Vacations Over

If there had been any doubt in my mind that our vacation is well & truly over - the last 36 hours have solidified that I am back to reality.

The girls started school. Rick went to work. If you remember correctly, his start date isn't until the 8th. What can I say - he's a workaholic, and is going in "just for a few hours" (you know - like 8) each day this week. After sending them off I took Jacob & Jane to playgroup. We usually won't be able to go, because they have swimming on Monday & Wednesday mornings - but that doesn't start until next week - so they got to go one last time. Right after playgroup we headed out to the fabric store to get Halloween costume fabric. Now, you might be thinking that on a busy day, that should have been low on the priority list. Here's the story. I had to go yesterday so if they didn't have what I needed (a very likely possibility) I would be able to order swatches online, have them arrive, potentially order different swatch(es), finally order the fabric I want and still have time to make said costumes - which they usually need a good 10 days before Halloween - because all the class parties, etc are then SO I had to go yesterday. Fortunately they had exactly what I needed for Em & Jacob - now I just have to figure out what to do about Jane ...

Anyway, I digress. After the fabric store, we raced home to get Emily off the bus - which we waited 20 minutes for since I'm not exactly sure what time they'll arrive and they are slower on the first few days anyway. Then back home to grab a snack. Rebekah got home and we all headed out to Staples to get her supplies (in HS they don't get their lists until the 1st day in each class.) The line to check-out was insane! $200, three bathroom visits, "rides" on the office chairs and a long wait later we were headed home. We had a quick dinner, so Emily could have her piano lesson (new teacher - sob) at 6pm while I tossed the little one's in the tub.

Soccer orientation (20 minutes north of here) AND pre-school orientation (10 minutes south) AND YW's for Rebekah (in the middle) were all at 7:30pm. I asked a neighbor to watch the little one's (they were all in bed when I left) a YW leader to give Rebekah a ride to the church & back, and a friend to give me a ride to pre-school so that Rick could go to soccer (he's Em's assistant coach again this year.) Then the other coach told Rick he didn't think it would matter if he missed it, so Rick came with me to the pre-school orientation, which was lucky because they split us up into classes - so he went to Jacob's and I went to Jane's.

When we got home at 9:30pm I remembered I hadn't printed out a picture for Emily. She is supposed to take a picture of herself to school. I quickly uploaded one to our local Walgreen's (because it's close and open until midnight.) However, when I was done it said my pick-up time was 7:07am. Damn. The photo must close earlier. I thought it would still work, I'd just have to pick it up in the morning and then drive Emily to school again.

This morning we all got up and had breakfast. Rick wasn't leaving early, so at 7am I drove Rebekah to school (heavy supplies to carry) and then raced over to Walgreen's, where I discovered my picture wasn't ready. Apparently their online ordering system doesn't know that the photo lab there doesn't open until 9am. Double damn. The cashier tried to print it for me, but it took 25 minutes and was unsuccessful. If I'd known it wasn't going to work, I would have just printed out a lesser quality one at home - but now there wasn't even time for that! I hurried home, grabbed Em & took her to school, just in the nick of time - telling her to apologize to her teacher and promise I'd get one today. I'm sure her teacher doesn't care - but Emily does. She is such a good girl, and it bothers her when she knows she should have done something & hasn't.

The kids & I went grocery shopping today, so I just uploaded more to Costco (which I usually use) and also did one's for Jacob & Jane at the same time, since they'll need them next Tuesday.

After everyone was in bed (Emily lost another tooth after dinner), I sat down and did this -
Caught up on all the forms. Thanks goodness Rick got home from his scholarship mtg with left over cookies for me!

There was one form for swimming, which went right into the swimming bag. Then I made these piles - one for Rebekah, one for Emily, one for Jacob, one for Jane, one to file, one to add to iCal, one to recycle. Oh, and the pile I was working on. I wrote checks for two PTA's and two holiday festivals. I wrote my home & cell phone numbers so many times I got writers cramp. I signed my name and wrote the kids birth dates and current date so many times, I started to get it wrong & mix them up! I wrote extensive social history forms for preschool, and filled out a million emergency forms. OK, not a million - but 2 or 3 per kid. Isn't this information all going to the same place? Why so many? I filled out permissions to take a walk forms, and permission to be photographed forms. Permission to use the school computer & I promise I won't violate the rules forms. And I read all the one's that tell me not to send them when they are sick, or let them wear Crocs or send in trans fats for snack. The kids need healthy snacks. Really? Usually I give my kids candy wrapped in Crisco for a snack. Are you kidding me?

But now I feel on top of things - which is a feeling I need.

I'm pretty glad this is only a three day week.