a day in the life

5:45 am: My alarm goes off and I hit the snooze...twice.
6:01 am: I get up, let the dogs out, fill their water bowl and head in to shower and get my hair dry before Avery comes downstairs.
6:56 am: Avery comes down dressed for school but I have to coach her a bit on tying her shoes, something we have been working on lately. I warm up some frozen blueberry pancakes for her breakfast then move on to making coffee and lunches.
7:10 am: After I fix Avery's hair she goes to play a computer game until its time to leave. I unload the dishwasher and then reload it with whatever didn't fit last night.
7:25 am: Jeff and Avery head out the door for school and work. Jeff already has hayfever so the day ahead doesn't look good for him. Fortunately, its his day in the office, so maybe it won't be that bad.
7:30 am: I have just enough time for a quick bowl of cereal and a glance at cnn.com before Ethan and Hannah wake up. He gets frozen blueberry pancakes for his breakfast, she gets instant Strawberries and Cream oatmeal and I think to myself that I am grateful not to be living in a pre-microwave era. While they eat I take some chicken out of the freezer to thaw for tonight's dinner and pour myself a generous cup of coffee.
8:15 am: It's Wednesday and that means that the sheets and towels in my room need to be washed, so I throw in a load of towels while the kids play in the playroom. Wednesday also means that Hannah is home from school so I head back to the playroom to ponder our morning's entertainment.
8:40 am: I decide to go ahead and get the vacuuming done downstairs so that I can mop the wood floors while the kids are napping later. I am always amazed at how much fuzz and dog hair accumulates in my house...
9:05 am: I herd the kids upstairs to get them dressed. While I am up there, I notice all of the old baby items stashed in Ethan's closet and resolve to clean it out sometime in the next week.
9:30 am: I come downstairs to find that Shelby, in retaliation for having been banished downstairs, has taken my very large, very favorite bottle of lotion off of my nightstand and chewed the pump off. Ahhhh!
9:40 am: I load the kids into the double stroller and head out for a walk. The air is cool and the kids are happy to be outside. When we return home, we head out to the backyard for some more outdoor time. While the kids and dogs mill around the yard, I chat with the nurse from the pediatrician's office about giving Ethan an OTC allergy medicine in an attempt to stop his runny nose.
10:40 am: I head inside to make lunch for the kids. Pizza for Hannah, bread, cheese and yogurt for Ethan.
11:25 am: I put the kids down for their naps and head back downstairs to switch out the laundry and mop the floors before I have my lunch.
12:30 pm: I finish cleaning up the last few lunch dishes and start to work on assembling our chicken enchiladas for dinner tonight.
1:35 pm: I am just finishing the clean up from my enchiladas when Hannah comes downstairs and demands to know, "What's that smell?" I assure her that dinner will taste good and we start to work coloring masterpieces in her coloring book.
2:00 pm: Ethan is awake, relaxed and refreshed. After a 2 1/2 hour nap, who wouldn't be?
2:37 pm: Armed with snacks and water bottles Ethan, Hannah and I head out the door to pick up Avery and spend some time on the school playground.
3:45 pm: We arrive back home, wash hands and Avery and I start in on her homework. I wish that someone would have warned me about 1st grade homework. Reading, spelling and math every night!
4:17 pm: I put the sheets back on the bed and sneak in a few minutes of Oprah while I work.
6:00 pm: The enchiladas are out of the oven, Jeff is home and we all sit down to dinner.
6:40 pm: Jeff offers to take Avery and Ethan for a car ride while he runs an errand. Hannah and I stay behind to clean up the dinner dishes and do some tattoo removal before her bath.
7:08 pm: The kids line up for their nightly dose of allergy medicine and we all trudge upstairs for their baths. Hannah and Ethan take a bath together then Jeff entertains them while its Avery's turn.
8:14 pm: Everyone has been bathed, teeth have been brushed, stories have been read, and all the kids are in bed.
8:35 pm: I sit down for a bit of computer time, checking email, reading Facebook, etc.
9:04 pm: I crawl into bed and fall asleep listening to whatever was on the History International channel.

labor day and lemonade

This Labor Day weekend Jeff headed out to west Texas for some dove hunting. So, the kids and I were left to create some fun of our own. On Saturday we went over to Gramma Judy and Allen Pop's house for dinner and some play time at their neighborhood park. On Sunday Avery and I baked some Oatmeal Chip cookies from our handy Paula Deen cookbook. And then the grand finale was the lemonade and cookie sale on Monday afternoon. We did some pretty good business thanks, in part, to our neighbor Zoe and brought in a whopping $16. Tomorrow we are headed to Target to spend our earnings!

hannah's turn

Yesterday was Hannah's turn to start school. She was very excited about taking her new nap mat and getting to use her lunch box again. But otherwise she had a few mixed emotions. Hannah kept telling me, "I don't want to go to school. I will miss you all the time!" In reality I knew that she would miss me for about 15 seconds and then go on to have a great day, which is exactly what happened.

