Thursday, February 17, 2011

morning mayhem

When we enrolled Jack in preschool for this year, he was put in the afternoon class since he's an "older 4"...meaning he was 5 less than two months after school started.  I wasn't sure how this would work.  He gets out at the same time the elementary bus arrives at our house.  Then again, if he was in the morning class, he would start at exactly the same time the elementary girls do.  That means they would get on the bus and we would leave immediately for the trip to preschool.  Which would be great for most people.  Not me.  I barely make it out to the bus stop most days because I'm still in my pj's.  So....I'm not here when the little girls get off the bus Monday through Thursday.  There are other kids here, though.  And I'm home about 15 minutes later.  Just enough time for them to eat enough junk food for snack that they can eat something healthy as I walk in the door.

(And quite honestly, this afternoon thing works really well for me with working overnights.  I do my stuff in the morning with my little helper and then take him to school and NAP until the older kids start trickling in.  It's so good that I requested afternoon kindergarten, too)

Since I don't have to get the littlest one dressed and fed and out the door, mornings go in stages here with relatively little stress.  The high school bus comes at 6:50 so Bella is up and at it early.  But she is also out the door before most of the other kids are even awake.  Once she's gone, the middle school boys are usually up.  Their school is a block away and starts at 7:54.  That means Trey usually leaves at 7:20 (oh, I remember those days of walking the halls before school....seeing and being seen!) and Clay leaves at 7:40.  Somewhere in the middle I make sure the little girls are up.  Their bus comes at 8:10.  Kelli is usually pretty easy to rouse, but Emma has been know to hear me say, "The bus is coining in 5 minutes.  GET UP NOW!!!"

Then the drama is over and Jack plays while I check my Facebook.  Easy peasy.  

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