The Good....The Bad....The Ugly

I remember when Luke and Sarah were quite little and Patrick was a busy student. I recall thinking, "Once they get a little bigger and start doing things like school, sports, and such.....it will be so fun!" Not that life was boring. There just seemed to be sooooo....many hours in a day to fill. We played, went on walks, baked, went to the library, the grocery store....and every day my house was very, very clean. Because every day I had hours of afternoon naps in which they slept and I cleaned. Well, now life is just so B.U.S.Y. I hope I have learned from my early days of motherdom, not to wish for things to be different. So we are embracing this stage of life. A stage with filled up calendars and nightly chats about "if you drop off child A here, I can take child B here, and we can meet up with all the rest here". I will admit it makes me tired and a tad overwhelmed some days. Saturday was such a day.... and just so I can remember what life was like at this stage, I want to get the good, bad, and very ugly of Saturday down on paper.

Schedule:

9am Sean to Irish dance practice (Sarah and Luke miss it due to piano competition)

9-10:15 am Sarah and Luke to piano competition, take Max along for "fun"

10:25 pick up Sean and take the crew home

11:00 make lunch for the kids and house guests (yes, houseguests staying for the weekend)

11:30 Patrick home from a morning at the office---Patrick starts outside yardwork, chores with

kids helping, Jessica laundry and inside chores.

1:00 Sean and Sarah tennis meet. Drop them off, go pick up needed groceries and medicine for

sick baby.

2:00 Go home and pick up Lucy and Luke.

2:30 Drop Luke off at tennis, wait for Sean and Sarah's lesson to end.

3:00 Go home start dinner, clean up, help with some outside work.

4:00 pick up Luke from tennis.

4:30 return home, only to hear there was an accident with the dog and golfcart. An accident needing a human husband to pick the golf cart up off of the dog. Immediately begin to cry due to stress and tiredness upon hearing the words, "Don't freak but I ran over the dog with the golf cart and I think his leg might be pretty hurt".

5:00 Finish dinner while looking up number to emergency vet clinic, because our vet was already closed for the weekend.

Then the normal feeding the crew, bathing the crew, and getting ready for the next day amid attempts at wrapping ice on a dog's paw. All in all we survived. Even the dog. Thankfully he only has a broken toe and lots and lots of swelling of his paw.

This is how we roll. I remember a clean house and trips to the library. However now we are blessed with a house full of action and mostly laughs. And wonderful moments like these......

Our house guests included a six-year old who lost a tooth. She was Sarah's roommate for the weekend. Despite a house including 4 adults, the toothfairy forgot about the hidden tooth. But Sarah did not. Upon a middle of the night bathroom break, she checked underneath her young charge's pillow and noticed no treat. So she quietly took money from her piggy bank and placed it underneath the pillow. She saved the day for us all.

Last week, I had a meeting with Max's preschool teacher. And despite the notice of his lack of letter and number knowledge (although several kids into this process, I have realized he'll learn it when he is ready....he is very uninterested at the moment....teacher agreed) she couldn't say enough wonderful things that he brings to the classroom. Things, that I now realize, bring me more joy and relief than letters and numbers. She commented on the fact that he is extremely verbal for his age. So verbal that he has never once lost his temper and had a problem because he can always find words for what he needs and wants. She told me how his classmates cheer his arrival on the playground when I drop him off. They run to greet him at the door. (I have noticed this trend...and it is no longer just the little girls running to say hello!) She said he is the favorite friend of nearly all in the class because he is so kind, gentle, and nurturing. She noted the youngest child in the class (Max) is kind and generous to all his friends. She has never had to correct him for being unkind. Over the past year we have really noticed this behavior at home, but I was unsure how he was with his school-peers. And now I know. He'll learn to read....heck he might learn the alphabet someday soon. But he has already learned more important skills.

That is life at the moment. In a nutshell.