I got her up, fed and dressed no problem though she did insist on wearing lip gloss (thanks Gigi). Then we headed out the door for our 2 minute ride to school. When we got there, she proudly carried her lunch box to her classroom, gave me a kiss goodbye and went right in to play at the dollhouse with her friend Gillian. I picked her up at 2:00 and after we got Avery from her school, we celebrated Hannah's first day with ice cream.

Now my only dilemma is how to keep myself and Ethan occupied for 2 days a week while the girls are both at school...yeah, not really. I have plenty to do and not do, as the case may be. :-)

the curse

You know the curse, the one where your parents, in a moment of frustration, tell you that they wish that someday you will have a child exactly like you? Well, Jeff and I were both recipients of the curse as we were growing up and the result is just about the most headstrong 6 year old you can find.

Family dinners have recently become downright unpleasant with the amount of whining and complaining about the menu. Last night was no exception. Baked fish was on the menu and baked fish is not one of Avery's favorite dishes. Jeff and I suffered through a bit of Avery's complaining, listened to her proclaim that she would never eat the fish in front of her and and snickered while she demanded that I never cook fish for dinner again. Jeff, in a hurry to get out and mow the yard, excused himself early and on his way out the door issued the command that Avery not get up from the table until she had eaten all of her fish. Since contradicting the other parent in front of the kids is not something that Jeff and I do, I had no choice but to groan inwardly and prepare for the ultimate battle of wills.

Now I would like to tell you that I had found myself in uncharted territory when it comes to battles over eating but the sad truth is that I've been here before. I have vivid memories of sitting at the kitchen table, all alone, after everything had been washed and put away and trying to swallow bits of zucchini with tomato sauce (shudder) or stalks of canned asparagus (yuck). My parents also used the kitchen timer as a weapon in their arsenal. They would set the timer for a reasonable amount of time, and if I hadn't finished my food when the timer went off, I had to eat the food for breakfast...cold.

So last night my husband cheerfully mowed the yard, oblivious to the screaming and moaning in the kitchen, and I knew what I had to do...I set the timer for 10 minutes and told Avery to eat her fish or she would be having it for breakfast. After 5 minutes, Avery asked if she could just go ahead and get up because she was not going to eat the fish. 5 minutes later Avery headed upstairs for her bath and the fish went into the fridge.

This morning I carefully explained to Avery that she needed to finish the fish before she could have anything else to eat. Then came the longest 20 minutes in history along with an Oscar caliber performance on Avery's part. She gagged and choked and cried and ultimately ate the fish, leaving just enough time to eat 2 pieces of peanut butter toast before heading out the door for school.

I am quite confident that she will never eat fish as an adult after this experience, especially given that I will never eat zucchini in tomato sauce or canned asparagus. But, I've made my point with her. I understand that there are some things that people genuinely don't like so next time I will probably try and disguise the fish a bit before I put it on her plate...

grade 1, day 1

"Mom, I had a great day! First grade is so fun!" It is such a relief to hear that Avery is starting the year on a positive note. Despite not being in the same class with her best friend, she claims to love her teacher and seems satisifed with the other friends she has in the class. I asked her what she did during the day and whether or not she had gotten to go to any of her specials classes. Avery said something about having gone to PE class just briefly before the teacher realized that she was supposed to be in Music instead. I can only imagine what it must have been like leading a bunch of clueless 6 year olds around the school trying to get them in the right place at the right time. I swear, I don't know how elementary teachers keep up with it all.

Our new morning routine worked out great. She set her alarm last night and then was up and ready to go in plenty of time this morning and I didn't even need to nag once. Day 1, under our belt!

P.S. In case you were thinking that the lighting in the picture looked a little different, that would be because the dawn was just breaking...School starts at an appalling 7:45 am!!!

happy birthday paw paw!

Yesterday we headed out to the lake to celebrate Paw Paw's 62nd birthday. It was so nice to see him feeling like himself again after his heart surgery and bout with pneumonia. Thank goodness that's all in the past! The afternoon was breezy and warm, the perfect atmosphere for relaxing on the dock and doing some fishing. Cousin Gavin even caught his first fish! Then we ate some dinner, washed it down with chocolate birthday cake and headed home early to prepare for the first day of school. No one can complain that this family doesn't do a good job of celebrating birthdays!

Rise and Shine!

In exactly 7 days, Avery enters the 1st grade. Not that I'm counting down...This year, I plan to further her independence a bit by introducing the alarm clock. I think it's time. I am going to set her alarm for 6:35 am. This should give her plenty of time to make her bed and get dressed before coming downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast, I will go back upstairs with her to fix her hair while she brushes her teeth. Then, she and Jeff head out the door at 7:25 am. I know that an alarm clock doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. If you could have been a fly on the wall and witnessed our morning routine last year, you would understand. I had to literally follow her around from the time she got up until the time she left just to make sure that she was staying on task. The battles that ensued were no way for either of us to start our day. I am hoping that by putting the responsibility on her, that she will 1) embrace it, 2) have a more pleasant start to the day and 3) be mad at the alarm clock instead of me. Wish us luck!