before school \ after school

Before school:
I am groggy.
Hair is tangled.
I throw on whatever is on the floor, plus Uggs.
Ankles ache as I walk downstairs.
I never seem to get enough sleep.
Kids wake up before me. Naturally. They are early risers. (Except Mckenna.)
They get dressed, make their breakfast, wipe sleep from their eyes.
I wake up.
Take stock of how I feel.
And greet them. I ruffle the hair on their heads and squeeze them against my chest in a hug.
I do my best to wake up with a smile.
Certainly doesn’t always happen.
I get my first big cup of water of the day. I try to remember to take my vitamins.
Then I attempt to disturb the dragon (Mckenna) from her lair.
Some days are better than others.
Good days mean she wakes up and does her morning routine with little prompting. She smiles and eats and gathers her things.
Bad days mean she screeches at me the moment I turn her noise machine off. And doesn’t really stop until I force her onto the bus.
She does not like me on those days.
Bad days are hard.
It can be overwhelming to wake up, knowing you have a hormonal war zone to wade through.
Once Kenna is up, I make lunches/snacks and the younger two jump in the car with me and get dropped off.
Two down.
I get back home and wrap up any loose ends Mckenna missed, and say good-bye to Drew as he heads off with a couple friends.
(He always says, “Bye Mom! I love you!” as he walks out the door.)
I sit and wait for Mckenna to go through her routines.
This includes, but is not limited to:
Bringing catalogs downstairs, trying to sneak toys/candy/money into her backpack.
Getting money out of Jeff’s car.
Making her own breakfast.
Gathering her snack, filling her water bottle, rewinding Backyardigans five million times.
Putting her shoes on.
And this is all done in a meticulous order that must not be disturbed.
She doesn’t like to be disturbed either.
I usually check Twitter and Facebook on my phone while I wait.
Then we walk out to meet the bus.

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After school:
Someone is usually grumpy and tired.
Usually that someone is Anna.
First grade is a hard transition.
The younger kids get picked up first, and we swing home just in time for Mckenna’s bus to drop her off.
She always gets the mail, always. First thing as she steps off the bus.
(I am certain she is on the bus saying “get the mail get the mail get the mail get the mail get the mail” until we do.)
Drew usually walks up just about then too.
He almost always calls and begs for a ride, but I almost always say no.
I am heartless.
We walk in the door.
Everyone plops onto the couch with relief.
Backpacks and papers and sneakers and money and snacks and sneakers and socks and trash and sneakers spurt out from their pores.
Our house isn’t large enough to hold all of it.
It has the tendency to overwhelm me, all of that sudden chaos.
All of them needing something, all at once, RIGHT NOW.
They give me their stuff. I look it over with appropriate oohs and ahhs.
I really wish our school would get with it and stop sending home duplicates with each kid.
I trip over Nathan’s backpack
every
single
day.
We pull together a snack. We attempt something healthy and filling, but sometimes they just get a Popsicle.
Favorites snacks include:
Steamed broccoli, toast, cheese and crackers, baked potato, cut up fruit, easy mac, quesadillas, leftovers.
Somewhere in here I hit a wall of tiredness that I can’t seem to beat.
We watch TV. In zombie mode.
After a full day at school it is a welcome break for their little brains.
Then they do homework, and we all sit at our little white table and try to avoid the sticky and the crumbs.
Or the boys go into their rooms and do homework with the iDog playing music.
I think that is pretty darn cute.
Lately homework has been a breeze. No tears, no yelling at mom, no stomping to their room. I am grateful.
After all of that, we pick up the mess and try to head outside.
It is the best light of the day after all.

xo

Tara