Today it was SO busy…
that I forgot to eat breakfast, had no time for lunch, and ate some Halloween candy at 2:45 because I was feeling light-headed. The sugar rush from the candy got me to dinner – Pizza Hut at 7:30pm.
Today it was SO busy…
that I barely had time to pee. Seriously. Every time we stepped into the house it was just a quick-change, grab another kid, and then off to our next appointment. I kept walking past the bathroom, intending to use it, but then something or someone would distract me from actually getting in there, and before I knew it I was back in the car and only after I started down the road did I remember, “Ugh! I forgot to pee again!” Thank goodness I have a bladder the size of a beach ball!
Today it was SO busy…
that I couldn’t trust the day’s schedule to be just inside my head. I actually had a cheat-sheet with me at all times today, as back-up. I knew without these crib notes, I would forget something … or worse – someone!
Curious to see just what all went on today? Well, below is just a bit of it. This is the SCHEDULED stuff. The other normal stuff – tending to kids, laundry, etc – isn’t mentioned. And I am proud to say I had my camera with me ALL day today! Yay, me! for remembering!
6:00 am – wake A.J. up, make him eggs and toast, have him dressed in his baseball uniform and out the door by 6:25am. (his baseball carpool picked him up at 6:25)
6:30 – wake Aria up to use the bathroom, then guide her back to bed. I crawl in bed next to her to get another hour or so of sleep.
meanwhile at a fire station one hour from our house…
7:00 – Rich leaves from work.
8:15 – He arrives at A.J.’s baseball game. The game started at 8:00 so that’s not too bad, he didn’t miss much. He will be there for the 10:00 game, too. Two morning baseball games.
meanwhile back at home…
8:20 – I’m up again. I wake Aislynn up and get her fed, dressed and ready for her Girl Scout meeting. I shower. (forget to eat)
8:50 – Aislynn and I leave for her meeting. The meeting lasts until 10:00.
I am always at Aislynn’s Daisy meetings. It’s our special time together.
10:15 – I am at the grocery store with Aislynn buying grapes, drinks and cupcakes for both A.J.’s and Andrew’s soccer teams. It’s my turn to bring snacks for BOTH teams on this day. How did that happen??!!
10:15 – I call the house to speak to one of the big kids. I tell them to keep an eye on the little ones, that I’ll be home soon.
10:30 – Arrive back home. Slightly upset to find the kitchen sink FULL of breakfast bowls. In the 1 hour and 25 minutes that I am gone they manage to completely destroy the kitchen. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had SIX extra kids in the house because of sleepovers that happened the night before. So of course that meant more dishes than usual. I’m always glad to have the extras, but MY kids need to learn to clean up after THEIR guests!
11:00 – I get the coolers out for the soccer teams’ drinks, wash and separate all the grapes into small sandwich baggies – I make 24 baggies- 12 for each team. I yell for Aislynn, who is upstairs, to get into her soccer uniform quickly! I yell to the rest of the kids, “GET DRESSED RIGHT NOW IF YOU WANT TO GO TO AISLYNN’S GAME WITH ME! I WILL HAVE NO TIME TO WAIT FOR YOU!”
11:15 – Afton comes downstairs to tell me her plans for the Homecoming Dance tonight, and asks can I be at the photos at 5:oopm?
11:16 – Audriana comes downstairs to tell me that she doesn’t have any shoes to wear to the Homecoming Dance tonight. I say, “Are you kidding me? And you’re telling me this now? Today? When you know I have a girl scout meeting, two baseball games, four soccer games, and two girls attending a Homecoming Dance?” She said no more and found a very nice low heel black pump in the back of her closet.
11:30 – I leave with Aislynn – and a few kids who were dressed and ready- for Aislynn’s soccer game.
12:00 pm – Aislynn’s game starts.
She is getting more and more confident out there! And she’s very fast!
12:15 – Rich calls me to tell me he’s on his way home from A.J.’s games. He says he is going directly to A.J.’s soccer game, and that he will see me there. Yes, A.J. had two baseball games and a soccer game today. Crazy, I know.
1:00 – Aislynn’s game ends, we get back into the car and drive over to another field where A.J’s game is scheduled to start at 1:00.
1:15 – arrive at A.J.’s game. I miss the first 15 minutes but hey, at least I made it there.
A.J. plays in the goalie position most of the game. He’s an awesome goal keeper!
2:00 – A.J.’s game ends. Rich then leaves with Andrew and A.J. and heads to yet another field where Andrew’s game is scheduled to start at 2:45. I remind him to first go home and grab all the snack items for Andrew’s team!
