One of the things I love about our one car, homeschooling lifestyle is those days when I don't have to commit to be out of the house ... in fact, when I CAN'T commit to being away from home because I don't have the car.
Well, today is NOT one of those days.
One car isn't an issue. Dh is in DC all week. This is good and bad. It can be tough holding down the fort all by myself, but I kind of like the extra quiet time, too.
My day started at 3:30 am. E had lost her pacifier (it was next to her) and kicked off all of her covers. The sprinklers then woke her up. I covered her up, closed the window, plugged her back in, and then heard the boys' door opening, then the fridge door opening. A was foraging. Um, no. It's the middle of the night, and you chose to throw half your supper away. Water and bed. Now I'm awake and the water main and sprinkler valve box are right by my room. So now they're keeping me awake. 4:00, I go turn off the sprinkler controls. It's getting to be fall anyway, they don't need to run as much.
4:30 E is up again, cold, just after I drift off. I cover her up. I come read an ebook on my computer for a while, and wait for the Advil to hit my headache. Then I start hallucinating that dh is trying to give me a book, though even in the hallucination, I know he's out of town. I KNOW I didn't take the PM stuff (which can make me goofy ... I don't take it unless it's the weekend and dh is on full backup). I must just be tired. Off to bed. It's 5:00.
I slept until 7. Groggy, since insomnia isn't a regular issue for me I'm kind of disoriented. We're almost out of milk, so I put the kettle on for oatmeal. W and thegirls wake up as I'm getting dressed. E is put out that I insist on finishing before getting her some juice.
W decides on waffles instead of oatmeal. I help him open the case (we get them at Costco) and later find the freezer door open. I get T's hair brushed, planners signed, help E get dressed under duress while listening to T complain that we're going to be late, even though it's 7:40 and we don't need to leave until 8:00.
I coax E into some shoes, wake A and tell him to get breakfast, and we're off to the bus stop. 5 minutes later, I return to find A just getting out of bed. I get him fed, pull out his seatwork for the day, and get E settled in front of a video. Remind A that in order to be dressed, he needs some pants (other than underpants) on. By 8:30 we're ready to sit down with seatwork, which actually goes smoothly. 3 pages of math (to the end of the section), 2 pages of language arts. E stinks, so I clean her up, put in another video, and discover the oatmeal I made at 7:15 still on the counter. I eat it cold as ds reads half a chapter of his reader to me. I leave well enough alone and call school done (we got the 3 R's in) so I can check email and forums. Not bad, since I checked it at 4:30.
So, here I am.
At 10, we'll leave for the school to help T's class with a treasure hunt. I did this with W's class last year. The dc make up rhyming clues to hide around school grounds. After they hide them, they get assigned a differen't team's clues to hide, and at the end of the trail is a bag of candy. Wise woman decided to hype them up on sugar on a half day this time (why a half day in the middle of the week, I have no clue ... I don't see how both parents can work full-time and have their dc in school during the fall quarter ... so many days off, half days, etc. I can't keep track.
After we're done there, I need to run to the store. We're out of milk and bananas. We'll come home for lunch, and then soon after W and T will be home. W has a lot of work to do on his science fair report.
At 2:45, my friend is dropping her boys by ... she's on her own this week, too, and has a lot of dental work scheduled. My friend's nephew can watch her boys, and that way, they can go visit her dh's grandmother after the dentist.
At 4:00, we head back to school for parent-teacher conferences ... maybe with 7 children in tow. (Just my 4 now, still, with E, it'll be an adventure).
Papa Murphy's has large pepperoni pizzas on sale for $4. I'm thinking that that's dinner (maybe one or two for the freezer).
Oh, and our current read-aloud is in at the library. So we need to swing by there sometime today, too.
Tomorrow, another friend's dh is taking all of the bigger boys (6 of them, ages 6-10) on a field trip. My friend whose dh is also out of town and I are SO looking forward to having them go for a while. We mom will all just hang out here with the littles.
Days like today give me a new respect for military moms faced with deployments (my mom often was), and single parents. A week at a time of this juggling act is enough for me, and scouts and ballet don't start until NEXT week!