be exact:

I need to preface this by saying I have held quite a few babies over the last year or so.  It just so happens that I've known a LOT of people with babies.  Cute babies, little babies.  Boy babies, girl babies.  LOTS of babies.  And I'm gonna tell you a little secret...

it didn't really do it for me. 

Now before you get all up in arms about my not liking your babies, you're wrong.  I like your babies just fine.  I just don't necessarily wanna hold your babies, at least not more then a few minutes.   Or get drooled on by your babies, it's just sort of a "been there, done that" feeling.    The prevailing thought when I give those babies back is "Cute kid, but oh so needy!  SO glad to be done with that."  And since we're being honest here, at first that was an unusual feeling.  I never thought I would be a person who would WANT to be done with babies, I figured holding a baby would always kind of make me WANT a baby.  Even when I knew practically speaking I was done.  I was wrong.  It was almost like this light went off in my head when I held Charlotte for the first time.  I no longer had any desire to have any other babies.  She was it.  Met my quota, I was done.  

To further prove my point, I held a NEWBORN a few weeks ago.  Literally, a child who was eight days old.  Count 'em, eight.  The prevailing thought in my head after the first thirty seconds was "I forgot how warm they were and how much they just kind melt around your arm.  Sure, she was cute.  But it didn't make me want a baby.  In fact she started crying and got hungry shortly there after and I really didn't want a baby. D-O-N-E, done. 

But today, for the first time since I had Charlotte I held those (two!) little four month old girls and thought, "I'm to busy to have another baby".

Which is entirely true.  I am also not healthy enough to withstand another pregnancy, and certainly not the kind I have. In fact, there is reason to question if I could even HAVE another pregnancy, and I am also not wealthy enough, my house is not big enough, and I am rapidly becoming to OLD to have a baby.  All of those reasons aside, it was the first time I didn't think :"I don't want another baby."    And that was a little shocking in and of itself.  No, I don't want another baby, and I certainly KNOW I can't have one.   But maybe as my baby gets a "teeny bit bigger everyday " (as she likes to say) that part of me that just wants to snuggle a baby now and again is being revitalized.  After all, the best way to snuggle a baby is on a part time, return it to it's owner when it's fussy or demanding, kind of way, right?

In all fairness, this family makes babies look even easier then taking their picture (and believe it or not, for a group this size this was surprisingly easy!)

Friday Night Leftovers (The Funk is Not The Right Word For It Edition.)

* I am not exactly in a funk.  But I am exhausted, and overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done, and therefore, not blogging a whole lot.  I've thought about it but if I were to blog it would be  a word vomit of the schedule, or something like "kgfagohaklgkjaghjiklasghjrkhjak"  Because that's the warp speed my brain seems to be running at.   I am so worked up, frazzles, completely stressed out by all of it, that the Fabulous Kim took one look at me Thursday at the dance studio and said "You look miserable."   I had a huge pep talk, co-miseration (because that IS a word now) with the impressive Cyndi yesterday.  The family HAS been warned -- I am about to go crazy organized and scheduled on them.  I am not a 24 hour maid and chauffeur and I wont be made one. 

* To demonstrate the difference between private school and public school Samuel (2nd grade) has had homework almost daily since the start of school.  Luke and Molly (5th grade x2) have had ONE night of homework that consisted of studying for a test the next day.  (Just one day, as they tell me they are not supposed to take their books home without permission?!)   This is probably not gonna be the most beneficial to good grades. 

* Charlotte has developed a ROTTEN stubborn streak.  I know it's the age.  I keep telling myself, it's the age.  It's the age.  It's the age.  For the love of God, it's the age.  But I hope it passes quickly.  She's stubborn about stuff that's just silly.

* With the schedule the way it is we are STRUGGLING with chores.  No one is home enough it seems to do it.   Does anyone have any ideas for this?  Luke complains when he has to do more then Molly and I get that, but she's gone ALL The time.  I just dont know what to do. 

* In all SCARY seriousness -- tell me that doesn't look like Molly?  Scares the crud (and the money) right out of me.  I've told Charlotte everyday since she was born "You are NOT a dancer."  And I'm not kidding. One dancer = all I can afford. 

* Speaking of Molly -- notice she's not in any of these pictures?  Yeah, she's not here. EVER. 

* Tell me those pink sparkle shoes are not the cutest thing ever?!

* Teague: The resident hip hop master.  LOL.  I need his moves to survive the week.  In all honestly -- we have ONE kid in just one activity and it's Teague.  Yep -- you heard it here first, this week he's the favorite. Two more are double dipping (Samuel and Charlotte), Luke's a triple threat come Monday, at least for six weeks, and Molly -- let's not talk about Molly.  I prefer not to put out on the internet how crazy I am.  (If we just call "dance" an umbrella of one thing that is all she has, let's do that. ;)  )

* Fall has sprung on our street. My pumpkin pie scentsy bar is warming in the dining room, the kids are running around in jeans and hoodies in the evenings, the "in for the night" call is are getting earlier and earlier, and the item most in danger of putting out a window is now a football and not a baseball.