2:15 – I drive home, pick up Afton and Aria. Aislynn is still in the car, and I drive Afton to her friend’s house so she can get ready for the Homecoming Dance. It’s a 15 minute drive to her friend’s house and a 15 minute drive back. Aria naps in the car. I knew she would.
3:00 – I arrive at Andrew’s game and watch his game through the window of my car, as Aria is still sleeping and I don’t want to wake her up. Luckily I get a great parking spot right in front of the field he is playing on. Rich waves to me from the field.
3:20 – I leave the field before Andrew’s game ends, drive home once again, and I don’t even get out of the car because Alex is getting into the car as soon as I pull up so that I can take him to his soccer game which is in another town and takes me 30 minutes to get there. I stay at the field and wait for Rich and the kids to join me.
4:45 – Alex’s game starts.
team huddle before the game
Rich and I watch about 10 minutes of the game, then load all of the kids into the car and drive off to find Afton and her friends who are gathering for photos before the Homecoming Dance. Lucky for us, the place they chose to do photos is just about 10 minutes from the field Alex is playing on.
Afton pinning the boutineer on her date
5:00 – We leave Afton’s photos to drive 5 minutes away for Audriana’s photos. We couldn’t have gotten any luckier with the proximity of their locations to each other and to the soccer field.
Audriana with her best friends
5:40 – Arrive back at the soccer field to catch the last 15 minutes of Alex’s soccer game. They lose 3-0 – bummer!
6:20 – Arrive back home, help A.J. get into his Halloween costume. Rich orders pizzas and I agree to pick them up when I take A.J. to his friend’s Halloween party.
6:45 – Back in the car again. I drive A.J. to the Halloween party, and along the way I drop Avery off at her bests friend’s house for a sleepover. Then it’s just ME in the car ALONE. And I enjoy the silence.
7:00 – Arrive back home. Rich greets me at the door and asks, “Where’s the pizzas?” and I realize that I forgot to go pick them up. I guess I was lost in the silence a little too much! By this time at night, my brain is pretty much fried. I’m tired.
7:01 – Back in the car, drive to Pizza Hut. The pizza guy rings up my order, looks at me and says, “One of those days, huh?” Even the young 18 year old pizza guy knows the look of a tired mommy when he sees one. Do I look that obvious?
7:20 – Arrive at home with Pizzas. Everyone eats dinner.
8:00 – Kids get showers and baths, teeth brushed.
8:10 – Alex gets invited last minute to sleep over his friends house down the street. Big Brother Tony walks him down there.
8:15 – Dressed in their pajamas, the kids pile onto our bed to watch a movie and “unwind” and Rich joins them. I go on the computer to catch up on the day’s emails.
9:05 – I look up at the time to realize I should have picked up A.J. from the party five minutes ago! I’m late! I run into our bedroom to tell Rich I’ll be right back. He’s sleeping. I knew he’d fall asleep once his head hit the pillow. I find myself feeling extremely jealous!
9:06 – I’m back in the car. Again.
9:10 – Pick up A.J. at the party. I’m thankful to see he’s not the last one to be picked up!
9:45 – And this is the current time as I finish up this blog post. What’s going on right now? A.J. just went to bed. Rich is sleeping. Andrew is sleeping. Tony is sleeping. Alex and Avery are both at a friend’s house, probably not yet sleeping. Aislynn and Aria are still up even though I’ve tucked them into bed a few times. Aria keeps coming over to me, “Mommy….how come YOU get to stay up?” and the answer, “Because I’m the mommy.” just doesn’t seem to satisfy her. Meanwhile I still have two teenagers at a Homecoming Dance. I have to stay up until they get home. One is coming home to our house, and another is going home with her best friend. I keep texting best friend’s mom to make sure she and I are on the same page as to when the girls are expected home. She will be up waiting for their arrival, and I will be waiting for the phone call to tell me they are home safe. The dance is over at 11:00pm. It looks like my day will not be ending anytime soon. ::: sigh :::
Holy mud – that is a lot for one day! I am lazy, and keep things pretty simple around here. Kids each get to pick ONE thing outside of school and church to do. As you know, with 9 kids, that still keeps us hopping, but we haven’t yet had a day like this one!
I lost you at 11:00 😉
oh my! i got confused before the morning was even half over… by noon, i was wore out! kudos to you!
Brandy
You. Are. Amazing!! My head is spinning!! It sounds so crazy but so worth it – your kids are going to look back on their life and say “wow, my parents worked so hard, loved us so much, and ran around like headless chickens to give us an awesome childhood!” I hope I can be a great mum like that one day, too.
my goodness, i’m confused just reading that! how on earth do you keep track?! (don’t worry, i don’t expect you to actually answer that question!) i’m just starting out with my first and he keeps me busy all day long
x