A Week in the Life.

Saturday: Bring Michaela to a birthday party in the morning. Go to Time Warner Cable and get a new remote to replace the one we have been using whose right-sided buttons no longer work (and yes, that was just as annoying as it sounds). Went to Home Depot and bought supplies to install shelves in our office closet and under cabinet lights for the kitchen. Went to a home store and bought a new rug for our living room. Picked up Michaela. Came home, installed lights, made kettle corn popcorn, ordered Chinese food, played with kids, went to bed.


Sunday: Went to church. Helped set up for church's vacation Bible school program and the kindergarten classroom where I and my friend Angel were going to teach. Girls went out with their great aunt to get mani-pedis (it's a tough life). Made a nice dinner and had our aunt and uncle over. Made kettle corn popcorn, played with kids and went to bed.


Monday: Woke up to snow falling. Haircuts for Jenna and Alec in the morning. Shoveled some of the driveway. Ate lunch and went to church. Almost passed out when I found out that we have twenty-two 5 and 6 year olds in our VBS class. Kept smiling anyway. Alec dismissed his babysitters after about 30 minutes so I carried him in his backpack on my back while we taught. Finished up VBS for the day, planned for the next day's lesson, tossed kids in car, dropped Michaela at a friend's house, came home. Felt a crushing sense of dread when I realized the members of my family were expecting me to actually cook them food for dinner. Made dinner, cleaned up, picked up Michaela, went to the store to get milk and got talked into buying ice cream and Cadbury mini eggs by Michaela. Collapsed into bed and slept better than I have in a long time.


Tuesday: Went grocery shopping with three children. Made mental note to start asking my mom NOW to babysit kids over the summer so I can shop in peace. Kids came home happy with 2 cans of Pringles, Little Bites brownies, chewy Chips Ahoy, and swiss cake rolls. Kids declare me "The Best Mom Ever." Quickly eat lunch, go to church, teach 21 much less inhibited kindergartners (who are adorable and really very good) about the Lost Sheep and delight when the kids go crazy over a new song "Baa I'm A Lamb" which is sung to the oldie "Barbara Ann". (Not since our current Pastor was a vicar at our church and introduced us to "Pharaoh, Pharaoh" have the kids gone so crazy for a church song. I'm pretty sure one of the primary reasons he eventually accepted a call to our church was so his lasting legacy would be more than a VBS song sung to "Louie, Louie.") Cleaned up, prepped for the next day, came home. Was planning on buying a new television online that night and then talked to Dan on the phone: his office is merging with the office in Buffalo. His job should be safe but no tv was purchased. Grownups freak out, kids go on playing, we eat dinner, play with kids and go to bed.

Wednesday: Go to our favorite diner for breakfast with three kids. Alec eats great but gets maple syrup in his hair. Jenna order sunny side up eggs, sausage, homefries and toast; loves the toast ("It's so BUTTERY!") and insists on calling the potatoes tomatoes. Announces she wouldn't get sunny side up eggs again. Go to Lowe's to get a pad for under the new rug, go to Michael's and get supplies to make 5 puppy costumes for Jenna's Lip Sync group. Come home, wolf down lunch, go to VBS, teach 22 very happy and comfortable kindergartners, say the phrase,"Boys and girls! Let's sit on our bottoms on the seat!" as nicely as I can 43 times, play Good Samaritan tag, which is a big hit, clean up, go home, go back to church, eat some pizza, talk to Dan, and enjoy an hour long wrap up program for the VBS. Coach our class through the award-worthy performance of "Jesus Loves Me" and our Bible Verse. Completely forget to videotape it. Do remember to videotape Michaela's and she does great. Come home, put kids to bed, and collapse into our bed.

Thursday: Make cinnamon rolls for breakfast and am so trained to only have them on holidays, I smell them and get a urge to make cranberry sauce. Put down new rug pad and rug, roll up old one and put it in the basement. Straighten up basement with help from the girls. Girls play outside in the snow. Friends come over for a playdate. Bring Michaela to a Lip Sync rehearsal. Pick her up and she has a hard time transitioning back to our house. Tell Michaela she will have a consequence after Daddy and I talk about it. Dan comes home and we talk about what he's heard at work. Dan approves of the new rug. Jenna very casually asks, while twirling her hair, about Michaela's consequence, just in case we forget. Michaela cries while anticipating punishment. Dan and I discuss, then bring Michaela in, and settle the issue: no iPod or computer for a week. I make dinner, we eat, clean up, play with the kids, and go to bed.

Friday: Wake up to another snowstorm. Alec and I doze on the couch until 8:30am. The girls play outside in the snow. The girls make a snowman. The girls unsuccessfully request to make sno cones with snow and food coloring. No dice. Jenna has a friend come over. I try to have Alec take a nap but he's not interested. I order Inception through my cable box so I can watch it before the Oscars Sunday. Watch 15 minutes before I have to turn it off. Michaela requests to sew, makes a huge mess with pins, fabric, and thread and then walks into the family room to watch a movie. I feed everyone lunch while trying to write a post on all I did this week.

Re-read post and understand why I'm so tired all the time.