Today we start getting ourselves back into school routine. Although we don't actually start school until next Tuesday, I thought we needed practice and prepare our bodies for the early mornings. It has already been a difficult morning but not too bad.
My alarm went off but I didn't get up. I was interrupted from a very strange dream. Ok, no more late night snacking. Late night snacking means strange dreams. I've had 2 in a row and it's very hard to get up when I was just in a dream state - even if the dream is awkward and I'm happy to be out of the dream. This morning's dream was some odd competition. I was racing against someone - someone whom I know, but not sure who it was. We were seeing who could drink the most gasoline in 2 minutes. The person who lost had to refill the conatiner and bring it back to the shop. This wasn't like those red containers. It was a huge metal machinery thing with 2 spouts which is, of course, what we drink from. This was my first gasoline drinking competition so I got some help from my cousin - this time I know who she was. But, even with 2 people, we still lost against the other guy. I went home (which wasn't really my home, I have no idea where I was except that it was supposed to be where Seth and I lived). I told Seth about the competition. Just then, my uncle knocked on our door and shoved the huge gasoline machine into the house. Then I realized that I had to figure out how to fill it up and take it back to the shop before it opened in the morning. At some point while I was driving around with this thing, the alarm woke me up. Whew! I didn't really drink any gasoline. I didn't have to fill the monster machine and find a way to take it back to the shop. I was glad to be done with that dream, but ugh. I had to get up.
Seth reached up and looked at his alarm clock. His didn't go off because a couple hours earlier he accidentally turned it off. Yep, a couple hours earlier, A came into our room because she was scared. Let me rewind to last night before we went to bed....
Usually, if A falls asleep in the living room, we carry her to bed when we go to bed. Well, last night, A dragged her blanket and pillow upstairs from her room, set them out in the living room and layed down. She proclaimed that she was going to sleep in the living room. It wasn't long before she was fast asleep. Seth and I decided it was time to get ourselves to bed and he asked if we were taking A to bed. I said I didn't think it was necessary since she puprosely fell asleep there. Seth reminded me that I always say to put her to bed because if she wakes up in the middle of the night not knowing where she's at, she'll be scared. This is true. But I insisted that if A made herself a bed in the living room and wanted to sleep there, then she would be fine.
Well, obviously I was wrong. As A climbed into bed with us I said, "I should have listened to me." I cuddled with A for a bit but there was no way I was going to sleep with her there so eventually I told her she needed to go to her own bed. We both trekked upstairs. She grabbed her blanket so I grabbed her pillow and we dragged them back downstairs. She climbed into her own bed and I tucked her in.
Back to this morning. We figured that when A came to bed, Seth had accidentally turned off the alarm when he reached back to check the time. So, anyway, we both get up and start the day. Seth went off to work while I sat and read my Bible. The problem with that is I was hardly awake to pay attention to what I was reading. Normally I love sitting in the presence of God and soaking up His Word, but I am typically more awake - but more distracted by children who are also awake. I was hoping that getting up with Seth would give me the opportunity to spend time with the Lord without the distraction of kids. I didn't expect to be so tired that I couldn't focus on my reading. Perhaps as I get more used to getting up so early, I will be able to pay attention better.
This week is basically our practice week and to tweek the routines if we find something that doesn't quite work. I know I will already have to change some things on my morning list. We have to really work with K and A to get moving which I already knew would be the case. K will find every excuse to avoid her chores until she has no other choice. That's not gonna fly so if she can't figure it out by the end of this week, she'll be looking at some very bad mornings. A is just little and just learning to do chores. I help her out. J always does a great job. For the last month, he has been getting up early on his own, finishing his chores and is playing the Xbox by the time I got up. I can usually depend on him to get things done. Obviously he's the firstborn.
We are currently in our school time but we're not really doing school. J is drawing. K is working on last year's math. A is doing her pre-k books. We will keep on with our new routine the rest of the day. Monday afternoons will be busy ones with cleaning up the kitchen and washing dishes. I would say the kitchen is my weakness. I can never keep the counters cleaned. The kids are in charge of the dishwasher, but I admit, I probably let that get behind as well. Apparantly, we have no basketball players because people keep missing the trash. And I have a tendancy to not empty it when it's needed. I will work on changing these bad habits this year so we have a nice clean kitchen everyday....or at least every week. :)
My main goal is to get ourselves into the habit of keeping things cleaned and picked up so that when we try to sell our house again, we will be able to get the house ready for a showing in 10 minutes. A quick pick up and vacuum and out the door - not an hour rush of cleaning hoping it's good enough for the potential buyers. I'm guessing we have at least 2 years to master this plan.
So, here's to another year of challenges, learning, and fun.
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