Play-by-Play

This, right here, is a day in the life. It's not at all glamorous. It's often completely nuts. But, I wouldn't change a thing. Unless, of course, anyone wants to come fold my laundry.


5:00am - Alarm goes off for the first time.
5:40am - After pressing the snooze button 5 times, I drag myself out of bed.
5:45am - Make coffee and madly dig through unfolded laundry to find clean outfits for the kids.
6:00am - Lay out the clothes and start packing lunches. Try to make sleep-deprived brain remember who likes which snacks. Give up on the sandwiches and log onto the school website to find the hot lunch menu.
6:15am - Start dragging the oldest ones out of bed without waking the little ones.
6:20am - Make breakfast (a.k.a. pour cereal) with one hand since Charlotte woke up and doesn't want to be put down. Also, let out the dog and feed the cats.
6:30am - Take a 4 minute shower while Charlotte repeatedly tries to climb into the tub, then get dressed. 
6:45am - Make the big kids get dressed and ready and pack up the backpacks. Listen to them fight over who gets to brush their teeth first. Also, brush all of the knots out of the girls' hair.
7:10am - Hustle the big kids into their jackets, backpacks, hats, scarves, etc.
7:15am - Send the big kids off to school with Juju or Pop-pop, our fabulous chauffeurs.
7:20am - Attempt to clean up the house so our babysitters don't know what slobs we are. This includes, but is not limited to: emptying and reloading the dishwasher, rotating through another load of laundry that probably won't get folded, vacuuming and sweeping up miscellaneous crumbs left behind by "Not Me" and "I Didn't Do It", making beds (on a really good day), wiping down 85,000 fingerprints and random sticky stuff, and marveling at how dirty the house became since yesterday.
8:00am - Scratch head and wonder how I can work up such a sweat but never lose weight.
8:01am - Change and dress the little ones which includes grabbing Charlotte by the ankle while she tries to crawl her naked butt away.
8:15am - Welcome the day's babysitter, discuss any important items for the day and try to sneak out before Charlotte catches me.
9:00am - Teach many tiny children.
4:00pm - Arrive home to 57 children trying to tell me about their day all at once. "Mom, sign this!" "Mama, look what I made!" "Mommy, I need art supplies and two dozen cookies for tomorrow!"
5:00pm - Make dinner while checking homework, changing diapers, feeding pets, and entertaining children. Then yell at everyone to get out of the kitchen or dinner will never get done.
5:45pm - Sit down and enjoy dinner as a family. Everyone tells one good thing and one bad thing about their day. The kids almost never have a bad thing to tell. How nice to be young!
5:50pm - Sean announces dinner is "gross" and he won't be eating.
6:00pm - PJ and I continue trying to enjoy our meal while the children decide it is an opportune time to run around and play tag.
6:30pm - Play with the kids. Ensure the homework is done. On a good night, give baths and showers.
7:30pm - Dress kids and usher them off to bed. Have one of the older kids read a story to the younger ones. 
8:00pm - Start baking cookies for the latest school event.
8:30pm - Try to clean up some dishes.
8:45pm - Decide to give up on cleaning and leave it for the morning.
9:00pm - Collapse on couch to watch a good show. And fold all of that laundry.
9:05pm - Put a cranky, teething Charlotte back to bed. Forget about the laundry.
9:10pm - Attempt to watch the show again.
9:15pm - Briefly entertain the idea of laying out the clothes and packing the lunches. Decide it can all wait until the morning.
9:30pm - Start getting into the show when Charlotte wakes up. Again.
12:00am - Wake up on the couch and have no recollection of what happened in that show.
12:05am - Go to bed and know that it will all start again in a matter of a few short hours.


Welcome to CrazyTown. It's wild - and that's exactly how we like it!


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