Come on, Christmas!

We've finally reached the end of the second week of school. I'm already counting the days to Christmas break. I think I'm in trouble. I sure get more stuff done during the school year, but the price I pay is extremely high. I feel like I walk a tightrope, carefully balancing the needs of the children, school, Don, grandparents ... while still trying to maintain sanity.

Let's just take today, for instance. At 5:30 a.m., Daelyn was in my room to wake me up. We snuggled for a while and I finally convinced him to let Mommy get a little more sleep before the alarm went off. When it did go off at 6:25, I got up and started my chores - personal hygiene, neatening the bathroom, sorting laundry, and starting the first load. I got the other two children up and started them dressing, then moved to the kitchen to start kitchen chores.

I am a list person. I have chore lists, menus a month at a time, a grocery list that hangs on the front of the fridge, lists, lists, lists. One of them is a schedule for breakfasts. I decided to try this last year in January. Each day of the week, I play to have certain items for breakfast. For example, Wednesdays is hot cereal (oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat), Fridays is eggs and sausage (scrambled, omelets, or fried on toast). So the children still have some choices but it's a little more uniform and easier for me to pull off because I can prepare the night before.

Last night, Don encouraged me to switch Monday's and Friday's so he could put out the cold cereal for the kids on Friday morning, since he's home, allowing me to get a little more sleep or tend to other emergencies. So I laid out the cereal bowls, napkins and spoons, and then went to put the milk on the table - all 2 inches of it. When I realized we were that low, I had to switch back again to eggs. I cleared the table again, reset it, got out sausage to warm up in the microwave, and started the eggs, deciding on scrambled for everyone. Dane walked in, dressed for school, so I had him sit down and begin a practice spelling test while I was making the eggs. He has a test today and we've been practicing the words all week long. He nails them every time. He knows exactly how to spell them. The problem is, yesterday we tried writing them. He may know how to spell them, but he doesn't know how to write the letters. Every "b" and "d" was reversed. I got a little panicky. Last night, before bed, I made him sit down and write several lines of "b", hoping that if he could get those right, the "d" would be easy. So, now he was in the hot seat. I silently prayed he'd write his b's correctly. While we were in the middle of his test, Deanna came in. I told her to get out her Science book and begin working on Page 12. She was out of school for 2 days with strept throat and had a pile of make-up work. We got most of it done last night, but she still had one page of Science left.

I finished Dane's spelling test, put eggs on everyone's plates, and checked his work. ALL THE B's and D's were right. However, the "p" was backwards. I hate for this little guy to get words wrong that he knows how to spell so well just because he's out of practice at writing. I assigned him two lines of p's to write and went to mix up Deanna's drink medicine which has to be mixed into milk. HA! We have no milk. I pulled down the stool, while giving verbal directions to Dane and answers to Deanna, and climbed up into the pantry looking for the powdered milk. I found it and began mixing it with the dab of real milk we had left. The front door opened and in walked Uncle Ken to get his allergy shots. I finished mixing the powdered milk, got Deanna's drink made, delivered it to her, then started on antibiotics - Deanna's first, then Dane's. That done, I got Deanna's stomach medicine capsule out, mixed it into a teaspoon of applesause, and gave that to her. The children complained about the powdered milk. I got out Uncle Ken's serum, washed my hands, and began to prepare his injections. That finished, I realized lunches needed to be made, all the while directing and responding to the children. I got lunches made and lunchboxes and water bottles put in backpacks. I prompted Deanna to finish her Science and work on breakfast. Then I left Don to supervise the children so I could dress. I threw on shorts, socks and shoes, switched laundry loads, and ran back into the kitchen, brush and hairclip in hand. I quickly pulled my hair back, then called Deanna to me to pull her hair up. Grandpa was already there, ready to head out the door. I told Daelyn to run and get his shoes on, and grabbed the stroller out of the closet. I kissed Don goodbye and headed out the door with Grandpa and the kids, bound for school.

Upon my return, there was more laundry to be done, I needed to eat breakfast, the beds must be made, the kitchen straightened, dinner started in the crockpot, and this Post to get done. Lots more chores waiting for me, but I might get a breather this afternoon.

I will pick the kids up at school at 3:00 and a friend has invited us over to swim. I'm going to try and fit that in - there aren't too many days of swimming left this year. Dane has soccer at 4:00, I have a commitment at 5:00, and we're having a dinner guest at 6:30.

Come on, Christmas. I maybe can hold out a little longer, but the tightrope is beginning to sway in the breeze and I'm fearful of falling off. Precious Lord, take my hand. It's time for more of those Mercy Drops Falling Like Rain. Send in the Clouds.