Favorite Thing Friday

I’ve kind of been slacking on Favorite Thing Friday. Partly because by Friday my life has fallen apart so much that I’m lucky if I can find all 4 of my kids -- forget about actually “thinking” of something that is making my life easier or better – lately my life seems anything but easy or better! But this week is different I knew exactly what my favorite thing is. I was even so sure that I typed this up on Thursday! Can you guess what it is?

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer – it’s . . .

PRE-SCHOOL!

I am so happy with how well everything has gone! I kind of feel like I’m on vacation – no kidding! I’ve gotten a shower every day and this is before we leave for school. Not to mention that I am fixing a semi-decent breakfast for them (and me) – we don’t have time for donuts in the car – we live 2 blocks from school now! They’ve brushed their teeth every morning and Addison’s hair is combed and they’re wearing shoes and socks, their glasses, and hearing aid and we’ve made it to school by 8:30! We’ve walked every day except Thursday (and Friday) because it was monsoon season.

The kids love school and their teachers and aides! Ethan has been doing well after the first day and has earned all his “stars” on Wednesday and Thursday! I have less laundry because kids aren’t changing their clothes on a whim, they are super hungry for supper because they aren’t eating junky snacks all day so their eating healthier, they are fighting way less when we are home, they seem more cooperative when I ask them to do something, and they are going to bed without coming downstairs even once at night. Of course the house is easier to clean because they aren’t destroying things as soon as I pick it up.

Now all this really may be a mirage -- I may just think they are fighting less and cooperating more because I am not extremely stressed and exhausted by 10 am and by the time I have everybody back home at 3 pm I feel like I still have a lot of patience and I want to be with them. I have even enjoyed cooking supper and have time during the day to “think” and plan what we will be eating instead of panicking at 5:30 or 6:30 standing in front of the fridge trying to pull something together.

The best thing is I’ve had uninterrupted time to complete a few things. I redid our playroom on Tuesday and took every toy upstairs that wasn’t safe for Reese to play with and I also picked up the whole house on Tuesday to prepare for our bi-weekly cleaning. On Wednesday I got the oil changed in the van, went to two grocery stores, went to Walgreens, took Ethan and Reese out for lunch, and dropped off our recycling. Thursday I learned something: I need to have plans. I thought after I got the kids to school and got Reese down for a nap that I would figure out what to do. Well that’s not such a good plan. I didn’t feel like I was accomplishing anything but I did put away a bunch of scrapbook layouts in albums, picked up the house from last night, sorted through some dresser drawers, cleaned out our linen closet, made some appointments, and worked a little bit on a scrapbook layout. So I got stuff done just felt like I had no direction. I need to schedule time to do stuff I need to do and stuff I want to do like scrapbook. I’ll be working on that the next few weeks. I feel like I have time to think thoughts and just some peace and quiet instead of hearing screaming, whining, and complaining. I have been leaving the TV off and sometimes turn on music but sometimes just enjoy the quietness of the house.

My only complaint is preschool is messing up naps for Reese and for Ethan. Reese goes down for a nap at 9 and normally I let her wake up on her own, which is anywhere from 2-3 hours. I have to wake her by 11 now because we go get Ethan at 11:45 and she will need to go back to sleep by 1. I put both Ethan and Reese down at 1 but they have to get up by 2:45 so we can be at school at 3 to get Caden and Addison. Normally Ethan and Reese could easily sleep 2-1/2 to 4 hours in the afternoon but I have to wake them up after an hour and 45 minutes. Today I had to lay Reese back down at 4 as she was getting grumpy and she slept until 6. There’s really nothing I can do about it but it’s just an adjustment and it will all get figured out in the upcoming weeks.

So I’m lovin’ preschool after the first week!