Thursday, 2/18/10 (this one's just for me)

It was a bit of a busy day yesterday, so I thought I'd document it to remind myself someday of the energy I had when I was in my 30's...

• 6:16 alarm goes off; hit snooze a few times

• 6:30 say bye to Hubs who leaves for work; I stay in bed

• 6:45 notice a 6-yr-old snuggler next to me

• 7:10 hear the recycle trash truck on our street; rush downstairs to make sure Hubs put the can on the curb (he did ~ good thing since it had already passed our house)

• 7:15 change into running clothes

• 7:20 make sure that all 6 kids (my four plus two nephews - Kate's boys - who spent the night) are awake and starting to get ready for school; this requires waking two soundly sleeping girls who aren't happy about it

• 7:25-7:55 a little jog on the treadmill; stopping frequently to answer kids' wardrobe questions and to remind the girls to eat their breakfast a little faster

• 8:00 drink water, more nudging the kids to ensure they'll get to school on time

• 8:15 make sure all six have backpacks, snacks, lunch money, shoes, etc

• 8:26 depart; discuss in the car the seating arrangements once we pick up the 7th passenger

• 8:30 pick up 7th passenger, Ivy, a girl we carpool with

• 8:35 arrive at school; wishing I had a camera to video the sight of 7 children piling out of my car

• 8:45 back home, check email, making sure to include happy birthday shout-out to sis-in-law Emily

• 9:05 13-month-old nephew Crew arrives w/ his mom, my sister Jamie

• 9:10 Jamie puts Crew down for a nap in a pack n' play in my closet while I brown sausage links for my low-carb diet breakfast; we talk for a few minutes and she leaves for a dentist appointment

• 9:20 - 10:00 "down time" - enjoy my breakfast, watch a little Today Show, get caught up on facebook & emails & blogs, unload dishwasher, play with dog

• 10:10 shower

• 10:30 Jamie calls to say she'll be later than expected; won't be back in time to pick up Crew before I leave to pick up the Kindergarteners and asks if I have a carseat he can use. Hmm...

• 11:10 get Crew up from his nap, embark downstairs to figure out the carseat situation. I have one infant seat that is 10 years old; it's either that or a 5-yr-old's booster. Crew is small so there's no question. Set Crew down and spend 7-8 minutes cleaning up the dirty seat (which has been sitting in my garage uncovered for 5 years); strap him in (after adjusting the straps a few times) and depart for school

• 11:25 pick up four Kindergarteners; my two girls plus a niece and a nephew

• 11:33 home

• 11:45 Jamie picks up her two children currently in my custody

• 11:55 go to the grocery store; we're low on fruit

• 12:20 back home; prepare lunch for the 3 remaining children in my custody (Zoe, Lucy, and Sam), eat my own lunch, and do some dishes; the kids ride bikes after lunch

• 1:00 Presley arrives; time for Zoe & Lucy & Presley's piano lesson

• 2:00 done teaching; Presley goes home; finish dishes & clean up kitchen; help Kindergarteners with homework

• 2:30 receive phonecall from afternoon carpool driver who can't make it today; can I please pick up the kids

• 2:40 leave; go to Play It Again Sports to shop for snow gear; find decent ski gloves for my kids on sale for $6/pair; buy two pairs while repeatedly reminding the 3 Kindergarteners to stop playing on the stationary bicycles

• 3:08 quick stop back home

• 3:20 arrive at school to pick up the kids

• 3:25 try to figure out how to fit 9 people in an 8-passenger vehicle (me, my four kids, two of Kate's, one of Jamie's, and Ivy), solution: Zoe & Lucy share a seatbelt

• 3:35 drop Ivy off; now everyone has their own seatbelt

• 3:45 back home; dangit one of my piano students is here 15 minutes early

• 3:46 real quick wash and prick and foil-wrap baked potatoes for dinner; put in oven (remind myself how lucky I am that I don't have an "I need meat every night" husband)

• 3:50 Pamma (my mom) arrives to pick up Kate's boys

• 4:00 remaining piano student arrives; time to teach this batch; kids do homework and ride bikes

• 5:00 that batch leaves and the next piano batch arrives, along with brief conversation with their mother and fetching snowboots for Brooklyn (Jamie's) to borrow

• 5:25 Hubs comes home from work

• 5:40 done with this batch since there were only two of them; take potatoes out of oven and put them on plates with butter, salt & pepper, cheese, sour cream; tell kids to come in from riding bikes and wash their hands, pick out clothes & hair accessory for Molly's 2nd grade program tonight (she had a hard time with it since we're at the end of the laundry week), make sure everyone's eating

• 5:50 realize video camera battery isn't charged; plug it in & continue to nag kids about eating faster; fix Molly's hair while she's eating

• 6:02 leave for school for Molly's program; she has a little trio part so it's definitely worth videotaping

• 6:10 sit in close proximity to Pamma, Jamie & her family, Quinten & Paige (my two sisters and I each have a 2nd grader and all our kids go to the same school)

• 6:30 enjoy program; lots of pictures; Molly did great

• 7:00 program over; say bye to Hubs who has to leave for a meeting; the rest of us go to Wendy's for frosties

• 7:20 home eating frosties; turn on Olympics

• 7:45 show kids online video of Shaun White's runs last night

• 8:10 share a quick scripture with the kids, have a prayer; back to the Olympics

• 8:35 Hubs comes home from meeting; watch Olympics together and old home movies during the commercials (and during some of the men's figure skating, which he doesn't care for)

• 9:30 start composing this post, check email, play with dog

• 10:30 pack Noah's lunch & other stuff for his big, exciting, 4th grade fieldtrip to Tucson tomorrow! and finish composing this post and watch the rest of the men's figure skating now that Hubs is busy watching more snowboard halfpipe replays online

• 12:00 bed. I hope. because Noah has to be AT school at 7:00, which means leaving to pick up carpool at 6:45am; a little early for me; but shoot - I wanted to get a little reading done... and isn't The Office supposed to be on sometime tonight?

To think that the night before I thought I was going to get the laundry done the same day too. Ha ha, that's a good one! I hope my kids have enough clean socks for Friday...